You're Invited: Mid Michigan Bridal Shower

Saturday, April 27, 2013

My fabulous mother is throwing me a bridal shower up north as well! We figured my up north and east side family wouldn't want to come all the way to GR twice, so we thought we'd make it easier on them this way. She's already started creating some fun centerpieces and decorations (I helped a bit when I was home for a little while last week) and I am excited. We also went and checked out the location, the Mannsiding Lodge in Harrison. Hopefully we'll have some nice spring weather to go along with it too.

My first shower is coming right up too, just a little over a week from now, I'm super excited to see everyone and even meet a few new members of my soon-to-be family :) And THIS weekend, we are going to CityFlats to do our tasting so we can start planning our dinner menu. I'm going to try to let Mike take the lead, since I'm kind of dictating EVERYTHING lately. We'll see how that goes... ;)

Honeymoon: Maui or Oahu?

How do we decide?!?

I think we've finally picked a destination for our honeymoon. I've wanted to go here from the beginning but I think Mike is finally on board too. It's a little pricier but man, I'm sure it's worth it because Hawaii is just so amazing! We're going to go to either Oahu or Maui, but we can't decide which. We have two packages from our travel agent that are about the same price, so now we just have to choose.

First of all, there's Oahu. The biggest cities and the most people are on Oahu, as well as the memorial at Pearl Harbor. We'd stay away from the cities at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore, but we are getting a car so we can still come back to the city to see the sites. There's lots to do and see here.

^The city of Waikiki on Oahu.

^The Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

Then there's Maui. My mom and sister went there and I THINK Mom said she liked it better than the Big Island a bit, and I hear it's a great place to honeymoon as well. There's tons of things to see and do here too, and with a car, that will be easier as well.

^Such an awesome looking place!

^The Road to Hana on Maui.

We can do a lot of things we'd love to do (go hiking/exploring, whale watching, fishing, snorkling, horseback riding, etc.) on both islands. And I'm sure they are both gorgeous. How in the world are we going to pick?!?!

UpdateFebruary 26, 2013
Yesterday, I asked our travel agent, Kristen Bailey of Travel Bug LLC, to check about adding an extra day to the Maui trip and low and behold, the trip's price had gone down by $600!!! So we are going with Maui!Yay!!! I really can't wait to be there, it's so gorgeous, I can tell. And there's go to be so much to do, we should really stay for two weeks... :)

Oole's Disney Princess Bachelorette Party

February 9, 2013

We had a great time at Oole's bachelorette party. The week before her wedding (only 4 more days!), it seems appropriate to share some of her wedding stuff instead of just mine, so here it is! Thome and I decided on a modern-day Disney princess theme, and some of the girls did a great job carrying it out! We did our best not to make it obvious what we were doing. We hung out at the hotel for a bit, doing a few shots and drinking a little wine, then played 'Pin the Light Saber on the Jedi' in honor of Oole and Andy's movie loves. And then we had dinner at Bobarino's and danced at Crush until we were ready to head back to the hotel. All in all, a wonderful evening!

^Princess Leia (Disney bought the rights to Star Wars, remember?), Tinkerbell, and Belle.

^Megara, Cinderella, and Pocahontas.

^Our lovely bride-to-be as Aurora (Sleeping Beauty).

^Bridesmaid gifts.

^The bride and her bridesmaids.

^The whole Disney ladies/bachelorette party crew.

^Starting "Pin the Light Saber on the Jedi" game that Thome came up with!

Wedding Favors

Cake Pops

I love cake. Cupcakes, cake, cake pops, cake batter ice cream, cookies made with cake batter... everything. It's not an unknown fact that I have quite a sweet tooth, and mixing that with the fact that I know wedding favors do NOT get taken by guests unless you can eat them, I've decided on cake pops for my wedding favors. My cake baker (Desserts by Lori, who is amazing!) and the few other people I've priced are just a little too high on cake pops for what I want to spend for favors. While my attitude is mostly to let the professionals take care of my wedding so I don't have to worry about , this time I am going to put my work into the mix. My plan is to get myself a BabyCakes cake pop maker this weekend, and with all the parties I have coming up (my two showers, jewelry party, etc), I should have lots of reason to practice my cake pop baking and decorating skills.

Above, you will see the two photos I found that I think I would like to use for my wedding cake pop favors. I'm thinking vanilla cake with blue colored frosting and white drizzles (see left) and white frosting and either some blue sprinkles or some edible blue glitter (see right). I will only have to buy the ingredients, cellophane and ribbon to wrap them in, and some 'thank you' cards (via my photo lab) for the finishing touch. On 'cake pop day' (officially schedule for June 6, 2013), I'm sure I'll get some awesome friends and family to work the cake pop assembly line with me. Making favors can be an ambitious undertaking, but when it comes to baking, I think I can manage. I'm super excited now!

And while we are talking about cake anyway (and so I don't forget to show this photo to Lori when June 8 gets closer), I LOVE the design elements on this cake! Love the colors. Oh Lori...!

 

Update
February 28, 2013

For those of you JUST reading this or checking back, my cake pop experiment was a little less successful than I had hoped it would be. Although it's a fun little thing to try, I don't have the time to practice between now and June 8. See? Sometimes you just have to learn to leave it to the professionals. Tomorrow, I've got an appointment at the Holland Cakery (thanks Thome!) to try out their cake pops, which are much more affordable and hopefully fabulously tastey. Can't wait!

Oh yeah, but I STILL love the designs of that cake above. SOOOO perfect!