Wedding Day...Happy Day!

Welcome back! Oh my, I have had the most wonderful 2 weeks known to my 29 years of existence! Although this is a baking blog, I am going to blog about our wonderful wedding, and yes, there was baking involved, so its not all about wedding bliss! As I have been saying for the last year, we got married on June 12 and it was truly without a doubt, the best day of my life! I wasn't sure what people were talking about when they said their wedding day was the best day of their life, it seemed like a lot of stress and work, but now, having experienced it, I can agree, simply magical! It was as if I woke up Saturday morning and all of the worries I had the day before were just gone and all I could think about was getting all dolled up to walk down the aisle to my hubby in shining armour, or shining suit I should say.

The week before our wedding started my blissful state. My wonderful mother came down a week in advance and helped me finish up the last minute details and help keep me calm and focused with the upcoming incidentals I would soon learn about in the days before the wedding. My dearest best friend, Crystal came as well the week before, and believe me when I say she was a God-send! She was the level headed one omungst occasional chaos. She reminded me to eat, drink, work-out, and BREATH! All very important!

 my mom & Crystal-BEAUTIFUL!

My family rented this big house in which anyone and everyone could stay in. My hubby went down with his wonderful family early on in the week. I must give credit to his brother who was truly amazing to both Barry and me, and us gals along with my fabulous dad came down a couple of days later. There was more food than can be imagined, thanks to my food-loving parents, and there were people in and out all day long! My best friend & sis: Cori, and two more of my very dear friends, Sarah (photo contributor) and Carolyn came 2 days before the wedding and all of us cooked and ate as though it was the last supper! The boys golfed to their hearts content and us girls watched SATC 2, got our nails done and chatted until our jaws hurt!

my mom & dad-aren't they cute!

Barry with my mom-I love their smiles! 

myself and Brian (Barry's brother)-baby blue eyes!

my sister Cori & her boyfriend Bim

Barry's parents

At the nail shop! Sarah, Cori, me, Carolyn, & Crystal 

with Allison shooting the photo from her spa chair.

 me with my mom

SARAH! This is why I love her, always happy, it's contagious!

my sis, my mom, me & Carolyn-look at all that blonde!

The day before the wedding provided for some emotional challenges as this was the day I was to frost and decorate our wedding cake. What started out as a rough start...(12 eggs, 2 lbs of butter, and a mound of sugar that never quite formed Swiss meringue buttercream)...ended with 2 more wonderful friends Allison {whom her and her husband Pete took 95% of the pictures on my post (over 700 total pics!)-THANK YOU!} and Brook (with husband Nate-also photo contributors), as well as my brother Todd (photo contributor), and finally Crystals mom Becky-who let me tell you brings a wonderful energy to any gathering, who all made it down for the perfect pre-wedding dinner. Please note...that was the longest run-on sentence in the history of the English language! My mom planned a wonderful meal and Barry manned the meat station and everyone pitched in to help cook and devour the meal! It was so fun! We ended the night with gifts for all of those who played such an important role in our wedding, tears of joy, and cake decorating. It is funny how after a couple glasses of wine, my frosting disaster of the morn seemed not so bad and I managed to frost and decorate our wedding cake in the wee hours of the morning with the help of Sarah & Carolyn and their sugar pearl placing expertise!

 Yummy, yummy! All of is joined around the food!

 me with the meat carver-delish hunny! 

My sis with the meat man! Delish hunny!

