A Bride's Best Friend

No, I'm not talking about Spanx, Foot Petals, or Waterproof Eyeliner. I'm not talking about your fiancee, your dog, or your mom, either. For me, one of the absolute most invaluable pieces in my wedding planning puzzle has been my Garmin Nuvi 250 GPS.


Mr. Cupcake and I have birthdays that are just a week apart (although he's two years older than me... that I will never let him forget), and for our birthdays last summer Momma Cupcake and now Stepdad Cupcake got us a portable Garmin to use in either of our cars. Within about three and a half seconds of beginning to use it, we were addicted. We even named it. ("It" is actually a "she" — her name is Nancy. That's Navigational Nancy, to you.) We often have custody disputes over Nancy, because we both love her so. And we totally refer to her as a "her" when we talk about her. I'm not gonna lie, it's a little weird.

I was not, by any means, blessed with a sense of direction when I was born. For years I have depended on printed Mapquest directions when driving to a new destination.... which has usually resulted in me being lost, frustrated, crying, or all of the above. I would always feel frazzled, stressed, and nervous venturing out without really knowing where I was going.

These days, I am always sure to bring Nancy along when trekking somewhere unfamiliar, especially when I'm zipping around the Philadelphia area to find a vendor. The day my mom and I attempted to hit up four bridal salons in one day (all in different towns)? Never would have been possible without Nancy (my mom has even less of a sense of direction than I do). The hair trial I traveled to in a residential neighborhood of Wilmington, Delaware? I would have totally ended up in New Jersey without Nancy.

Not only does Nancy tell me where to go, but she tells me when I'll get there, how to take a detour if a particular road is closed, and where to turn around if I miss my turn. You can even give her a British accent, which is a little friendlier than her American accent. (We also made her speak German once. That was fun for about 2 minutes.) Nancy has been a serious blessing in making at least one aspect of all of this wedding craziness much less stressful.

If you are a sense-of-direction-less bride like me, or you're planning a wedding in a new city or a foreign destination, I highly recommend that you invest in a Nancy all your own. Ours runs about $250, and although we didn't buy it, I know that it is worth. every. penny.

Happy travels!

Wow. That's a Lot of Glass.

You may recall that I have been on the hunt for cut glass to use as candle holders at our reception. Actually, more specifically, Mr. Cupcake's mom has graciously been doing most of the hunting — I've just been transporting everything to our storage space (a.k.a. Momma Cupcake's basement) once FMIL Cupcake hands over her magnificent finds during each of our visits to Central PA. She has been doing some serious bargain hunting and has admittedly become a cut glass addict!

This weekend I decided to finally get out all of the pieces she has found during her weekly trips to the Salvation Army (with the exception of a handful that Mr. Cupcake and I found at some random yard sales and flea markets) to figure out what our grand total is. Mr. Cupcake and I headed over to Momma Cupcake's basement the other day to take the pieces out of their boxes, set them out on the table to survey the collection, and start counting.

Let me tell you. We have a LOT of glass.

The whole shebang laid out on a table in the basement. Mr. Cupcake counted them all.... wanna guess how many?

A close-up shot. (You still counting?)

Another detail shot.... we have five of these cool big ones (shown in the middle). We might use them for the tables set up in the cocktail area and put floating flowers in them instead of candles. (Last chance to come up with an estimate before I reveal the grand total.)

So..... drumroll please..... our grand total iiiiiissssss......

245. Yes. Two hundred forty-five. Pieces. of. Glass! Do you believe it??

We have more than enough for ten pieces per table if we have about 20 tables, and the rest can be scattered on the mantle in the ballroom, the cocktail tables, and random little nooks that need some ambiance lighting.

I am so very excited about this detail. I think it will add some personalized pizazz to the space and a bit of the vintage flair that we're looking to infuse into everything.

