# 107 Stats

To this day, I still don't know how many invites were passed out, mainly because my mom keeps handing them out! I'm like, STOP IT! Anyway, this is what I have so far. I like the number: 76. I know it's going to climb substantially but I want it to stay under 100. 75 would be ideal :)

# 106 Bought the Shawls!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOBBLE GOBBLE.........

Helen suggested Grey even though it's not one of the wedding colors. I ended up buying them in that color tonight!! That's the extent of my Black Friday.

30% silk, 70% pure pashmina wool. Should be warm and long enough for the girls! I can't wait to make their gift baggies!! I wanted to purchase these as *one* of their gifts to offset the cost- it's not like we're rich or anything, we're all right out of or currently still in college so anything helps! All I want them to buy is their bridesmaid dresses- everything else, they can pick and choosey of they want.

# 105 BM Shawls...

Ok, it's almost a month away and I've been putting this on the back burner when I could easily have ordered it WAY long ago! I still can't decide what matches the dresses and that's important because it'll be in the pics! I think a neutral would be good, no browns or whites b/c that has too much contrast.

I went on Illustrator(HAHA, i know, cheating) to see what colors matched it automatically. AI swatches on the right, Nimli.com's swatches on the left. I think I'll order them from Nimli because of the quality and the color selection. They are kind of pricy though but currently are on sale. Another $200 after shipping- but we'll see! I think I might match the groomsmen?

More Links:

Azuri Cashmere Pashmina Shawl $25+SH

Azuri Feather Pashmina Shawl $20+SH

Scarf_tradinginc New Best Soft $14/each

Amazon's New Best Soft 100% Pashmina $14/each

GLOVES

Amazon's Opera Length Satin Gloves $10 -I hate gloves but am scared of cold weather! I'll buy it just in case!

# 104 Veil ready!

Duong came over to help with cooking while the boys were out in the yard playing with sticks and grass and lake. Ha. Woke up, ate the grits for breakfast, ate the casserole and grits for lunch, and proceeded to search for veil-making materials since I freaking lost my tulle. Went over to the bridal section- they sold the metal combs for $10! I'm like, wtf, this is at most .70- so we walk over to the jewelry section and lo and behold, 1.49. Stupid bridal markup.

Went back to the office and made my veil! Soooo pretty! I love it! We also set up our tables and centerpieces to see what it would look like. Back at the house, we had searched for the centerpiece branches- but since they were wet, we only spray painted one of the them. I am very happy with it! Now I'm looking for little birds or insects to put on the branches. Cute.

# 103 Catering Trial #1

Wew brought back 4 buffet pans so I could see if they would fit in our chaffing pans and in our oven. They do. Score! Our (hot) foods menu thus far: Roast Pig, DF, C&R, Zea's corn grits, Fresh Green Bean Casserole, Vodka Cream Pasta, Roasted Red Potatoes. This whole self-catering is kind of crazy. What I am trying to aim for is to follow catering companies' model of cooking ahead of time so the day of you just reheat it and serve it.
Results:
Zea's corn grits
--- Instead of buying yellow grits, I bought the Quick Grits from wal-mart. The recipe also calls for heavy cream, and 2 cups of it too. Wow.. I certainly didn't have that when I figured that out at home. I used 1/2 water and 1/2 2% milk instead of 1/2 water and 1/2 heavy cream. I also added 2 sticks of butter, salt, and the corn. When it was finished, I poured it into the buffet pan, topped it with freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese, and fresh green onions. The grits were supposed to be yellow due to its type, NOT the butter so next time I'll have to buy the yellow kind, plus a lot of heavy cream. I specifically love Zea's grits so I'll do that in the next trial.
Fresh Green Bean Casserole
---I boiled the green beans instead of using canned(gross). The entire dish shrunk in half. How the heck do you mess up GBS?! Next time, I won't cook the beans and let the oven do the talking. But, the grilled garlic and onions that I added in the mix were delish.
Vodka Cream Pasta
---Epic Fail. Epic I say. The pasta I made the night before to see how well it stayed overnight in the fridge. The sauce- I forgot to buy crushed tomatos- instead, i relied on the tomato sauce at home which resulted in a watery mess of vodka. Also, to be adventurous, I used Absolute's Mango flavored vodka, and realized that 1 cup of Absolute was not cheap so I added Viking Ford to the end. The result? The mango flavor overpowered the vodka taste which wasn't good. Darn you Absolute, making the best flavored vodkas there is. Darn you. Anyway, whatev. Fine as a cold dish?
Roasted Red Potatoes
 ---Didn't have red potatoes and used chopped Idahos. Flavor amazing, but way undercooked even though we left it in the oven 20 min longer? Should I have wrapped it in aluminum foil? IDK...

