Weddings and a Carrot Cake

It's wedding season, guys.
Seriously...when I was at Target the other day they were selling bride themed bikinis in the swimsuit section. (Don't ask me why I was at Target. Or in the swimsuit section. Who needs to go shopping? Who needs a new swimsuit? NO one, that's who.)
But yes, I digress. Weddings. Summer is in full swing and here in the Pacific Northwest when the weather gets sunnier everyone goes a little twitterpated and wants to get hitched. It's cute.
And really, everyone likes to go to a good wedding. It's perfected fun, right? We've been carefully crafting the art of wedding celebrations since the beginning of time and boy has it paid off. And there is almost always cake.

Cake!
I got to make a wedding cake this past weekend for a friend of mine. The first time I made a carrot cake and brought it to a get together at Kyle's house years ago he found me and said, "Candice, when I get married I want you to make this carrot cake." I laughed and replied with an "Ok!" thinking that he would forget all about it.

He didn't. Three years later he met his lovely wife, Velina. They did their cute falling in love thing, got engaged, and started planning a wedding. And who did they ask to make their cake? Me!! I was so excited and a little humbled.
Oh.
And really nervous.
But it turned out to be really fun and rewarding. Everyone loved it, the bride and groom were super thankful and it was a happy wedding.

My sister actually was the photographer and my mom helped with the garden preparations so it was a regular family gig! Laura and I were pretty excited because we have always wanted to retire and start a wedding planning/photo/cake business after we grow old and grouchy from being in the education system for years.
(Yeahhhhh we haven't even started teaching and we already are planning for retirement. It's pretty sad.)
ANYWAY!

It was a blast, Laura took beautiful pictures, I brought a decent looking (and great tasting) cake, everyone had the time of their lives and swore it was the nicest wedding they had ever attended.
Or at least, until the next wedding...which was about 24 hours later. ;)

I did it!

I have finally done it...it's been on my bucket list for years and it's always been something I've dreamed of doing and now it's done!
I made a wedding cake.
:D
Ok, so it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but the good news is I get to do another one in November.

Amy and Max were such a nice couple and their wedding was sweet and fun. I saw them last Sunday a few days after they got back from their honeymoon and they looked so happy. I was really blessed to be able to do all their wedding food. A thousand thanks, Mr and Mrs Ford! :)

The Menu:

Mini Quiches

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Mushroom and Brie Tarts

Fruit Kabobs

Pesto Rolls

Wedding Cake! ;) (White chocolate raspberry and coconut layers)
Lemonade Sherbet Punch

The camera died really early on into the whole event so I have very few pictures of the food. :( But the reviews were all raving and lots of people came up to me this week to tell me how tasty it was. I was so happy it went so well since I was sick the day of the wedding and was stressing out the entire time. Lots of prayers were sent my way and they worked! Thanks everyone... <3

Mini Quiches with Swiss, Cheddar and Ham

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus right before they headed into the oven. These were a hit! Everyone I talk to mentions how good these are.

Layering the cake to make sure it's all to scale...

Royal icing flowers for the cake drying

And of course, the cake itself. Sorry for the AWFUL picture. Like I said, the camera died at this point. :( And I think it tasted better than it looked. Heh.