Momma Cupcake and I made a little mock-up of a centerpiece to see how ten candles will look around each floral arrangement. We admittedly did not think this through very well.... we grabbed anything white or green from the two floral arrangements she happened to have in her house, threw them into a bowl, and scattered the glass around them. We didn't have votives but added some tea lights to get an idea of how everything would look. Even though it was a little haphazard, it still gave me a good idea of how everything will look and I'm quite happy.


Picture a darker room, an ironed linen, a more well thought-out floral arrangement, and a larger table with China, menus and napkins :-) Perfect, right?

I think we have ruled out our original plan of pouring our own candles, because we realized how time-consuming it will be and it really won't save us much money after all. Votives will do the trick just fine, and we'll just have to find a few different sizes to work with the varying sizes of the glass pieces. Hopefully, doing this will also save us some sanity!

How are your DIY projects coming along? Are you finding them satisfying and fulfilling, or just plain frustrating and time-consuming?

One Word: CAKE!

Mr. Cupcake and I had the pleasure of attending a cake tasting this weekend. We had been to one previously with another baker, and weren't highly impressed with the cake itself or the baker's portfolio (filled with lots of columns, cascading flowers, and overall most things I despise about traditional wedding cakes). It was actually even difficult to tell what the cake really tasted like, because the slivers he gave us were so thin that you couldn't get a real gauge on the texture.

At my mom's wedding back in February, we had an absolutely heavenly lemon pound cake with lemon curd, lemon buttercream, and fondant from Sweet Jazmine's in Berwyn, PA. My mom had gone with Sweet Jazmine's blindly, without even tasting their cake, because a friend so enthusiastically recommended them. The cake was so beyond delicious that I can't even come up with a better word to truly express it's deliciousness. It also looked completely adorable:

Photo by Alison Conklin

I have had fondant from other bakeries that was gummy and thick and not very tasty, but even Sweet Jasmine's fondant is excellent. It was a thin layer of fondant OVER a layer of buttercream, so you still got the sweetness of the buttercream along with the smooth look of the fondant. (And, personally, I like fondant, but for anyone who doesn't, it was easy enough to eat around the fondant and still taste the sublime buttercream icing. The best of both worlds!)

So after our first unimpressive tasting elsewhere, and still dreaming about that lemon pound cake, Mr. Cupcake and I made ourselves an appointment for a tasting at Sweet Jazmine's. When calling for an appointment they actually informed me that they had put a cap on wedding cakes for our date, but since I raved so much about my mom's cake they would make an exception for me. Hooray! (Remember that complimenting a vendor may help you out in this kind of situation!)

Mr. Cupcake and I were very excited for our tasting this weekend. I just wanted to get some more of that lemon cake in my mouth, but I was also excited to try some other flavors. The outside of Sweet Jazmine's is not super flashy or regal looking considering its glowing reputation, but the purple and green signify that it is definitely not your average bakery.


We arrived to a nice woman behind the counter, Courtney, congratulating us on our impending wedding, and she set us up at a little table for our tasting. She gave us a form to fill out and brought us some water, and told us to help ourselves to some complimentary coffee (Mr. Cupcake was pretty much sold at this point, being a coffee fiend.) Courtney also welcomed us to look through the many photo albums filled with their artistic creations. Everything we saw was much more representative of our taste and what we were looking for visually.

Then, Courtney brought us some cake samples. Also known as heaven on a plate. I love you, Courtney.


As you can see the slices are HUGE. We had no problem decreasing the size of the slices. (Mr. Cupcake had to remind me that it was a "cake tasting," not a "cake eating." We didn't have to finish everything. Teehee.)


The verdict: we are still 100% gung-ho about the Lemon Poundcake (if you can't tell by its lack of appearance on the plate), but I also became quite smitten with the Vanilla Cheesecake with Raspberry (also conspicuously missing from the last shot). This is actually three layers of vanilla cake with one generous layer of cheesecake (as you can tell in the first photo), one layer of raspberry filling, and topped off with a layer of vanilla buttercream. We might have to do one tier of the Vanilla Cheesecake with Raspberry to accommodate the other tiers of Lemon Poundcake.

