The Cakes and Table Decor

While the cakes were much smaller than I thought it would be, it certainly didn't disappoint on taste.  We had a 3 tiered cake with 3 different flavors made by Sweets by Cindy out of Junction City.  The wedding cake flavors were chocolate bourbon pecan for the bottom, white for the middle, and raspberry white chocolate for the top later. We also had a grooms cake that was in the shape of a pint of Guinness and was peanut butter flavored.  For the cake topper I just used some fake hydrandea flowers that were a kind of antique yellowish color.  I used them because they were what I had on hand and they ended up matching the gold icing for the designs really well.  Cindy said the cakes were made to feed about 75 for the wedding cake and 25 for the grooms cake, though I'm sure you could feed more since her cakes are so rich.  I can barely finish a cupcake.  The wedding cake cost $200 (about $2.66 per slice) and the Grooms cake was $50 (about $2 per slice). If you are interested in getting cupcakes for your wedding in the Danville area, Cindy is the one to do it because as of my wedding she was selling cupcakes for only $1 each!  Though she might charge more if you want the icing decorated in a certain way.

I was actually really amazed at the fact that I barely ate any of my own cake.  While I made sure to eat dinner, which everyone says you forget to do, I didn't really eat much cake except what Matt smooshed in my face.  I guess after taking some time to re-pretty my face I forgot all about it.  I did however eat some of the grooms cake at the end of the night while everyone was cleaning up because I looooove Cindy's peanutbutter cake.  However I was a bit sad she didn't following my directions to make the cake dark like guinnes by covering it with chocolate somehow, like just a chocolate frosting of a gnache.  Chocolate and peanut butter are natures perfect couple.  I was also quite surprised at how i had no clue how to cut into a tier cake.  Thank goodness the catering people were there to cut it up for us.  

mmmm, cake

I made all the extra decor for the table, except we got the giant cake stand from our caterer (at not extra cost might I add). 

For the fabric garland I pretty much just took some old quilting fabric I knew I would never use that I had stahed away in the basement and cut it into about 1 foot long strips and 1 inch wide, more or less.  I wanted it to have that worn look to it so the thread fraying only added to the charm.  I wrap those pieces around some leftover chord i had from the save the date's and voila.  I only made about 3 of these about 8 feet long.  I found if you have your maid of honor work on it with you and start at opposite ends it gets done in about 20 minutes.  Total cost was only about $6 since I already had the chord and most of the the fabric.  I just bought 2 more colors of fabric from JoAnn Fabric from their scrap bin. 

I also decorated the giant letters on the tables.  I found them at TJMaxx for about $5.99 each and 2 of them came in the purple color but one was brown so I just went to Michael's and found some purple paint that matched them almost perfectly.  Then all I did was take some pearl swirl stickers and some cute little scrapbooking flowers.  I always get my stuff from Hobby Lobby when they have it 50% off, unless I need something right away.  But for these items I just waited to see what new sale items would be each week and bought the things I needed as they were on sale.  It saves you a ton of money.  Total cost was about $30

 Finally, I got my toasting flutes and cake knife and server forever and a day ago back when I was working a little cafe called Three Babes and a Monkey (totally not joking) about 8 years ago.  I saw these in the gift shop they had and knew they needed to be mine for my wedding day. They were actually what inspired the decor theme for the wedding, what with all the pearls on them.  If only the ribbon had been gold instead they would have been even more perfect.  I have no clue how much they cost back then.

Thank You Gifts: Simple, Yet Thoughtful

Price: $1.52 per person, $113.79 total without tax (for 75 people)  

Inspiration: Pinterest (duh)

Helpful Hints: put the gift on the table at each place setting.  I had mine on a table at the exit door and I guess some people missed them that way.  Make something simple you would also like to keep since people will forget to take them anyway.  And of course recruit your bridesmaids to help out with the craft.  I was lucky to have Kim helping me.  

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It took me forever to decide on a thank you gift for guests, but I'm real happy with the ones I went with. Unless you have an infinite amount of time or are paying someone to make them for you, go simple, yet cut and somewhat thoughtful.  I was inspired to make my gift from a pin I found (what else).  I really loved how I was seeing all these guest gifts that meant something special to the bride.  Maybe it was some homemade jam or some cookies, or something that reminded them of where they met. 

