Wedding From Afar

History: Many years ago in a “previous marriage” Tonya used to decorate cakes, not as a living but a hobby. She really enjoyed it. Her and her friend Dawn also started doing a few weddings on the side. Dawn did flowers, Tonya did the cakes and then on certain occasions the two of them would make food (finger-type) for the reception. It was fun, we enjoyed it but it was a lot of work.

Last month we were asked by Christopher & Heather how much time we would need in order to make it to Houston for their wedding. We told them at least 21 days as we are loyal Southwest Airlines customers (other loyal customers know what we mean here). A few weeks ago we got the good news that they had set a wedding date, February 28th.

Next came the groom’s request that his mama would make the wedding cakes! Now this was not anything that Tonya had never heard before, this is something that Christopher had insisted on since he was a quite young, back to some of the first wedding cakes Tonya ever made; he wanted his mom to make his cakes.

Tonya tried to explain to the two of them that with us living in Seattle and the wedding taking place in Houston there would be all sorts of challenges of baking and decorating wedding cakes. Not only did Tonya have to find a kitchen to work in (a kitchen that is not her own), and she lost custody of her cake decorating supplies in her divorce! She wanted to say no, I’ll buy you’ll a cake… and she nearly did until Heather called and said, “it would mean the world to him if you made the cakes, this is something he has always dreamed of…for you to make his wedding cake”. What’s a mother to do? A mother (at least this mother) would try to move heaven and earth where her kids are concerned, so a plan had to be developed.

After Tonya agreed to this project her head started spinning; hmmm need cake pans, hmmm need a design, gotta have a good recipe, a kitchen? I have to have a kitchen! So much to think about so many things that can go wrong, what about???? About that time God patted her on the shoulders, calmed her down and things started falling into place…. First thing on the list, find a kitchen!

Tonya called Daesha. They had a wonderful girl-time conversation, something they realized that the 2 of them do not do near often enough. Typically we just wait for Jeremy to relay information back and forth and we miss out on lots of news. New resolution; “have girl conversations more often”. Daesha was very open (actually seemed excited) to the “opportunity “of having her mother-in-law come in and take over her kitchen for a few days to bake and decorate cakes. She even wants to help! And she has offered to do our shopping ahead of time (all help appreciated). This most concerning obstacle had been overcome! Bill (aka Mr. Coupon) found that Michaels & Jo-Ann’s have 40% off coupons in the newspaper so we could start replacing our cake decorating inventory (Bonus! Every time we go into Michael’s to buy something they give us yet another 40% coupon. SCORE!).

It’s always been Tonya’s opinion that when it comes to the wedding cakes, if they are good nobody really remembers much about it, BUT if it’s bad, that’s all anyone will remembers. So the cake testing has begun. The first try for the bride’s cake turned out good, Italian Cream cake. We will be doing a 3 layer they cake with the top and bottom layers Italian Cream and the middle layer will be plain white (in case there are guests with coconut or pecan allergies). The chocolate groom’s cake has proven to the a bit more challenging, so the testing continues on that recipe. Bill, Whitney and Tonya’s co-workers are the guinea pigs but they don’t seem to be complaining too much. As of today, we are close to a winner.

Next on the Wedding from Afar list: Photographer
C&H know at this time they cannot afford a professional photographer we needed to figure something out. They asked if Whitney would consider doing the honors. Whit was leery at first; concerned she might screw something up, after all these are their wedding pictures, memories for the rest of their life! To which C&H replied, if she didn’t do it, all they would have to remember their special day is disposable cameras sitting around on tables, so to speak a do-it-yourself photographed wedding. So she has agreed. Whitney has a very artistic eye, she is a very good photographer, but she prefers landscapes not people. She’s not crazy about photographing people and she’s worried she’ll mess up their pictures. We told her that she can use both of our SLR Digital cameras (instantly know if you need to re-shoot a shot), flash, tripod, and she had a month to read up on posing people and getting more familiar with the SLR digitals. She appears to now be excited. We do need to find her an assistant, to be her “go-for” person.

LESSON’S LEARNED:
Check back after the wedding, we are sure there will be many.