Everything else was also completely delicious. Cinnfully Southern has sweet potatoes in it, and kind of tasted like a hybrid of spice cake and carrot cake. It was amazing, but not my favorite, as I'm not the biggest fan of spice cake. The Marble Poundcake infused with Kahlua was very tasty but very rich, and Mr. Cupcake and I decided that there will be enough alcohol at the wedding — we don't also need to slip it into the cake :-) Finally, the Chocolate Decadence was, indeed, decadent, but extremely rich and perhaps too rich for some people. Not me, but some people.

After tasting all the flavors, one of of the bakers, Brooke, came to talk to us. I immediately liked her (because we happen to share the same first name) and she helpfully answered some questions for us. She told us that we didn't have to decide on a design until about a month before the wedding, but they could definitely create something like the photos we had to show her. Mr. Cupcake and I both love this cake from Papillon (which I found thanks to Miss Milkshake).

Ours would likely have teal ribbon instead of brown, and real white flowers on top

We also love the unexpected proportions of this one, with the taller middle tier:

From the talented April Reed

Brooke said it would be no problem to create something like a hybrid of these two cakes, so we happily put down our deposit and the search for a baker is now DONE! We could not be more excited about our Sweet Jazmine's creation and we can't wait until our guests taste it.

Has finding a baker been as exciting and fun for you?

The Small Things

They say that it's the small things in a relationship that make all the difference. The little gestures of kindness, the smiles and subtle signs of affection, the tolerant demeanor when I have a crying fit, etc. But seeing how our significant other treats friends and strangers can also be a nice reminder of why we love that person so much.

Last night after meeting me at happy hour with some of my co-workers, Mr. Cupcake followed me home, and immediately as we were walking in the door, his cell phone rang. It was a good friend (and one of his groomsmen) who found a leak in a pipe in his house, and called Mr. Cupcake for some guidance. Although he works behind a desk for a construction company now, Mr. Cupcake worked in the field as an electrician all through college and the following few years, and to say he is "handy" is grossly underestimating his skills. (I'm not just bragging because he's my future hubby — the boy knows a LOT about all aspects of construction.)

So there we were, at 8:00 on a Thursday night, not too far off from Mr. Cupcake's usual bedtime (since he wakes up at 5 a.m.... just thinking of waking up that early makes my head hurt), and ready to relax. He was trying to talk his friend through his plumbing problem, but was concerned that things might not go right, so he told him he'd be right over. "Right over" is 40 minutes away, so once he would get there, help him resolve his problem, and get back home again, it would likely be at least 11:00. But he went, without hesitation, to help his friend out.

I know that most people treat their friends with kindness, but gestures like this make me love Mr. Cupcake even more. I know he genuinely wants to help and he doesn't feel at all burdened. I realize that he wasn't driving 200 miles in the middle of the night during a blizzard to help a friend with a burst pipe, but nonetheless, he went out of his way to help his friend because that's just what he does.

What kind of things has your fiance done for others that has made you fall in love all over again?

Rehearsal Dinner Venue: CHECK!

Mr. Cupcake's parents will graciously be hosting our rehearsal dinner, so the research started many months ago to find the perfect location. FMIL Cupcake is eternally excited about all of the wedding details, so it has been fun to have her involved in this aspect of the festivities.

I have mentioned that Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we adore old places with an antique vibe and lots of character. His mom decided to focus on finding a place that was an old Inn or had an Inn type of atmosphere for the RD. In historical Chester County, Pennsylvania, this isn't too difficult of a task! It was just a matter of finding the right one. Mr. Cupcake is also a major history buff, so he really liked the idea of having our rehearsal dinner at a place with some history.

After lots and lots of Googling, emailing restaurants for menus and specifics, and asking around, we narrowed our search down to a great place called The Ship Inn in Exton, PA.


