Wedding Planning|Wedding Planning & Wedding Advice

I was recently in a candy store that had an old collection of PEZ dispensers on display and saw a PEZ version of a bride and groom, which I thought would make an excellent wedding cake topper for the couple with a sweet tooth.

Here is an example of a bride and groom PEZ couple.

Good luck getting this one on your cake, the original sells for about $3500 now according to an article at money.cnn.com.

You can get re-issues of this PEZ design – check ebay or pezcollectors.com – as of writing this article they both had a set available for around $20.00.

In fact an entire sweet theme, would be kind of – well, sweet.

Set up a candy station

You can select candies that match your wedding colors and let guests fill up their own goodie bags as tasty wedding favors!

Visit ohnuts.com for great tips for how to set up your own candy station.

ohnuts.com

Personalized Sweets

An Australian company will make you personalized candy (the candy below says Ben ‘hearts’ Renee).

sticky.com.au

Or use candy as the centerpieces for your tables instead of flowers

www.wanderfuls.com

Check out this candy wedding cake

The perfect foundation for a sweet wedding cake topper, from the very talented people at Cakelava. Check out their blog for a taste of all the great cakes they make!

Favor everyone with a kiss

Another wedding favor idea – a large Hershey’s Kiss at each place setting. At under 30 dollars for eighteen kisses, this is a very affordable wedding favor.

candywarehouse.com

Another option from Hershey’s…

wrappedhersheys.com

Gifts for the wedding party

Dylan’s Candy Bar has yummy jewelry at their online store. Here are just two examples to whet your appetite.

dylanscandybar.com

dylanscandybar.com

It all started with a previous post, “Fairy Tale Weddings Part 2” and this image of a wedding cake topper of a bride and groom on a tandem bike:

Since then, I’ve received so many questions about where to buy this tandem bicycle wedding cake topper! The problem is, while I found the image in a few different places online – no one had credited it with a source so I have no idea where you can buy one! I just tried again and still, no luck, but I did find some appealing alternatives:

Vintage Style

This bicycle built for two is handmade in France. It is only 2.5″ tall so may not be appropriate for all cakes (it would still make a great gift if the newlyweds are bicycle enthusiasts). You can purchase it online at fancyflours.com (based out of Montana).

fancyflours.com

Motorcycle

For motorcycle enthusiasts, a hand painted porcelain topper:

weddingdesigner.com

Personalized

You can order personalized figurines to top your cake from magicmud.com (based out of Toronto, Canada). These wedding cake toppers can include lots of details unique to the wedding couple, including pets.

magicmud.com

Happy Trails

For the mountain biking couple, you can buy this cake topper at ebay (for the next 23 days). If it’s not still there, contact the seller (maybe she has more?).

Built For Two, Just For You

I have also found an Etsy member who will build you a custom made tandem bicycle like the one below. You can contact her through her Etsy store.

qtiff at etsy

Inspiration

If you’d like to incorporate your love for pedals, spokes, and all things bicycle into your wedding – I have found some great examples during my search for the elusive wedding cake topper…

Go to “Handmade Weddings: A Last-Minute Article About My Last-Minute Wedding” for details about two Etsy employees who celebrate their wedding surrounded by friends, bicycles, and paper airplanes.

etsy.com

Or, read “A Handmade American Wedding” - writer Katie’s account of her sister’s wedding. The couple saved up all summer to buy a tandem bike as their wedding gift to each other – and used it to get from the church to the reception!

www.makingthishome.com

Related articles

• Unique Cake Topper Is The New Trend For Cakes Now | Cook Kit (cookkit.net)
• “Unveiling Weddings” Book Launches (myweddingideas.net)
• Amazing Theme Cakes (bizarrebytes.com)
• Getting Our Birds in a Row (weddingbee.com)
• Tips to Personalize Your Wedding (myweddingideas.net)

Other Takes on the Wedding Cake

Before I actually began planning my wedding I had all sorts of exciting ideas for wedding cakes (or substitutes thereof). However, when it came down to it I decided to go with a traditional tiered cake – a decision based on my plans to only get married once so I figured it would be my only chance to do it the traditional way. Should things not work out, here are some of the options I had considered and might go with the next time around (just kidding, honey!).

