Amazing cakes

I've spent a long time researching wedding cakes. I'm quite sure Mike isn't really bothered about cake as he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but I really really love cake. Particularly beautiful crafted novelty ones. I think it might stem from when I was little and my mum (and my sister Avril) used to make me phenomenal birthday cakes in the shapes of my favourite things- a goldfish bowl, a teddy bear, a witches cauldron with black icing (for my superb Halloween themed birthday - my 11th I think). I remember Avril making and decorating her 13th birthday cake with a beautiful picture. I was usually allowed to stir and sift things, being far too small for any real assistance! I guess that's why I've become so obsessed with the idea of a beautiful wedding cake.
Of course lovely Deb at work makes the most amazing cakes, so she was naturally my first choice for making ours. Sadly, she will be on holiday at the time, so that option was out. She gave me some names of friends who might help, but they were all unavailable too! So eventually we found the lovely Andrea Barker, had a meeting at her house and she's agreed to make it. I just had to decide on a cake....

My first choice was the fantastic James Bond Wedding Cake:

Now even though Roger (my future father in law (who's a very nice man) ) totally agreed with me on this cake, Mike really wasn't having it at all. Not traditional enough apparantly. So in order to avoid a situation like this:

I thought I better search again. I thought, maybe it is the violence that upset him? Maybe I needed something more traditional? And what could be more traditional than a fairy tale castle? Aw, innit beautiful?

Perhaps this was romantic enough? But no. Too girlie, too pastel, too shiny... Back to the drawing board. I decided to take inspiration from one of our shared interests: Zombies. I wasn't going to go so far as to leap onto the recent American bandwagon of having a zombie themed wedding, but I thought he might just go for this utterly phenomenal cake:

Is that not the most brilliant cake you've seen? Despite it clearly being the best wedding cake on the whole of the internet ever, Mike wasn't having it. I think he just wasn't keen on seeing me with a chainsaw in my hands. And, to be honest, I was a little shy of showing the picture to the lovely lady who was actually going to make it!
So I gave up on my interests, and decided to just stick to what Mike likes. So some MORE searching uncovered this beautiful specimen...

See - it is gorgeous, it's not violent, it's not girlie, it's not pink, and it even encapsulates the things Mike likes (steam-punk, pocket watches). What could be wrong this time? Too shiny apparently. Ah well. Time to give up and turn to the demon drink.....

I'm too mean. We did on the end agree on a lovely cake design and Mike has really let me choose (within limits!). I'll not post a pic as it'd be nice for people just to see it on the day. Mike is a lovely lovely fiancée really, who has put up with my endless wittering on about cakes and flowers and shoes for a very very long time. Bless him :)

Lyn x

Rings

So Lyn and I have finally decided on the design of our wedding rings after a very pleasant trip to Hatton Gardens in London. Interesting range of shops, with an interesting range of sales people. Who, very often, spoke total nonsense about the benefits of their rings.


Like the shop that offered us a price for the rings, then offered to take over £1000 off the price, because 'we seemed nice'.


LIke the shop that told us that their 18ct gold was, gram-for-gram, heavier and stronger than 18ct gold from other shops.


Like the shop that went to considerable lengths to convince us that a German-machined ring was significantly superior to rings machined in Hong Kong (as if we were discussed precision-made components for a jet fighter or something!)


Very quickly, Lyn and I came to opinion that if it fulfilled these criteria, then it was fine:


1) It should be ring shaped
2) It should be metal
3) It shouldn't cost the same as a deposit on a house


In then end, we picked a two-tone ring in white gold and rose gold, which we both really liked.




The precise design will be revealed on the big day!


Anyway, that's enough babble from me. Hope everyone's staying hale, healthy and hearty!


Mike