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From someone who just got married 6 mo ago...
Do not let any of your family/friends do it UNLESS they really are professional bakers.... and they live on island.
Our wedding tasted wonderful but the 2 tier cake looked like Carrie's house foundation. Tasted wonderful... frosting and 1 tier was sliding off.
(We weren't trying to be cheap just had one friend, and one relative that are professionals that were supposed to do it and friend's hubby was in hospital and cancelled trip, and relative was flying space A, and didnt get her flight... so my mom did it without adult supervision. My friend Kele rescued it with lots of flowers... but I cried.)
Although your guests may not know or care, it is a detail to this day that bothers me when I look at the pics or talk about it because I worked in the event planning field, and planned beautiful weddings for people.
it's kinda like when Robert looks at homeowner's work and rolls his eyes. Most people dont notice the details that take it from everyday to craftsmanship, but we do. And I did on that horrible cake.
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We are planning our civil union ceremony and were referred to: teena@teenascakes.com; teena@hawaiiantel.net (987-5273). Have not yet tasted her cake(s), but she comes very highly recommended. Not sure about prices, though.
Sorry to hijack YG's thread, but what about catering? Any recommendations?
ETA: Congratulations, YG!
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
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Interesting thread!
Do yurts have thresholds?
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Aloha Carey  I figured a cake was a cake and this one was for a wedding... so I called it a wedding cake. Learning the lessons as we go! Csgray, thank you for the CL lead. I'll check out the link. It's the same situation with us, Kapohocat! We planned to have my dear friend do the cake who is a pro, artistic baker in AZ, but she can't make it now. Last minute hiccup. At least we have a bit of time. Just one cake is all we want. One nice, not extravagant, simple but classy cake.  and I do think I'm going to start asking around for 'birthday cakes' instead.
The most memorable wedding cake for me? My baker friends wedding, actually. She's a feisty redhead, we walked into the big den where the cake was waiting to be stacked about an hour before the big moment, and caught her dad's big chocolate lab halfway through chowing down the middle layer of the three layer, dark chocolate cake! I'm surprised that dog survived, both the chocolate intake AND my feisty red headed friend!
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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We should probably start another thread or go to an existing one for the yurt q's Paulw, but quick answer - yurts can have pretty much anything we design them to have. Most do have thresholds. Catering is on topic as far as I'm concerned. Caterers would probably know someone w good prices!
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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YG,
Keep us posted on what you end up with, we have a small family wedding coming up in October and I don't want to spend a fortune on the cake either.
Don't forget to have fun at your own wedding, we had a blast at our wedding 22 years ago because we kept it all fairly low key: we bought a cake, a keg and a case of champagne, I wore my mother's wedding dress, and the food was "gourmet potluck". My husband raided friends rose gardens for my bouquet and other friends brought instruments and played music all night, it was one of the best parties ever and no one had a melt down.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Ahhh, that sounds lovely carol! Ours is relatively simple and mostly traditional, but still plenny stresses! It will all work out in the end though. Jupe and I are pulling together, that's the most important thing! He's a rare man, willing to help, patient and handsome to boot!
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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If you are looking at a tiered cake, you are looking at more that one cake, set on platforms.
One of our friends made tiered cakes, and she used much the same technique as this video to tie the cakes together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qu9ZtV51RM
We just had the cakes on platforms on a floral decorated oak branch, sorta like the bottom right on this link:
http://www.cakechannel.com/unique-big-we...tures.html
PS one of the reasons wedding cakes are $$$ is the value of a "picture perfect" cake... the baker is expected to produce perfection, and some will even have 2 cakes made for each custom order, just in case....
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Thanks so much Punawebbers! I couldn't have done it without you! Good links, Carey - I decided on the platform cake simply because of the ease of transporting, storing and setting up just before the event. If I had more time to take some hobbies on, I'd seriously look at becoming a specialized cake maker and decorator! It looks fun to me. Of course stressful too, but what career that deals with creating isn't?
In the end, we have decided to go with Teena(Thanks for the tip KaniLehua!). After talking with her over the phone and seeing some pics of her work, I think we'll be very happy. She's willing to lend us the short pillars for tiers, cake knives, etc. for just a deposit, and she's given a lot of excellent tips on how to cut the cake, how to serve it, how to store and transport it, etc. Wonderful! And very willing to customize and work with our budget. I feel like its in good hands.
We went to Lanky's bakery in Hilo, too. Their cakes were *FAR* more reasonably priced, and she gave good tips about going with a small, tiered, wedding cake and then a sheet cake for the bulk (same good taste, not as fancy, but more economical) which I thought was a great idea. But the decorating wasn't what we'd hoped for there. We'd have probably gone with them and just a very simple cake with our own decorations added later if we hadn't found Teena. Teena will do a leaf and vine detail around the cake and then we'll decorate at the site with anthuriums, orchids, uluhe curls and strawberries.
ps, Carol and Kani Lehua, Teena also does catering!
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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