These  cake alternatives would also be wonderful for an engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, or stag/stagette.

For the Hostess With the Mostest

I love this idea – it’s cute, it’s fun and it’s made up of some of my favorite treats! The cake pictured below was crafted by Phil Delaplane, an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America (and, incidentally, also the groom!).

hostesscakes.com

This type of cake would also work well with a cartoonish or funny cake topper. Here are two that I think would work very well, both from weddingstar.com.

weddingstar.com

A Cheeky Topper

"The Love Pinch" weddingstar.com

The Cupcake Cake

This choice is actually becoming very popular. It’s great because it’s self-serve!

Some couples have both – a traditional cake as well as a tiered cupcake tower.

affordableutahweddings.com

Flowers are a great wedding cake topper for a cupcake wedding cake. I also like this option from topperswithglitz.com.

Modern Monogram from topperswithglitz.com

The cupcakes can also double as wedding favors as well if you supply something to take the cake home in, like this large gold frosted to go box – the perfect size for a single cupcake.

alloccasionsgiftware.com

And if you’re wondering where the saying that something “takes the cake” comes from, check out this explanation from phrases.org.uk:

As early as the 5th century BC the Greeks used ‘take the cake’ as symbolic of a prize for a victory. In 420 BC the Greek Aristophanes wrote ‘The Knights’, which was a criticism of the powerful Athenian politician Cleon:  ”If you surpass him in impudence the cake is ours.”

The same site also talks about the American tradition of:

…cake-walk strutting competitions [where] couples would be judged on their style in the ‘cake-walk’. The winners were said to have ‘taken the cake’, which was often the prize.

Last week, in the first part of our Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst series, we focused on The Bride. This week we focus on one of my favorite topics, food.

Part 2: FOOD

A good meal goes a long way to a great wedding!

Tips

1. Select a menu that your guests will enjoy – consider age range, lifestyle, etc.

2. Butter cream frosting and real whipped cream are tastier than their counterparts, but they do not have staying power. You can have your tasty cake and eat it , too, but make sure your venue will have room in the refrigerator and limit the display time before the cake cutting begins (particularly if the venue is warm – and most are…). While we’re on the topic of cakes – make sure your cake it out of harm’s way and on a stable surface.

3. Don’t miss out on the sample tasting your caterer offers – you want to make sure you like their recipes!

4. Use caterers, bakeries, and other vendors that have good reputations and staying power (they’ve been around for a long time or you know them personally and trust them). You only need one good relationship with a company that provides weddig services and then you can ask them to suggest other companies for everything you will need. You can also check online wedding forums for reviews or pay for a one-time consultation with a wedding planner and get recommendations.

Here’s a great example of why it is important to use a reputable business! A British online news service, The Bromley Times, reports that 29 weddings guests became ill after eating improperly cooked chicken and unpasteurized eggs at the reception. During the investigation, it was discovered that that the venue’s fridge was also malfunctioning. (Powell, Doug, “This is why we got married at city hall…”, Barflbog)

Sources, Additional Information, Great Articles:

Cohen, Gabriel, “Wedding-Food Disasters”, Gourmet

Shin, Jeanette, “Avoid Wedding Cake Disasters”, Food Editorials

Here are some of the funniest comments I’ve found from people about their real-life wedding disasters: Disaster Stories at Tressugar.com.

Related articles

• Tips On Wedding Planning That Might Be Overlooked (frommyexperience.com)
• Tips to Personalize Your Wedding (myweddingideas.net)
• Hiring a Wedding Planner (Coordinator) (myweddingideas.net)
• Tips for Choosing a Wedding Dress (myweddingideas.net)
• Get Married at the Winery This Valentine’s Weekend (lynfredwinery.blogspot.com)

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