Engagement pics.... Finally!

Sorry for the big time slacking, but I have an excuse, I promise! My three jobs (yeah, I know, everyone else thinks I'm crazy too) are really starting to pick up, and on top of that Mike and I are moved! Its just a hop, skip and a jump away from where we w before, but its saving me about 20 minutes on my daily commute. It's been pretty crazy around here!

On with the good stuff!

Dylan and his assistant Robin from Onion Studios did a great job with the pictures, and the best part was it was free with our wedding photo package! Yay! We got a CD of all the digital negatives to do with what we please. So, without further ado here's a sampling of our favorites. One of these lovelies made its way onto the 250 Thank you notes that we won, thanks to Pamela! Thanks!

Engagement Session at Knox Farm State Park

I was so excited today to find that our cd of enagement pictures arrived in the mail today! Here's a sneak peek... no fair showing all of you before Mike even gets to see them!

Mmm Cake! -or- How I sometimes succeed at baking

After the picture of the delicious chocolate cake in my last post taunted me for a good week or so, I decided that for Mike's birthday, I was going to try making a chocolate layer cake with berries in the middle. Mike's not big on many berries besides strawberries, so thats what it was.

I have been failing a lot lately while trying to bake new things. Bread- refused to rise. Cookies- sunk in the middle. Sweet potato cinnamon buns- refused to rise. I blame it on a combination of a damp basement door where I store my packets of yeast and lack of proper baking tools, like a sifter or mixer. I was nervous about the cake, but I figured I hadn't killed Mike with any of my concoctions yet, so what the hey. There's always Wegman's for back up.

I chose this recipe and got to work. I decided just to use the directions for the actual cake part. I wanted to make my own filling and Mike has chosen a can of chocolate cream cheese frosting while we were at the store. I followed the directions as best I could, and ended up with a batter that was light and creamy like mousse. Pop in to the oven and out came...
two pretty little cakes! So far so good!

Then I added whipped cream and sliced strawberries to the middle. I think in the future whipped cream won't be the choice because it quickly started melting after this picture was taken.
Oh, the layers even lined up without cutting or anything! Last step was to add the canned frosting. I think I got it figuring if the cake tasted bad, we could always eat the frosting out of the can with a spoon. I might just do this anyway...Ta da! Finished cake!

Or should I say, nearly finished?

Groom's cake? That's the big white one...

What the man wants.

Even though it's not up there on our to-do list for now, Mike and I have been discussing cake. For me, the cake wasn't a big deal. There had been talk of Bridesmaid Jenny making it, so I was thinking of something somewhat simple so it wouldn't be too difficult for her. I was thinking something like this. (We already have some logs- but need to get them cut!)

Via Once Wed

I liked the rough edges of the buttercream and the idea of multiple cakes. Mike, however had different ideas. He wanted a wedding cake. As in multiple stacked layers, with a smooth white surface. Because, he said, when else in your life do you get to have a cake like that? Fair enough.

So far, this has been one of a few things that Mike has been very specific about, and I wasn't that attached to the other idea, so we'll go with the big white cake. I do like that one pictured at the top. I had no feelings of loss... until I saw this on the Wish Special Events website:
Drool.... So, I have decided. At this wedding, the "grooms cake" will be the big white one and the bride's cake will be chocolate and berries. Yum. So Bridesmaid Jenny, even if you can't take on the big white stacked one, do you think you could make this deliciousness for me?

Do you know what these are called?

Mike and I have been working on the design for our wedding decor. Lanterns are up there on the list of design elements. I haven't been able to find quite what I'm looking for yet, but I'm still searching. One of the types of lanterns I stumbled on today is pictured below. Its different than many others that I have seen and may have a place in our design... if I only knew what they are called so I can search out some more! Any ideas?

Will you marry....... us?

Now that we have the location and photographer down, I'm working on checking other things off my list. Next up, officiant.



Neither Mike or I a very "churchy" people, so we neither have a priest that we know nor really want one. Our wedding will be meaningful and symbolic, but secular.

That leaves a professional wedding officiant or a justice of the peace.

A wedding officiant could be nice because we'd have some time to get to know them ahead of time and because they have had experience with designing meaningful, secular ceremony. Biggest downfall? Its not the cheapest option.

A justice of the peace is a much cheaper option, but that means a much simpler, less flexible ceremony. (I think? I admit, I haven't contacted any of them yet.) But, it still might not be the best option.

The last possibility is to have a friend or family member get an online certificate to be a wedding officiant. After several times reading the law about who is able to officiate, calling local officials and checking my wedding blog resources, its still unclear to me whether or not this is legal. I asked my mom to check around with the friendly neighborhood family lawyers and see what they say. In the mean time, the person who I originally had in mind is unable to do this for us, so its back to the drawing board on this idea too.

So, if anyone has had any experience with J.O.Ps in Livingston County, or is familiar with any of the professionals in the Rochester area, I'd more than welcome some recommendations!

Exactly 11 months to go...

So far we have the location, photographer and... as of last week, the dress!! I purchased a store sample off E-bay of the exact Maggie Sottero dress I wanted, in my size, for less than half the price I would have paid if I had bought it new! Fabulous!

It arrived in the mail last Wednesday and I was thrilled. I ran right upstairs after camp to check it out. Mike was confused by the deceptively small box, but there it was in perfect shape! It will need a few alterations, but then it will be perfect!