# 123 Hair Pieces from the Wedding!

Imagine, or remember, as a curious young girl rifling through yout mom's vanity. You discover beautiful and vintage head pieces that are uniquely reminiscent of her time. Duong and Crystal's whimsical collaboration includes a modern take on custom headpieces. It's as if you danced through the magical forest and came out with beautiful ornaments in your hair.
With a direct response and incorporation of nature, Duong and Crystal's hair pieces are sure to make heads turn and wonder if you were born with it.

# 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!!!

#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!!

# 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.

#62 Ceramics: DoneZO with the sculpting

I had a ceramic centerpiece day yesterday w/ Carry, Diane, & Wew. Man, Carry and I might not carry the longest convo in English but can that girl sculpt. Granted we worked for maybe 3.5-4 hours total, we pumped out 10 tall leaf vases. What. The. Crap. Then today, I scheduled another ceramic day from 2-3 and Rae & I pumped out 2 more vases! That's a total of 12 vases thus far... and seeing how quickly we were able to produce them, I kind of want to make some more but this time much more leisurely, therefor being a much better vase. Maybe something more ornate and organic as opposed to slap-slabbed together. I don't know who else out there will actually go as far as making their centerpiece VASES from scratch. I mean, get the clay, sculpt the clay, let it dry, fire the clay, glaze it, and fire it again. I see it as a longer term investment- put the hours in now and reap the benefits later. Well, now too since clay is so therapeudic.

# 55 Wedding Cheesecake Trial #2 & #3

WEDDING CHEESECAKE TRIAL #2
8.17.09
I used 1/2 of the Cheesecake Factory recipe. I think I misjudged the time it took to bake the cheesecake because it turned out brown and very custardy. The recipe asked for 5 eggs and to halve it, I just used 2. Was very mediocre. I think I put too much flour in it as well. Overall, bland, rubbery sucker with stale graham cracker crust from the 20s. It said to bake for 1.15 hours and leave it in the oven for another hour with the heat turned off. Baked for 1.15 hours and left in the oven for an extra 15-20 minutes. WAYYYYY epic. NG.(not good)

WEDDING CHEESECAKE TRIAL #3
8.27.09
I didn't want to give up on the Cheesecake Factory recipe so for Thomas' bday I tried again. Oh. My. God. I think this is the one. I used slightly more sour cream and vanilla with a NOT rotten lemon in this batch and added an egg so instead of 2 eggs I opted for 3(in the 1/2 recipe). I took it out of the oven a little earlier than 1.15 hours- maybe 1 hour. I didn't even leave it in the oven to bask in its glory. I tell you- let it refridgerate overnight and the flavors will blossom. I felt like a fatty the next day. Score.

------------TASTE TEST: DONE

---------------------SIZE TEST: not

The next trial I need to go ahead and buy my springform pans so I know how long to leave the cheesecakes in the oven. While I'm at it, I need to make the cream cheese icing so that it'll look polished. CC is so temperamental! I am getting the hang of it though!!

I found this blog called cakemonger.com which has this great post: "Cheesecake Wedding Cake."

# 42 Répondez s'il vous plaît

Répondez s'il vous plaît... I am currently designing our wedding invites- I actually have a few posts dedicated to it but decided to halt the drafts of them until you guys actually receive them in your sweet little mailbox! I am, however, willing to share a little bit of what my RSVP postcards will look like... that might give you a glimmer of an idea what Typography style I'm going for... or not. Still working on Illustrator versions of my little printed map that I want to include in our invite package. Holy smokes, I could make a shilling or two designing these for real couples since I'm into illustrating and designing. Anway, this is fun... SO!!

Here you go!

# 38 Tutorial: Fabric Appliques

I was inspired by a bird's feather- in fact, so much so I made each petal from scratch. My first tutorial- kind of nervous but I thought these would be cute on some bridesmaids!

1st: GATHER MATERIALS: 2 thicker fabrics(i.e. wool, cotton, upholstery fabrics), scissors, needle, thread, and felt for the backing.

2nd: CUT OUT FELT BACKING: this will be your base and general shape to work with. It can be round(like a flower) or tear drop shaped- whatever you prefer but the teardrop is one I'm most in love with because it conforms to your head shape. Cut 3.5" x 2.5"

3rd: CUT 1" long PETALS in your choice and color of fabric. Same tear drop shape.

4th LAYER AND LAYOUT THE PETALS FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP: that way you won't be able to see the stitching.

5th SEW: sew towards the top of the teardrop petal so that the pointy end can flare out nicely as opposed to being stuck on the side of your head.

6th SEW & FOLLOW step 5

7th FINISH UP: once you get to the top(the end), sew very small stiches towards the top to secure in place. Now add a little patch in the back so you can add a bobby pin or a safety pin to place where your heart desires. Preferably on the side of your hair!

8th WEAR IT PROUDLY!
Now add a little patch in the back so you can add a bobby pin or a safety pin to place where your heart desires. Preferably on the side of your hair!