I love tea and my favorite tea comes from a place back home called Elmwood Inn Tea.  They use to be an actual Inn that had a tea room out in Perryville, KY.  Sadly they have since closed the Inn and tea room, but they still sell their wonderful teas out of a recently open store front in downtown Danville, KY.  And boy do they know their stuff.  One of the guys who runs the place can tell you what country each of their teas comes from, what altitude it was grown at, heck he could probably tell you if it was picked on a Tuesday.  I particularly love their Kentucky Blend tea, as to many people.  It goes great with honey.  So I decided to give each of my guests a couple tea bags of my favorite blend and attach a cute little label on it, as you will see (or have seen from the inspiration picture). 

I almost went the crazy route and came close to trying to make these cute little handmade boxes filled with both tea and cookies (cuz it's hard to have one without the other in my opinion).  But thankfully in the end I realized that was way too much work and would be too expensive.  I ended up spending only about $1.52 per person (75 people total) on these gifts.  Even if you are making enough for 100 it will be $1.41 per person.  

And I'm kind of glad I didn't go to too much fuss and I got something I also like that doesn't perish quickly, because I ended up having about 25 extra gifts at the end of the night from people who had forgotten to take theirs. And a helpful hint:  put the gift on the table at each place setting.  I had mine on a table at the exit door and I guess some people missed them that way.  If you put them on the tables at least the ladies will probably put them in their purses right away.  Or better yet make something people can enjoy right then, like a tasty treat. I considered making French macaroons but that too is an ordeal and I would have had to make them fresh at least no more than a day or two from the wedding.  Waaaay to much pressure.  

But enough talk, on to the tutorial! 

Cute Tea Wedding Favors

I just got some little gift boxes from Michael's that we're about $19.99 for a box of 100, and of course I used a 40% coupon since they always have them each week.  So I paid about $12 for these. You can find them in the wedding section where all the little gift boxes are.  They have square ones and then there are oblong ones like these in white and off white. They measure 3x2x1.5 inches, so perfect for a few tea bags

I just used god old address labels on these boxes and they were the perfect size.  I got the clear ones from Office Depot for  $12.79 for a pack of 300 labels.  Way more than I needed, but hey, they'll be good for sending out Christmas cards.  Make sure to get the right kind of labels depending on your printer.  If you get laser print labels they will not work with an inkjet printer, and Office Depot gets all huffy when you try to return stuff after using a sheet. They charge like a 15% "restocking fee".  Crazy.  

I started off with a label to put on the inside of the top flap that told people what the gift was and just to help out my fav tea shop I included their website in case people really liked it. (Kentucky Blend from Elmwood Inn Tea in Danville, KY.  One Sachet makes two 8 oz cups of tea.  To keep on enjoying this tea check out www.elmwoodinn.com)

Then next comes the Thank You for Coming Sticker which will be the front face of the box.  

In case anyone is wondering, I used the front called Blackadder ITC.  I thought it had a quaint elegant country look to it. I also used this font for all my little signs I made like for the food, and some cute ones we used with photos. 

Then you flip the box over and put the last label on the top of the lid, the ones that makes the gift make sense and hopefully make people go "Awww, too cute"

Love is Brewing...get it, then they see there is tea inside.  I'm sure it at least caused a few chuckles.  I used Georgia font for the other words.  I thinks it's nice to mix up serif texts with script to keep things or eye appealing and easy to look at.  

Oh, look who wants to come help Aunt Mary with her gifts too.  Little John Luke and Eva! 

He's the cutest little helper in the world.  

After Kim has put the baby out of grabbing distance from the boxes, it;s time to assemble.  Just fold up the box (remember the Love is Brewing label is on the top of the lid...

Then add 2 pyramid sachets of tea.  I bought mine from Elmwood for a bag of 50 for $24.  I bought 3 bags so about $73.  Close the lid...

And add a pretty bow (in your wedding colors of course) to keep it sealed.  I would recommend getting a thicker ribbon (at least 1cm) and just tying a simple knot like you see below.  Doing a full on bow on something so small will drive you nuts.  Just cut the edges at an angel and it will still look beautiful.  I got the ribbon at Michael's as well for about $3.99 per roll and got 4 rolls, 2 in purple and 2 in gold.  

So I hope I have inspired you to make something simple yet beautiful an thoughtful for your wedding.  Just remember it is your day, so if someone doesn't like the GIFT you gave them tell them they can shove it...and thanks for coming to our wedding.