According to the website:

In 1794 when the Lancaster turnpike was built, it was one of the marvels of the century. Almost the sole avenue of transport between Philadelphia and the west, it was soon peopled with stage coaches, wagons and drivers. To meet the needs of these travelers, public houses sprang up every few miles and among the earliest of these was the Ship Inn. The modern "Ship", which serves today's wayfarer with food and a "cup of cheer" is in the original building built by John Bowen in 1796. For this building he petitioned to the Chester County Court in that year "for license to keep a public house of entertainment." The 1963 rear addition houses the "Lighthouse Grill." The ship Inn was totally remodeled in 2000 as seafood and steaks.

Yes, I think a 212 year old Inn meets our requirements!

There are several different formal dining rooms in The Ship Inn, each with an open fireplace and unique decor true to its history. The Lighthouse Grill is the addition mentioned above where our dinner would be, as it will fit 50 people comfortably and that's what our guest list is looking like right now. Here are photos of the room from the website:

Not the greatest shot, but you can see that it is an open floorplan with lots of windows!

Behind the sign you can see the outside of the Lighthouse Grill, with a cute patio right outside.

We tested out the food last weekend with Mr. Cupcake's parents, and everything was delicious (not to mention the sublime desserts.... I suggested that we skip dinner altogether and just have a Rehearsal Dessert, but this idea was overruled :-) ) The service was professional and friendly with all of the servers dressed in a shirt and tie, and it was clear to us that they hold a very high standard of service so this is not something we would have to worry about. Basically, we were all sold and decided to look no further!

Our guests will be able to choose from a soup or salad, one of three entrees, and one of two desserts (*sigh...* we really have to narrow it down to two???). I'm really excited about another thing checked off the list, and I think The Ship Inn is exactly what we were looking for. I like that it's different from the rest of our wedding, and I'm already envisioning some cute nautical-themed invitations ;-)

Here are a few more photos I took while we were there (all exterior):


Did you have an easy time finding your rehearsal dinner location, or was your decision made quickly after testing out only one place, like us?

Impending Makeup Trial, 2.0

Next month I have a trial with a makeup artist who comes highly recommended by my Day of Coordinator. I am hoping for something a little less vampy than the result of my last trial, and I have been searching for lots of images to make sure this second trial doesn't go astray.

I found some great examples online of the type of makeup that I am looking for, but after finding a slew of inspiration images, I realized that I really needed to pay attention to the features of the people wearing the makeup. What looks good on blonde-haired-blue-eyed Reese Witherspoon will probably not look great on me.

I started seeking out images of celebrities who have features similar to mine — dark hair, fair skin, and big eyes. So far, these are the top contenders and the best examples of how I'd like my makeup to look on the wedding day (minus the obvious fact that I am not a celebrity!):

Marion Cotillard:

She has a wonderful glow about her — I like that the focus is always on her eyes, and the lips aren't quite natural but just have a little punch of color.

Rachel Bilson:

She wears the natural lip-color so well, and her eyes really POP!

Rachel Weisz:

She doesn't look overdone, and it's difficult to pinpoint how much makeup she's actually wearing. It just "fits" and it's just enough to bring out her best features.

Mandy Moore:

She does a smokey eye like nobody else can, but it never looks too gaudy or takes anything away from the rest of her great features.

Of all these contenders, do you have a favorite?

Sharing Holiday Traditions

Mr. Cupcake and I spent this past Easter weekend with his family in Central Pennsylvania. My family is not very religious, so over the years it has become standard for us to spend this holiday with his family every year. His is a family of strong traditions, and this weekend was no exception.

On Saturday, we visited with his extended family in Lancaster. The day consists of lots of food, catching up with family members (all of whom we were seeing for the first time since they received our save the dates, and everyone had great things to say), and having an Easter egg hunt for the little ones. At the moment, there are only two little ones, but everyone still pitches in to hide eggs and candy, and at one point there were five camera-wielding adults following these two little ones around while they filled their Easter baskets! It was quite the paparazzi moment.

