Let Them Eat Cake: Four Months To Go

As mentioned in my previous post, it finally dawned on D that our wedding is coming up soon. Since the new year started, D and I have been having regular meetings to discuss items that remain outstanding, including the sweet question of cake.

Before the proposal, we had thought that when the time comes, our cake vendor was a done deal. One of our friend/groomsman's aunt owns La Patisserie. Consequently, finding a cake vendor was never a priority. We were told that we can discuss cake matters closer to the wedding date. About three weeks ago, we met with our friend's mom to talk cake. As the meeting progressed, however, it became apparent they may not be able to supply one of our needs, which are:

• one beautifully decorated fake cake
• cake slices for approximately 120 guests as dessert and wedding favors
  
• various cookies

Although the cookies can be easily supplied, La Patisserie does not make fake cakes. This would mean that after the cake cutting during the reception, our caterer will need to slice the cakes for guests to gingerly place in take home boxes. We are certain there is only one way that process will end: messily. For our guests' convenience, we explored other options.

We thought about buying sliced cakes from La Patisserie and renting a fake cake. I found a couple of places that rented fake cakes. Thea Willgress of Sweet Thea creates and rents gorgeous fake cakes. (She creates real ones as well.) You can either rent a fake cake for $200 + $80 for delivery and pickup or buy a fake cake for $400 + $40 for delivery. I also contacted another company called Simply Fake Cakes. However, their only response to my various questions was:

Sorry but I do not make fake cakes in coloured fondant. Fondant fades quite quickly and unevenly so, since I make the cakes in advance of the wedding, I can only use white fondant.

So much for customer support. Needless to say, that company was vetoed.

The next leg of our cake journey took us to Ganache Patisserie. I have heard countless great things about Ganache, but have only been there once before. The last time we got cakes from there, we did not see what all the fuss was about, particularly D. However, given our situation, we figured we might as well set up a meeting. We had nothing to lose and cake tastings to gain :) Last Sunday, D and I went to Yaletown along with a couple of our friends. We met with owner and pastry chef Peter Fong. He is by far the nicest and jolliest vendor that we have met with. During our appointment, he gave us four flavors to try:

1. Blanc Fraisier
   vanilla cake, vanilla sablé Breton, white chocolate black pepper mousseline, strawberries, passionfruit meringue
   
2. Chocolat-Canneberge
   white chocolate cranberry parfait, milk chocolate mousse, praline crunch
3. Chocolat-Banane
   dark chocolate mousse, caramelized bananas, praline crunch, hazelnut dacquoise
4. Mango Chocolat
   mango mousse, dark chocolate passionfruit mousse, chocolate cake, mango gelée

All of the cakes were delicious! I was fond of the chocolates - the banane and the canneberge - whereas D preferred the blanc fraisier. Ultimately, we decided to go with Ganache as our cake vendor for our convenience; we can get both the real and fake cakes from them. Peter is also such a great person to deal with. He's down to earth and humble, despite Ganache's reputation of being the cake vendor for a lot of luxurious weddings here in the Lower Mainland. Working with Peter is truly icing on the cake :)

I'm not sure if D has changed his opinion of Ganache. All I can say is that I am generally not a big fan of Black Forest cake; I am not fond of cherries. However, Ganache's Fôret Noir (moist chocolate cake, Kirsch syrup, vanilla chantilly cream, griottine cherries, chocolate chantilly cream), for me, is divine. I can eat it forever!

To those attending the wedding in four months time, we hope you'll enjoy the cake. It was more challenging to settle than we thought. The trouble should be worth it :)

The Big Year Has Arrived

Welcome to 2010 everyone! For a lot of people, this year conjures Olympic thoughts. The city of Vancouver is buzzing with excitement for the winter games - just 27 days to go! However, for people like me, 2010 is significant in a different way as it marks the arrival of our wedding year. It's funny how something minor like the last two digits of a year changing from 09 to 10 can be a real wake up call. Even D has finally been hit with the realization that the wedding is fast approaching. Can you imagine my trepidation?

Update on the Goods from the Motherland
Although the month of December brought some progress to our wedding planning, it was overall a slow month. The following development resulted from my mom's arrival from the Philippines with "the goods from the motherland." The goods are: the invitations, the wedding rings, and my dress! I've already discussed the invitations in my previous post, so I'll talk about the rings and my dress.

The rings are done... sort of. I'm not sure if D's ring was not measured properly or his fingers got fatter. Either way, his wedding ring is a bit tight. My mom brought his ring back with her to the Philippines to get re-sized. D is currently getting in shape for the wedding. I hope he doesn't loose too much weight that the ring becomes too big :|

On the other hand (pun intended), my dress has the opposite problem; it is too loose in certain areas. According to the seamstress, the dress was made according to the measurements taken during my visit to the Philippines. However, I have a suspicion something else must've gone amiss because even though I would love to claim that I lost that much weight since my trip, I know I did not. Similar to the rings, my dress has once again traveled across the Pacific, accompanied by multiple pins marking the areas that need adjusting, for further work. I too am working to get in shape for the wedding and hope the dress won't be too lose when it returns back to my arms in May.

Etc Etc Etc...

During dinner with friends tonight, someone said, "It's the details that kill you." I find this to be very true. While the various wedding pillars have been established, we have only just begun to tackle the seemingly infinite minutiae of the big day. Here's a list of what D and I have been working on lately. Think of it as a preview of upcoming blog entries:

• hair + make up
  
• cake
• music
• transportation
• schedule
  

More details in the coming days. T - 134 days...