Allison and me-Isn't she beautiful! 

my brother Todd & mom

Brook & hubby Nate

Javier (Crystal's boyfriend and Barry's golfing buddy) & Barry

Crystal and me with her mom Becky

brotherly love part 1

brotherly love part 2

As I said, our wedding day was truly magical...we spent the last year (and then some) planning a truly DIY wedding on a tight budget, you know Martha Stewart style (whom I long to be one day, haha). I am proud to say we did it, with a LOT of help from all of our loved ones! My final dear friend Julie (and husband Nat who also took a bunch of photos) made it into town early Saturday morning and from that point on, the troops were out! While Crystal and I spent our afternoon at the beauty salon, my sis assumed her wedding planner/florist duties of the day and executed all of my many pages of directions and diagrams for the perfect set-up! While Barry and the rest of the boyfriends/husbands were up in trees and on latters hanging lanterns and lights, the ladies were organizing tables galore, all the while Bim mixed up a pre-wedding jam session! All to create the wedding of my/our dreams. I truly can't thank everyone enough for all that they did! After my hair and make-up, we rushed to the venue, I set up our cake, took some pictures, and awaited my trip down the aisle. I couldn't help but shed tears of joy as I walked down the aisle to my handsome Barry standing under this gorgeous tree scattered with white paper lanterns that was just a stones throw to the ocean. The rest of the night was complete bliss and then I blinked and it was all over. It is crazy how quickly 5 hours will go by! Well, I think the pictures will do justice how it all turned out.
Pre-wedding:

In the fridge...check out the cute bouts as well!

Putting on the final touches! 

The bouquet (left) with the tossing bouquet (right).

My do for I do! Brandy Michele did an amazing job on my hair and make-up! This is at its prime, with the amount I danced, it was ready to be done by the end of the night!

My mom got me all ready to go.

Look at that GORGEOUS bouquet, I told you my sis is good!

Ceremony: 

 Paper lanterns strung perfectly by Barry & the boys!

Yellow mum kissing balls, Cori knows I love these!

Aren't they handsome?

both with tears...

My brother read the most beautiful poem.

Sealed with a kiss!

Reception:

 flower garlands

Our cake: vanilla bean cake with Swiss meringue buttercream, sugar pearls in two sizes and a beautiful white sugar rose made by the wonderful Sweet & Saucy Shop in Long Beach, CA.

My bouquet: made by my extremely talented & artistic sister of smell. floral design studio. All of the flower components were designed by my sis as well!

Favors: chocolate chip cookie in glassine bags sealed with our custom designed 
wedding embossed stickers.

Gift Table: This picture was one of our engagement pictures taken by 
our photographer Bob MaciasBeneath is a gorgeous stained glass 
setting around our invitation which was made by Becky.

Our escort table: butterfly placecards on a moss mat, two beautiful calla lily arrangements, and our second favor. I used mason jars for all of the candles and table arrangements; therefore, I wanted to allow for people to take the arrangements and have a complete jar, so we attached a canning recipe from either: my sis, my mom, Barry's mom or me, with a ribbon tied around the mason jar lid.

Our bar: We had a signature cocktail-Seagrams Sweet Tea Vodka with lemonade, yummy! 
We also got Cupcake vineyards cab and SKN chardonnay because they 
happened to have orange and yellow labels!

:

The tables: All arrangements by Cori. Scalloped bag luminaries with LEDs and weighted with sand. Custom wedding embossed napkins and water bottles, and tented table numbers weighted with 4oz mason jars with and LED inside to illuminate.

Speeches & Dinner Photos:

Our MC/DJ Bim

Let Them Eat Cake!

  A girl likes her cake!

I told you the cake was a success!

Girl Put Your Record On...

our first dance

Remix!

go mama!

Hit it!

Pete! The man with the cam! Thank you for all the amazing pics! 

The next day we made our way to Hawaii for a fabulous 6 day honeymoon. Splendid! I was pleasantly suprised to see cupcakes in Hawaii, I did not have one, however, we did have some of the best fudge I have ever sunk my teeth into! We ate until we could eat no more, and that is one fabulous honeymoon! 

Well, enjoy the great pictures and I want to give a special thank you again to everyone who made our wedding perfect, especially you my hubby! We love you all! 

P.S. I will post the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe I use. It will become your favorite frosting to eat, but likely your least favorite to make. Word to the wise, when it is humid, chose another frosting, this one will give you a new gray hair, and we don't want that now do we! I am excited to kick my baking butt back into high gear, so stay tuned for sweet treats from my house to your virtual belly...happy baking...happier eating!