One of the Easter Egg Hunt participants making off with some loot

The other EEH participant came prepared to deal with the slightly muddy conditions

Mr. Cupcake and me outside watching the kiddies

After returning to Mr. Cupcake's parents' house after the festivities, we got out the Paas and Doc Hinkles and got to work on our masterpieces, in the form of dyed hard boiled eggs. Mr. Cupcake and I are pretty competitive, so it always turns a little cutthroat. Here is a sampling of our work:

I swear, he doesn't always wear his York College sweatshirt... although you have seen it before in past posts

After our egg dyeing extravaganza, we got to bed fairly early, since we had to get up bright and early on Sunday morning for sunrise service at church. (Yes, I said SUNRISE! I am not, by any means, a morning person, so this is always quite a feat for me. I must say, I am a good trooper :-) ) I woke up Sunday morning to Mr. Cupcake coming in at 5:30 to tell me it was time to get up and giving me a kiss on the forehead. He then asked if the Easter Bunny came... you see, in Mr. Cupcake's family, the "Easter Bunny" always leaves an egg under your pillow, and an egg in your church shoes. To Mr. Cupcake, this tradition will never get old, even if he is 29 years old! (Sometimes it's just fun to act like little kids, ya know?) Playing along, I picked up my pillow and — oh my! — there was the egg I dyed with my name on it. Suspiciously, it was still cold, almost as if Mr. Cupcake had just put it there when he came to wake me up, but I guess the "Easter Bunny" just likes to keep his eggs refrigerated as long as possible.....

Sunrise service at FIL's Lutheran church is always nice once I've woken up a bit, and it's followed by breakfast in the basement of the church. Afterwards we headed home, and it was time to look for our Easter baskets. The "Easter Bunny" makes a basket for each of us and hides it for us to find. Mr. Cupcake, who has been watching his weight, got a nice polo shirt from the Gap and lots of Orville Redenbacher 100 calorie packs of popcorn. I got some cute leather flip flops from the Gap, a KitKat (my favorite!), a Reese's peanut butter cup (another favorite), nonpareils (oh yeah, I love those, too), and some jelly beans.

The Easter Bunny has good taste. I can't wait till it warms up so I can wear my new flops.

Then, it was naptime until an early dinner at Mr. Cupcake's grandmom's house. Needless to say, we were definitely not starving for a moment this weekend — there was always some yummy food or candy around. After his grandmom's, we made our almost-two-hour journey home, and called it a night. Next year's Easter will be filled with all of the same traditions — next time, though, we'll be married!

What new holiday traditions have you become a part of since combining your families? Do you take turns celebrating holidays with each other's families?

Brother & Sister-in-Law Cupcake's Fabulous Wedding

I posted a while ago about the venue envy I have for my brother's wedding venue, The Angel Orensanz Foundation in NYC. Wonderful Brother Cupcake and his fabulous wife (who first introduced me to Weddingbee) got married there last June, and it was a spectacular, beautiful day. It perfectly represented this hip, fun-loving couple, and I thought I'd share with you all some great photos from the day, all courtesy of Brian Dorsey Studios. I'm sure you'll be able to see why I was so envious of their spectacular day!

Before heading to the venue, the happy couple had their first meeting in a local park

Right before some rain stopped by, we were able to grab this great shot of the bridal party (Can you find Miss Cupcake? :-) )

Hanging out in the basement of Angel Orensanz while guests start arriving upstairs

A table shot — actually this is the table Mr. Cupcake and I sat at — we had a great view of the dance floor all night

Now THAT is a cupcake tower! Each cupcake had its very own bride-and-groom topper, which my sister-in-law hand-painted so they'd have brown hair, like her :-) (And that's her parents' cake topper on top, from their wedding 30 years earlier!)

A little model pose of Brother Cupcake. Even I have to admit, he's lookin' pretty dapper.

