Groom's Cake - How crazy should one go?

I think like many of you the first time and only time I had heard of a groom's cake was from Steel Magnolias. I mean, who could forget that famous Red Velvet Armadillo!?
Shocking and fabulous at the same time.

As the specialty cake craze grew I heard more and more about these cakes, stemming from what I believe was a Southern tradition. It seems like now has swept the nation and is often presented at the rehearsal dinner. (I'll be the first to admit, a Virginia Tech logo would not match my motif!)

As we were planning our wedding in my hometown, and I was making the bulk of the decisions, I knew I wanted to do something nice for FH. FH is a loyal HOKIE (Virginia Tech Alum) and we had quite a large population of fellow Hokies as guests. So what else, a Hokie cake!?

While watching a Food Network Cake Challenge one day I discovered Cakes by Jay! I thought for sure he was my cake guy. Well, I am sure many of you have gone through this, as things get closer, money actually does become an object. I contact Jay about doing a Hokie cake, either of the Hokie Bird or of the VT logo. He came back saying a cake for 45 people in the VT logo would be about $350. What!???? I could only imagine if I had ordered one for the final count of the rehearsal dinner - 75 people! (To note- Jay's cakes are amazing, I am sure making a cake like the one I suggested is easy peasy but they are filled with orders so it wouldn't be worth it for them to make the cake for less- and they were SOOOOO incredibly nice. If I were in the market for a gorgeous cake and had a budget to match, I would DEFINITELY contact them. I was very impressed with their service and their quick responses)

So, back to the drawing board. My stepmother suggested Whistle Stop. Whistle Stop is an amazing family owned bakery known for its cheesecakes. My family has ordered from them for years. We had them do a full sheet cake with the Virginia Tech logo piped on and it looked fantastic! And, let me tell you, the chocolate cake with raspberry mouse and butter cream icing was to die for (much tastier than my wedding cake but I'll post about that on a later date). I mean, does anyone actually like the taste of fondant?

I guess my little lesson from this is- I attempted to go with a baker with cache but in the end going with a trusted, small vendor that has proven to be a quality vendor was definitely the right choice!

What did you do? Or what are your plans for a groom's cake?

 

Rehearsal Dinner - Setting the Tone

When it came time to think about the location of the rehearsal dinner, one very convenient place came to mind. Let’s call it Vinny Gumbatz’s or VG’s. VG’s is around the corner from the church, has a parking lot (important in the small parking spot limited beach town), good food, well priced and a private room. What more could you want?

Well, atmosphere.

This place is a local establishment that serves traditional Italian and has no shortage of three piece suit wearing men who all want you to think they are “connected” when really, their only connection is that they may have once served the nephew of Gotti some ziti. FH loved it! He thought it would be great to see his family’s reaction to the kissing Eye-talians as they hug and kiss the men and women and serve you cheap wine out of a jug. Thinking of our rehearsal here, I was somewhat nervous. But, like I said above, it had all the criteria!

The private room…


The private room was decorated with mirrors, marble, rope lighting and fake flowers which hung from the ceiling. Oh! And there was a dance floor made out of marble tiles glued to the floor. Think about that, tiles glued to a carpeted floor.

Enter the voice of all things local and reason…

My cousin's husband sat my FH down and said, VG’s is a great place. A great place to get a good plate of macaroni and gravy; but this is not the place to set the tone for your wedding weekend. He pointed out that the rehearsal dinner really sets a tone for the rest of the weekend, and when I thought about it, I agreed. And after thought, FH agreed too. My cousin and her husband had an amazing wedding in Cape May a few years ago and they are right, their awesome but casual rehearsal dinner definitely set the tone for the weekend - a tone of laid back fun, good music, good people, good fun, and which fab touches of class. The dinner doesn't need to be fancy but there needs to be an element of class. VG’s has everything needed logistically, but, no element of class or anything that matches the "feeling" of the wedding.

We have now booked our rehearsal dinner, and since the contract was signed and deposit delivered today, I can talk about it! I could not be more excited and my gratitude towards the future in-laws runs deep. This will not be the cheapest thing but they have a lot of people from out of town and they wanted to do it right. Kudos to them!

We booked our dinner at the new posh hotel where are guests are staying. And we got the rooftop lounge! I don’t think we’ll get the massive amounts of food that we would at Vinny G’s but we’ll have enough and it will be trendy and great. We are having stations with salads made to serve, tapas, carving station, pasta made to order and kabobs. I think it will be great! And, the best part, it will be on the rooftop deck over looking the ocean.

The place isn’t finished yet but here’s a rendering:


This the view of the Atlantic we will have:

The dinner will be for invited guests from 7-9 and then at 9 we are inviting all guests that came to town for cocktails on the roof. I think it will be perfect! It is very different from the wedding’s dinner at a mansion but still has the same level of style and sass!

Here’s what I have to think of now, let me know your thoughts…What to wear? (We’ve had this rehearsal dinner dress discussion already)
Do I need centerpieces or any decor? (a good friend that I trust with this stuff told me not to waste the time, money or headache, I am starting to lean her way but was thinking of some sand filled hurricane glasses with pillar candles?)
Do favors come to play at a rehearsal dinner?
Anything else I need to think about for the rehearsal?

Do tell, I've been focused on the wedding and since most of those logistics are booked, I am thinking about all of the little details that bring the whole weekend together and focusing on how to make it special for everyone!

The rehearsal dress that will never be...

So, I am completely in love with this dress from J. Crew. I think it would be absolutely perfect for the rehearsal dinner. The problem - it is on sale. Whaaaaaa? how is that a problem, you ask? Well, it is still $199 (a bargain since the starting price was $395) but because it is on sale and on clearance, there are no returns or exchanges! I actually thought about buying the same dress in the new not on sale version (it is in a floral print that I don't really care for), ordering two of those in different sizes, review the neckline to make sure the cleavage was not inappropriate - return the dresses, and if I love them, buy this on sale one. Crazy? Um, yeah. When I thought about it, the chances of this dress still being available in my size and the shipping costs and well, the effort, were a little much for a simple dress. It's not that I am hunting for a rehearsal dress right now either, I just saw this dress and fell in love with it and tried to come up with a place to wear it! Maybe I will check out their outlet and see if it shows up there. If you kept up with that little rant for nothing, thank you, I just had to tell someone my love for a dress I will never have :)