Covered with Icing!

A quickie post to mention the lovely Miss Heather over at Covered with Icing here in Nashville. I am so happy she followed through with me! I had stopped in her booth as soon as I walked into the bridal show on Sunday. She had a prime position right by the entrance and she was swamped with tasters! I'm pretty good at weaseling my way through crowds and was able to get a cake sample fairly quickly. Super-yum is what I say to the cake sample!

She also had what looked like truffles presented on platters. Now, I'm not a huge fan of your every-day truffles, but I'm not going to turn down free chocolate either. I mean seriously, do I seem foolish to anyone out there? Little did I know that these were cake truffles.

Holy sweet mother of Christmas, were these good. I mean, "slap your momma" good! Right about the time I was digging into the first cake truffle I ate that day, Heather approached me to give me the down-low on her goodies and we got to chatting.

I just spent some time on her website this morning and have found her offering for wedding cakes to be spectacular.

Here's the skinny direct from her website:

Wedding and Groom's cake prices begin at $3.00 per serving for butter cream and $3.50 per serving for fondant. A serving is based on a 2" x 1" x 4" slice. I have worked hard to come up with a fondant recipe that I think is very good. It tastes like icing and will have a layer of butter cream underneath. Please ask for a taste during your consultation. Wedding cake tiers consist of 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling or frosting. I require a non-refundable $50 deposit to reserve your wedding date. This deposit will be applied to your order, but is not refundable if the order is canceled, as I book months in advance for weddings.

Your wedding cake pricing includes a special 6" heart-shaped "honeymoon" cake for you to take along after the wedding. Sometimes a bride and groom only get a tiny slice of cake (and maybe frosting up their nose) just for the pictures, but miss out on the culinary masterpiece they helped create. I will assure you that will not happen if you order from Covered with Icing. Pricing also includes a special certificate for your 1st anniversary "tier". This day and age; most people prefer not to freeze their top tier for their anniversary, but to enjoy a beautifully decorated fresh cake instead.

OK, I think the extra little touches here are totally fabulous and all for $3.00 a serving? Not bad in the world wedding cakes. Her little cake truffles are $10/dozen, with a minimum of 3 or 4 dozen, I can't remember. That's like $.83 a truffle! I snagged these photos from her website and blog.

Mini-Cupcake Topiary!

Cake Truffle Topiary

She also has chocolate covered mini-Oreos! I swear, I almost went into a diabetic coma after eating one! It was that good. After wandering around the show for a few hours, we were headed out and I thought that I might ask Heather a few more questions as I was still dreaming about the cake truffles. I thought that I might be changing my favor strategy and using the cake truffles instead of the cookies. She let me take four of them home to see if they fit in the favor box and to see if The Candyman approved. While he liked them a lot, he wants to stick with the cookies. Fair enough. However, I'm now thinking they might be a nice end-of-evening snack, or even an addition to the OOT bags. Still in thinking mode. They were just so good! I have to wait and see how the budget goes. They aren't that expensive.

So all total, I think I ate 4 cake truffles, a chocolate covered Oreo and 2 cake samples just from her booth. That does NOT include the multiple cake samples nor the catering samples I had. And I'm wondering why the scale is 2 pounds heavier this week. Um, duh.

New Button

I learned how to make my very own button. I'm not sure I like the particular design as I kinda rushed through it. Do you guys like it? Should I rethink it? Would you share it if I made it easy to cut and paste? Does anyone care?

I was just wondering how it was done and did some online research. Actually, it's super easy! I went here and followed the directions. Easy! I did use the xs.to web site to upload the image into html.

Anyway, here it is. It links to my site! Geek fun!

Goodie Bag

I've got a lot of random stuff that I've been meaning to share, so I'll do a little catch-all here in order to get it all out!

I saw these in the Two's Company catalog and am smitten. Makes me wish I was having a beach wedding!

This is a board I created from a wedding featured in Veranda magazine (I subscribe). I didn't get it posted very quickly and then it was featured on Style Me Pretty, so there wasn't a real rush. My thoughts? Pretty. Gorgeous. Expensive.

Briar Press has tons of FREE down loadable "ornaments" like monograms, borders, birds and beasts, flowers and lots of others. These are just a few I like.

GORGEOUS etched champagne flutes from Anthropologie. These were only $12 each. I almost got them for our toasting flutes, but stopped myself. I might go back and get them though.

They also had the etched pattern in wine glasses. I love the merchandising here - how they've planted herbs in the glasses. Actually, chives in back and I'm pretty sure that's a strawberry plant on the left. I think this is a grand idea for table arrangements. Lovely.

These are on sale at Pottery Barn. They aren't for sale on their website though, in-store only. Cute for bridesmaids, but contemporary enough for groomsmen. There are lots of men out there who like scented candles!

I love these! It's felted soap from Anthropologie. The wool encases the soap and as you use it, the felt exfoliates your skin and the soap shrinks. When the soap is gone, you cut open the felt shell and replace your soap and re-use! Re-Use. Re-Cycle. Go green, if and where you can. Great BM gifts, at $14.00 each.

Last, but not least - I was perusing local letterpress companies and found this non-local company F2 Design from Lubbock, Texas. They have this awesome letterpress poster of Blues/R&B/Funk master Little Milton. Grits Ain't Grocery is a great song (The Candyman will be flabbergasted that I know it) with oddly romantic lyrics:

If I don't love you baby
Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(Oh yeah! Let's get into it. Listen.)

All around the world, I'd rather be a fly
I'd light on my baby and stay with my woman till I die
With a toothpick in my hand I'd dig a ten foot ditch
And run all through the jungle fighting lions with a switch
Because you know I love you baby
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Now if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(Oh baby. Uh! Listen.)

All around the world I've got blisters on my feet
I'm trying to find my baby and bring her home with me
You better run into me baby and be convinced
If you don't run it to me right now woman
You ain't got no sense
Because you know I love you baby
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Well if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

(C'mon y'all. Hit me. Oh baby. Listen.)

All around the world I never will forget
I lost all my money, my woman, and my pet
But I've got to have you baby and I will settle for nothing less
Give up all my good time baby and stay for happiness
Because you know I love you baby yeah
Oh you know I love you baby yeah
Well if I don't love you baby I tell you

Grits ain't grocery,
Eggs ain't poultry,
And Mona Lisa was a man

The very first dish I ever made The Candyman was yellow grits (none of that white crap) made with whole cream served with this salmon salad I make (grilled salmon, green onions, red bell pepper, lemon juice, olive oil - done). They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Mission accomplished! :)

I Feel Famous!

Hey Everybody! Ashley over at Ashely's Bride Guide featured Parts I & II of my dress hunt today. Check it out here! I love being a guest blogger! What a treat! I promise, I won't let the fame get the best of me. :P

Can I get a "Hell, Yeah!" from my Brides?

Ashley, over at Ashley's Bride Guide, gave cool-ass props to this Thirty-Something Bride! Check it out! I'm pretty sure she's posting me as a guest blogger tomorrow. The focus will be The Dress. Sweet! The ABG site is a fab local resource, but it has great ideas abound, so don't limit yourself if you're not from the Nashville area.

I had a feeling Ashley might mention my blog, but I wasn't sure when or how. I actually got a phone call from Sharon, uber-cool wife to my uber-cool photographer, Jonathon Campbell, to wish me congratulations. I love how I found out.

For those of you who think this is cool, leave a "Hell, Yeah!" comment. For those of you who think I've turned into a total-freak-blogging-bride, leave the same. I could care less, I am so excited.

I *heart* everyone right now!