I laughed and laughed when Chris said this to me, as we were leaving the bakery:

"If I had realized this involved free cake for breakfast, I may have been snatched up years ago."

* * *

We were treated to teeny servings of double layer cake. So many varieties, in fact, I'm not sure I remember all of the flavors. The tasting took place in their main dining room, and customers waiting in line for their coffee and bagels congratulated Chris and I. I'm sure they were hoping we would share.

Chris, the man who "didn't care" about cake, selected the decorations style for us. Truthfully, it is the style I would have selected, too. It is modern, but still fanciful. It isn't something I've seen at other weddings, or in any magazines.

It is modeled after a Martha Stewart cake style, a fact I find hilarious. (Chris likes "The Martha"? Who knew?) The decoration style is known as Transferware, and reminiscent of the 18th century pottery technique. Transferware ceramics typically have black, blue, or brown detailing. Our cake will have black detailing, similar to the cake below.

For the curious. This is a closer approximation of our wedding colors. They've changed a bit. We're going to use chocolate brown and ivory, with accents of gold and spring green. I had a bit too much fun using the Mosaic Maker.

* * *

Today we ordered the supplies for our invitations. How exciting!

We ordered the majority our of stationary from Paperandmore, and our envelopes from LCI Paper. No design notes, sorry! I don't want to give away too much information to ruin any surprise. Christopher has been helping me learn Photoshop to facilitate the design process.

Most custom invitation suites (invitations, RSVP cards, and one enclosure card for either the directions or the reception information) cost $5-7 per invitation. Plus envelopes.

For $2.06 per person (including shipping, but not including postage for the invitations), we'll have supplies to create our ceremony programs, pocketfold invitations (including RSVP cards, three enclosure cards, map, decorative elements, and envelope set), and menus.

I'm excited to start crafting. I have a week off for Spring Break in April. What a perfect time to find a large table at the Cartoon School, set out our paper-cutters, adhesives, t-square, bone folder, corner rounder, and MP3 player loaded with the Steve Miller Band and Three Dog Night.

Our first cake tasting is scheduled. We're meeting with the owner of The Baker's Studio, also named Chris, on Saturday morning. Our plan is to find the "perfect" baker to create eight small table cakes for our reception.

The Baker's Studio is a small bakery in downtown White River. They serve coffee and breakfast sandwiches each morning, and quiche, salads, and sandwiches in the afternoon. In addition, they run a full-scale bakery. Their cakes on display look tasty--perhaps too tasty for a dieting bride--and I'm sure their presentation on Saturday will be impressive.

Chris and I browsed through their portfolio a few months ago, as we noshed on breakfast bagel sandwiches, and they do fairly traditional decorations very well. Lovely lattice-work, nice swiss dots.

I considered, for only a few days, trying to DIY our desserts. Do-It-Yourself weddings have become very popular, I do enjoy baking, and I worked as a cake decorator for a few months. And then, with a little help from my friends, I snapped to my senses. Baking eight small cakes would be a tiresome and tedious process, and I'd rather leave it in the sugar-coated hands of a local artisan baker.

Christopher is excited: Free cake! I'm excited as well, but honestly I'm more eager to discuss cake pricing. Many bakeries in Philadelphia price their wedding cakes at $8 per slice, and it is not unheard of to charge $15 per slice. Isn't that insane? From my research, many bakeries in Vermont charge a relative pittance of $2/3 a slice.

It is a Win/Win situation. If we don't enjoy their cake or their prices? We schedule another cake tasting! Second on our list is the Heritage Deli and Bakery in Chester, Vermont.

We're experiencing a typical March here in Vermont. I wore sandals on Saturday, enjoying sunny skies and a temperature of sixty degrees, only to wake up to five inches of snow on Monday morning. To help postpone the "winter will never end" blues, I've decided to post some florist updates.

I'm not exactly sure the colors we'll use for each particular variety... but here is a sampling of some of the flowers we will be using for our ceremony and service. I love the texture of these flowers together. Soft, round, meticulous layers of petals. We'll be using shades of cream, spring green, and chocolate brown.


I've also learned I love zinnias! These lime green zinnias are perfect. So lovely.

* * *
In other news, Christopher updated his comic website. You can now find his work at flamejob.org

He has been posting three times per week, debuting the first chapter of "Poser." He's busily inking the second chapter of "Poser" to debut at SPX, the Small Press Expo. We accidentally scheduled our wedding for the weekend of SPX; his friends from CCS will be selling the chapter two--"Study Buddy"--for him.

I've been researching local florists, comparing prices and talent. There are many, many options.
It could be exhausting, but I think I've found our florist.

Morgan, owner of Valley Flower Company, simply rocks. Her work was recently featured in La Bella Bride magazine and New England Bride magazine, and you can view her gallery at her flickr account. She's working within our budget, has fresh floral (oh, pun) ideas, and Chris and I can support a talented, young local artist. You can view Morgan's blog here.

The photograph above shows a representation of my floral inspiration. We're* thinking of crisp colors: greens, dark browns, and accents of ivory. We're thinking lots of soft texture, and modern round shapes. When I get our floral quote tomorrow, I'll be able to more adequately share the flower types.


I know we discussed soft, round flowers. I'm not a fan of very structural floral shapes, be they orchids, delphinium, tulips, celosia, or calla lilies. I do, however, find dahlias, ranunculus, zinnias, and chocolate cosmos simply lovely.

To help with costs, a lot of our flowers will serve double duty. Why would we use thoughtfully constructed arrangements just once? My bouquet will be placed into a vase for our reception. Our pew decorations will double as table arrangements. Our altar floral arrangement can be placed on the fireplace in the Hartness House. Ingenious!


*"We're" does not mean "Chris and I." It means, "my florist and I." LOL
Chris doesn't care about flowers, but he recognizes I do care. He does, however, think fiddleheads are cool for boutonnieres.

I had the most positive dress shopping experience!

If anyone in the Vermont is getting married, I strongly suggest Christine's Bridal in Hartland Four Corners.

The owner, Chris, was my attendant and she was very warm. She and I chatted about our common interests and this set me at ease: she has a background in graphic design and animation, and we share a love of community theatre.

Kim and Marsha had to wait in the room next to the fitting room, but we were close enough that we could occasionally laugh through the doorway as I was being laced. The gowns were not nearly as heavy as I thought they'd be, and the crinoline underdress I wore was both comfortable and not-too-foofy.

Lesson Learned: Always trust your saleslady. I had gone shopping thinking I knew exactly what sort of gown I wanted. The dress shapes I thought I wanted were very unflattering. I thought I was anti-train, but the gown I selected has the most lovely chapel-length train. The gown I selected was a dress I would not have selected for myself.

I found "the one," the dress that made me feel the most lovely and the most statuesque. It is a dress from a local designer, and only sold at this boutique! It was the second dress I tried on, too. The attendant was very patient, helping me into several dresses only to hear Kim, Marsha, and I sigh together that the other dress was the nicest.

No photographs for this post, sorry! I want everyone--Christopher included--to be happily surprised in September.