The Best Thank You!

For a wedding vendor, there is nothing better than receiving a note from a bride or groom detailing their joy with your work. When I opened my email and received the following from a previous bride, I was of course, thrilled that they enjoyed my creations so immensely, but I was also reminded of why I love my job so much. The opportunity to be involved in some of the happiest moments of my clients lives, from new babies, to weddings and everything in between, is a never-ending thrill. Thank YOU, Marjorie, for choosing me to create your wedding cakes!

"Dear Anita,

Ryan, our families and I cannot thank you and your husband enough for our two divine, delicious and highly detailed cakes on May 28th, 2011!! The fern cake was elegant, delicate and perfectly fit into our wedding theme. The UVa football stadium was ABOVE and BEYOND what we ever imagined! The lights? The UVa good old song? The field, the fans and the colonnade? The deep, delicious red velvet? Seriously, it was one of the many highlights of the wedding and many, many people refereneced how fabulous it was. I know that Patricia Lyons will have many photos of it, so we will make sure to connect you.

As well, on Sunday May 29th, it was so lovely to run into your husband and your daughter to get to discuss the amazing depth of engineering that went on to get this cake to perfection. It was really a family effort and we utterly appreciate your time, energy and creativity!

More photos to come!"

Scott Stadium...in Cake!

When I met Marjorie, her mom, and her fiance, Ryan last year we had a great time tasting different cake options and mixing and matching until we came up with the perfect wedding cake for Marjorie and Ryan. She had decided on a cake decorated in a fern motif...easy, peasy, I knew I could handle that!

Then she mentioned that she wanted a cake in the shape of Scott Stadium..."uhhh, no problem," I answered. And with that we were off. As her wedding date neared this cake was on my mind, morning, noon and night! I had to get blueprints from the University (it had to be 100% to scale and accurate), licenses for the logos (we wanted to keep everything Kosher) and I must have driven by Scott Stadium dozens of times (to get a feel for the real thing!). We spent hours online looking for lights (oh yes, this stadium had real working lights blazing over the field) and a way to play the University of Virginia fight song (it played back with the push of a button).

This cake had to be one of the largest undertakings I have had to date. Over 18 sheet cakes and 12 batches of buttercream...this cake fed over 300 people! The sheer size was just to provide all of the detail that we wanted to incorporate.

Some of the biggest challenges I knew I was going to face were the pergola at the entrance, as well as the fact that Scott Stadium is at street level on the student side and below ground on the opposite side.

So without further adieu, here are pics of the Scott Stadium. I will be blogging about some of my trials and tribulations and some pics of the process soon, but here is the finished product so expertly photographed by Patricia Lyons Photography Thank you Patricia, for capturing the Scott Stadium so perfectly. When I heard you were photographing it, my worries were washed away!