TIME SPENT: about 1 to 1.5 hours

P*S* Hotglueing would probably work. Most of the time spent is on cutting each individual petal. 1/3 of the time went into sewing the applique. If you're the fast & easy type, go for it but it'll make the piece a bit stiffer and it'll lose its value because it's not "sewn" but hey, what ev. I would appreciate if you were to post this tutorial to reference me por favor! Have a great day!!

#19 Catering

So I've just checked with a catering company.We've decided to self cater. Yes, I can not even believe we're going to try this task but for us, the hardest part is setting up the food. My parents have beautiful, high-end buffet pans, FH's dad has silver platters, and I'm good at decorating.

I've compiled a list of links that helps people like me do their own self-catering:
Growlies
Ellen's Kitchen
Cajun Families

My stomach is growling as I am thinking about Zea's delicious cort grits. oh gawd.

# 17 Centerpiece Trial 1

Wowsers! At my parent's house, I got a little crazy- I just HAD to see a very rough layout of what I wanted. I couldn't find a stick out in the dark(weird, I know) but anyway, I love the whole hemp and leaf idea.

Boutennierre trial

# 8 Pink Floral + Fabric Flower theme

Pink Monochrome Flowers:
<-------- The colors we decided were green, light pink, with brown accents. Bouquets in pink will be gorgeous and very romantic in front of a stunning white wedding gown. I have looked online and in grocery stores- I absolutely love peonies and know they will be crazy expensive but roses from Sam's club or the grocery store are affordable. I plan on mixing grocery store flowers with some exotic stems when I can. Most likely not in the midst of wedding craziness but peonies are the closest Asian flower that my mom loves.

Grocery/Sam's Club flowers: What I noticed the other day was that their flowers were actually quite gorgeous and reasonably priced! A lot of these stores such as Publix and Winn Dixie have sweet deals such as 3 bouquets for $10 and you can mix and match. The flowers I was really interested were the dusty pink Mexican roses, pink gerber daisies, some carnations, and definitely either the green or pink or white mums. I love peonies but I am a girl of simple tastes with bold impact.





Fabric Flowers:
I haven't seen this idea yet(but I'm sure it's out there): Mixing handsewn fabric flowers with real flowers. Perhaps add some paper flowers too where needed. Fabric flowers will add a nice whimsy and graphic feel when purposefully mixed in with the real ones. I absolutely detest fake silk flowers (I have only seen them modern and tastefully used in Ali's wedding). I think as long as the color scheme stays the same and they purposefully look like whimsical fabric flowers as opposed to trying to pass off as fillers I can pull it off. I added a jewel accent in the middle of the appliqué.

Bouquet Ideas:
As shown above in the first 2 bouquets, I think circular form is absolutely cute and puffy! However, just to challenge myself, I want to try to make a cascading bouquet with fern leaves found on our property. Probably not- round bouquets are not only cute but when I make them the week of the wedding, I need to do something simple and my god, they are incredibly easy to compose.

Cluster of Flowers + rubber band + ribbon = DONE!

# 7 Wedding Cheesecake_Trial 1

Did I mention I wanted to try and take on making and decorating my own wedding cake? Not only cake, but NY styled cheesecake.

I never even CONSIDERED it until I sat down and thought about 1) the price ($800-1,000), 2) the expensive part of the cake was the labor in decorating it, and 3) I actually really wanted to decorate it. So, the hard part for me would be in baking it at the right time and temperature in the right size. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I called a baker to see if she available on my wedding day and she said no. However, I could pick up the cake the day before if I wanted to. Screw that- I'll be paying for an expensive cake that couldn't be decorated on site, aka I'll be doing it myself anyway after paying someone! Negative. Another hard part for me would be trying to find the time to decorate my cake- cheesecake can actually be frozen for weeks so when I need it, all I have to do is make the tiers, add the flower oasis in the middle, stick the flowers in the middle few days before the date, and just construct the whole pre-done piece the day of! Easy peasy! I'll probably make the cake 1-2 weeks prior, freeze it, and do the flower arrangements few days prior with my bridal party (aka bouquets, boutonnières, cake flowers). LOVE it!

LINKS:

3-Tier wedding cheesecake

how stuff works

how to make fondant

TRIAL #1: Philadelphia New York Sour Cream Topped Style Cheesecake

Why: It was a deliciously easy and very basic template for a cheesecake. I used it before and the taste was great but the execution was terrible so this time I opted to not to use such a large recipe, used a blender, and cooked it all the way this time.

Result: Tasted great! I halved the recipe just to see if I could nail it down without wasting expensive cream cheese. I know the sour cream made it taste great. The only thing I thought that could have made it perfect was getting it fluffier in texture.

Above: Without the white frosting on the cheesecake (ew), I was going to have a median filler to 1) make the take look SUPER tall and 2) that would be the easiest way to decorate the cake because I'll be so busy with other elements of the wedding day of.