---Trying to figure out what Meat dishes we'll have on there. I love fish and it cooks fast, plus baked is delish...Olive oil & Lemon... yummmmm.

# 102 Hair Trial #1

Went to Tiffany's- she curled my hair into barrel curls which made my hair look a lot shorter, shorter than I liked! That meant I didn't grow my hair out long enough! Do I need weave? We're going to try a looser wave. Apparently my hair holds curls like crazy  so a wave might be better for it! It was an AWESOME day!!!

# 101 Pretty Lists

I had a cup of coffee at 4pm at Wilson's the other day on my break. Couldn't sleep that night. Wedding planning, solution planning, ideas that were left undone were furling around in my head. I started devising lists- first it was the Helpers' outline. I posted an ad on craigslist.com and have been inundated with e-mails so I deleted my posting today because I had a good enough list of contacts. Fantastic! More lists. Last night was food prep. Wow, it was so easy once I threw it on the computer and just typing away! It probably helps a lot that I wanted a consistent and gorgeous feel to it, otherwise I hate looking and working on boring stuff. Siiiiick!

Fly away. Fly away. Once I get the recipes, I have to do some math conversions to estimate the right amount.

-You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta

-Oven Roasted Red Potatoes 

-Green Bean Casserole

-Wedding Menus

Buffet Menu:

#100 My 100th Post! Overview

12" Trial
Back to what I was saying in my previous cake post, I baked the large 12" cheesecake for 3 hours on 325 degrees and left it in the oven with the heat off for another hour. The result- burnt cheeseacake that didn't taste burnt but it was a darker amber color as opposed to light yellow. The result was also more dense so that 3" height was lost by the overbaking. Massive fail!!

10" Trial

Scared from the first trial and the massive fear of wasting 2 pounds of cream cheese and a dozen eggs, I baked the second cheesecake the same time as the recipe called for. The problem this entire time is trying to figure out a formula and time frame to bake such a large cheesecake without under or overbaking it. So, basically, it was my head the entire time. I baked it at a lower temp at 300 degrees and baked it only 15 min over the recipe called for, 1.5 hours and left it in the oven with the heat turned off for another hour(a little bit less). This one turned out as perfect as can be! It was white, light, fluffy, and beauuuuutiful!! EPIC SUCCESS!!!!

Icing Trials: Bourbon Caramel Cream Cheese, Cream Cheese, White Chocolate Cream Cheese
Duong, India, and I tried 3 different recipes and were each in charge of making that particular one.

Bourbon Caramel Cream Cheese (Me): Tasted amazing, but didn't necessarily match the cheesecake. Plus, the icing was loose and really sticky. This was a test to me too. Nope, will not.
Cream Cheese (Duong): Just a simple recipe, but same texture as above.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese (India): I actually dislike white chocolate and was wary of this recipe but decided to give it a try because it was the only one that was suggested by an actual cake-pan making company, Wilton. This turned out the best because it turned out white and melted almost perfectly with the fluffly white cheesecake. Major winner! I know I found the best one! It had this nice solid shell but was still maleable enough to smooth over. It resembled a real wedding cake which was SWEET! Major Success!!

# 99 Pinecones and Vines and Acorns oh my!

# 98 Cheesecake trial #4 the real deal

On Saturday I went ahead and baked my 12" chz cake which after baking 3 tiny cakes this was the real deal. Epic fail! 3 hours in the over, + 1 hour in the oven w/the heat turned off = a burnt waster of a dozen eggs, 2 pounds of cream cheese, and effort. However, the 10" turned out AMAZING! Perfect 3" of fluffiness, white, with the  best icing ever.