Defrosting the Top of A Wedding Cake

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Mary P Karnes

Defrosting the top of a wedding cake … easier said than done… Hopefully, you read my blog post on How to Preserve Your Wedding Cake (click on the link if you’d like to read it). When your first anniversary rolls around, will you be ready?

www.weddingcake.name

According to yumsugar.com, it’s fairly easy. Check out the steps below to enjoy a delicious anniversary treat!

“To enjoy the cake:

One day before your first anniversary, begin defrosting the cake: transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator.
After two hours, remove the cake from its wrapping. Continue to defrost in the refrigerator.
Bring the cake to room temperature before consuming.
Serve and enjoy.

If you know you’ll be moving within your first year, lack the freezer space, or simply don’t want to bother with the process of freezing your wedding cake, order a small, six-inch anniversary cake from the same bakery. Ask for similar cake flavors and fillings and have it adorned like your wedding cake (you can even save your cake topper to be placed on it). Use the cake knife and serving set from your wedding, and enjoy the memories of the special day with fresh cake.”

amandinedesire.com

foodswol.com

Below is a photo of my daughter, Maggie, and son-in-law, Rob’s wedding cake. When the family’s all together this weekend for Kathleen’s wedding, we plan to enjoy their top layer as a family dessert. What a wonderful idea – which I credit to Rob! It takes a full day to defrost, so make sure you plan ahead and allow enough time to achieve maximum flavor. I hope you enjoyed the pictures of a variety of wedding cakes, and thanks again to Rob’s aunt, Patty Cloherty, for the great photo of Maggie and Rob’s cake. Next time…I’ll be able to show you an image of KK and Tyler’s! 🙂

Patty Cloherty photos

‘Ladies Room’ Wedding Basket

Posted on June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 by Mary P Karnes

One more thing to worry about…if your wedding reception venue doesn’t supply them…you may want to consider putting together a ‘ladies room’ wedding basket. Hummmm? It’s a basket to place in the ladies room with necessities, niceties – much like you would find in an up-scale ladies room which sport’s an attendant.

www.amazon.com

If your venue is an a 5-star hotel, an attendant with her own supplies may already be in place. If not…it doesn’t take much effort, and is thoughtful, and appreciated, to supply a basket.

Where to start? Begin with the basket. There are countless options to choose from. A nice photo of different styles is shown below. You can choose based on your taste, counter room availability, or the material you feel is best suited to your needs. Once you’ve made your selection…

worldbridemagazine.com

It’s time to begin gathering the items you think would be most valuable to your guests. Still unsure? I’ve included a list below of the most commonly used items. We chose the basics: mints, mouthwash, Advil, lotion, hair spray, “Tide To Go”, band-aids, etc.

www.anotherwildhare.com

I have to admit…I was a little surprised to see several of the lists included A brush…uuuhhh, REALLY? Maybe it’s being an elementary teacher…but…that’s one thing I wouldn’t share…When we make the baskets for KK’s wedding, we selected the basics. You really don’t have to include EVERYTHING…

www.pinterest.com

The Gents at our wedding aren’t so lucky. Their men’s room will not be graced with a basket of any sort. The only consideration I’m giving them, and to all the guests, actually, is to supply a few cans of insect repellant by the steps leading down to the lake. I’m sure a few nasty critters are lurking…

www.weddingwire.com

And to finish up? It would be lovely to add a little note to your baskets like the one above. 🙂

Advice to My Daughter

Posted on June 27, 2015June 28, 2015 by Mary P Karnes

Advice to my daughter…

On your wedding day, my daughter Kathleen, you will inherit the platinum art deco engagement ring of your great-grandmother. Tradition dictates that it goes to the first born daughter of each new generation. While not of great monetary value, it is great of sentiment.

I was so concerned, during my tenure with the ring, of protecting it for the next generation, that I rarely wore it. Yes it is old and fragile, being just twelve years shy of it’s century mark, but wear it.

I will pass the ring on to you on your wedding day, as it was to me from my mother, but while I do so with a glad heart, I also feel a mild sense of loss. I really don’t know the ring, and never made it mine. Make it yours, wear it, enjoy it, and all the while, take good care. It was your dear Great-Grams, after all…In the photo above, my Grandmother, KK’s Great-Gram, is pictured with my mother. Mom is about three. Below is “Great-Gram” in her later years. Our youngest, little Julia her name-sake, is kissing her. My Dad is holding little Julia.

And start a new tradition…I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Grammie will share the beautiful abalone butterfly Gramps made for her, which you will attach in your bridal bouquet. Hopefully, future generations will follow suit…

My Dad took the picture above of my mother well before I was born. Mom was quite a fisherwoman! She is a true natural honey blond – she is where KK get’s her coloring…well from her dad too. I can’t take all the credit. 🙂

And above…the beautiful butterfly carving from abalone shell made by my father for my mother. To be showcased in a bridal bouquet… what a romantic start for a lovely piece.

Photos # 1 Unknown

Photo # 2 Mary P Karnes

Photo # 3 Bill Paredes Photos

Photo # 3 Mary P Karnes

KK’s Wedding Dress?

Posted on June 26, 2015June 26, 2015 by Mary P Karnes

The last time I saw KK in a formal white dress was at her DAR, (Daughters’ Of the American Revolution), debutante ball. She was 18. She is 27 now, but the swelling of my heart will be just as great when she walks down the aisle in a week. All of a mother’s children are special and loved equally. But there is a certain right of passage for a mom when she sends her first born off. KK is MY first born. She is the one I learned with and ON. 🙂

It was a happy, yet bittersweet time when KK, Maggie and I went wedding dress shopping to our FIRST bridal shop — many more were to follow until we found “the one”. I remember KK playing bride as a little girl. In the blink of an eye, SHE is the bride.

I tried to find a cute picture of Kathleen alone. I found a few, but the best ones were with her sisters. Because being a sister, and a great one, is one of the things that defines her best. It is who she is – best sibling ever to Maggie, part mother, part sister, to the younger girls.

The picture above, KK at her Deb Ball. Below, Julia, Tess and KK at Maggie and Rob’s wedding. They look happy and alike, don’t they?!? We will all be lifting a loving toast next week to Kathleen and Tyler. And soon…I’ll finally tell you, and show you what we found wedding dress shopping… The picture at the bottom…is it KK’s wedding dress dress? 😉 Doubtful, however…would I really let a daughter of mine wear a BLUE wedding dress?

Images: # 1 Mary P Karnes

Image # 2 Patty Cloherty

Image # 3 www.pinterest.com

Mother of the Bride

Header Image: moncheriebridals

Defrosting the Top of A Wedding Cake

‘Ladies Room’ Wedding Basket

Advice to My Daughter

KK’s Wedding Dress?