On the balcony where the cocktail hour was held, Brother and Sister-in-Law Cupcake put together this beautiful display of family wedding photos (and couples photos for people like me and Mr. Cupcake who aren't married quite yet)

The candy bar, before the guests got a hold of it

A full shot of the spectacular venue

Brother and Sister-in-Law Cupcake (also known as John and Kim) have entered their wedding in The Knot Real Wedding Awards. If you'd like to vote for them, create your profile here and then head on over to their entry page here to vote! The Cupcakes thank you for your support ;-)

All photos (c) brian dorsey studios

Not My Type

When Mr. Cupcake and I first met, neither of us was attracted to the other in a "you're my type" kind of way. On the contrary, we were completely NOT each other's type, at least in the superficial, physical sense.

Mr. Cupcake normally went for tan, beachy blonde types; I am pretty much as pale and brunette as they come. His fantasy celebrity picks do not, in the slightest, resemble me:

Marisa Miller.
She of Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated. Not gonna lie — she's definitely not ugly.

Melissa Joan Hart.
I totally don't get this one. I always found her kind of plain looking, but Mr. Cupcake has a thing for her. Interesting.

Bonnie Hunt.
I'm totally serious. He thinks she is so hot. I mean yeah, she isn't bad looking and she has a great sense of humor, but celebrity-fantasy worthy? Strange.

Mr. Cupcake is not that far off from the type of guy I normally found myself attracted to.... except for one thing.

In college, I had a hard-and-fast rule that I'd steer clear of Abercrombie-wearing, Jeep-driving guys, because they seemed to be the bad boys that would only hurt you.

What did Mr. Cupcake's wardrobe mainly consist of when we met? Abercrombie. And what did he drive? A Jeep Wrangler.

We often laugh about how we're so different from who we expected to end up with, yet somehow we are a perfect fit. I realized Mr. Cupcake's Abercrombie clothes and big ol' Jeep didn't define him, and I guess he found something he liked about me under my dark brown hair and pale skin :-)

Are you and your mister each other's "type"?

The Key to Our Invitation Design

We're now about six months away from the wedding; I really want to (and need to) get serious about our invitation design soon, but I have just been so stuck. Perhaps I put too much pressure on myself, but I want to come up with something that is more than just a pretty design. I want it to tell a story.

The response to our save the dates has been wonderful, and I know that people are expecting something equally spectacular for our invitations, given my line of work. Actually, it's not the other people I'm trying to please, so much as I don't want to disappoint myself. I love what I do for a living and now I have the perfect opportunity to put my expertise to use to create something that truly represents Mr. Cupcake and me.

I love Miss Lovebug's "Sweetest Type of Love" theme and Miss Penguins adorable birds that grace her invitations. I have been keeping my "vintage charm meets modern whimsy" vision in the back of my mind throughout the wedding planning process, and I think this will be evident in our cut glass candle holders, my dress, and the bridesmaid's dresses. But I haven't been able to come up with an image or motif that will really tie everything together, one that could be used on our invitations, menus, favors, and all the other paper madness I plan to bury myself under. I toyed with the idea of using vintage buttons, which I might still incorporate somewhere, but there are only so many places I can use buttons, and I am not sure that the image of buttons translates well to an invitation design. And I don't think I can afford hundreds and hundreds of real vintage buttons to place on everything imaginable.

But today, I think I found what I've been looking for.

Thanks to fellow Philadelphian Joy of the Oh Joy! blog, I came across this today:

Image from Oh Joy!

Vintage keys. Yes! They're vintage (duh), they're pretty, they have that whole "key to my heart" undertone. They are comprised of some interesting shapes that could lend themselves to some really beautiful design that wouldn't get stale from piece to piece. And I think I can make them work without being cheesy or too "key to my heart."


Thoughts? Opinions? (Kind) words of disdain? ;-) Let me hear it!

Wedding Arches

I am not having an outdoor wedding, but I came across these arch structures on the Smith & Hawken website today that look a lot like some wedding arches I have seen, minus the flowers:


This is certainly not cheap at the sale price of $391 (down from $489), but for a bride who might be looking for a structurally sound arch that can be used as a backyard accent for years to come, this might do the trick!