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As I worked with my fabulous Etsy seamstress to create my dream wedding dress, I commissioned this gorgeous Andean Silk Yarn winter wedding wrap with a ruffled edge from the talented Maryum Karim of Etsy's yarncoture.etsy.com!
What an incredibly special work of wearable art!
SO soft and luxurious, I was thrilled with the quality and craftsmanship of the gorgeous wrap Maryum made for me.
It was the perfect compliment to my wedding gown.
I have been so blessed with all the love and support from my Etsy family in helping me create our dreamy Etsy Handmade Wedding!
Do you know what you get when you throw two Alpha-type personalities in a kitchen renovation after buying a new house, hand them a couple of power tools they've never used before, demolish the floors throughout the entire house forcing them to move into a windowless dungeon for three months with two smelly cats and a 14 year old, 90lb yellow lab, that can't walk up and down the stairs on his own, sprinkle in a four-week engagement and Christmas wedding - all in less than 6 months:
Yoda and Chewbacca!
If you've ever experienced any of these things, then you're probably at least a little familiar with the conflict that can arise from such chaos; kinks in the budget, hot dogs cooked by hand-held plumber's torch 'cause you forgot to refill the propane tank and there's no stove, the occasional electrocution, and arguments... lots of arguments...
Arguments between two Alpha's who are NEVER WRONG.
It was during one of those arguments on day one million and 82 of drilling cement screws into cement backer-boards, preparing the hallway and kitchen floors for the 1500lbs of Kale Multi-colored Travertine that I yelled back at my now husband, for what exactly, I can't say,
"OKAY YODA! Whatever you say, MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!"
"What!?" he replied.
"Don't call me that!
And Yoda wasn't Master of the Universe - that's HE-MAN!"
I raised my sword-like power drill up in the air, clenched with both hands pointing straight up and yelled:
"I HAAAAAAAAAAVE THE POOOOOOOOOOOOWER!"
collapsing in a fit of laughter!
And thus, "Yoda and Chewbacca" were born...
My rolling eyes now had a verbal partner: "OKAY YODA!"
"OKAY CHEWIE!" he always responds hoping to get the same rise out of me that he gets out of my Yoda-ing.
Now, to me, that sounded perfectly logical! I mean, have you seen my hairy Chewbaccaness!?
Yoda, wasn't a new nickname in our family... We've been calling my little sister Yoda ever since her little pointed ears coined the nickname as a baby!
Over the summer a fellow More Meaningful Gifts threadmate had ordered fondant little Yodas for her son's birthday cupcakes as toppers from fellow Etsian The Lil Details.etsy.com and I had bookmarked them for my little sister's birthday!
My brilliant idea was vetoed by my mother, but when I started planning our wedding, I KNEW I had to order her fondant Yodas for our wedding cake!
Even better, I wrote to Jenn and asked her if she could make a matching Chewbacca!
When I opened up those adorable little cake toppers I couldn't help but squeal in delight! I knew Todd would pee his pants when he saw them!
They were absolutely PERFECT!
Jenn even covered them in a sparkling finish- the perfect embellishment for a wedding Yoda and Chewie!
And after our ceremony when I brought my new husband to see the beautiful cake that my little sister had lovingly made for us on Christmas day and put together just hours earlier, adorned with the beautiful clay roses from Diane Phillips of dkdesigns.etsy.com and our special Yoda and Chewie Cake Toppers, the moment was just as I had imagined; filled with joy and laughter and even some magical powers with my new Master of the Universe!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
I have been fantasizing about my Aunt's Brandy-Almond Wedding Cake with cream cheese icing for the last 17 years!
After consulting with 14 - yes, fourteen local bakeries and driving my family insane, we decided that there would be no wedding cake - we'd have pies instead!
It seems that even though there are bakeries that can make a cake in the shape of The Eiffel Tower, not one was willing to make a cake that wasn't just white, yellow, or chocolate cake with some kind of filling in the middle!
So pies it would be!
Really.
We just wanted a couple of the amazing pies from the local pub...But my sister just wouldn't hear it!
"You can't have a wedding PIE! I'll make you a brandy-almond cake with cream cheese icing!"
No.
We wanted PIES!
Did I mention that my wedding was the day after CHRISTMAS!?
Who on Earth would want to be baking a cake during the holidays!?
That Christmas Eve, my little sister came over with a sampling tray of variations of brandy-almond cake with cream cheese icing... JUST like the professional cake shows!
There were brandy-soaked cakes, brandy baked in cakes, some with chocolate fudge fillings, some with vanilla pudding fillings, some with vanilla pudding and fudge filling... You name it, my little sister prepared it!
We sampled, okay we devoured the entire tray of delicious mini cakes!
We chose the Lindt chocolate and vanilla pudding filling and ironically, the almond cake without the brandy!
It's funny how once you get what you think you want, it turns out that it's not what you want at all!
On the morning of our wedding as my sister, mother and I enjoyed our pampering pedicures, she sat back to tell us the tale of how she and her fiance stayed up all night baking our cake...
"We ran out of cake batter and it was too late to start making another batch, so I sent Rumon out to get a box of yellow cake mix...
But it's almost ten o'clock at night on Christmas Day and everything was closed...""He walked up to a Hispanic man closing a Bodega (Spanish convenience store that has everything,) in Paterson (not exactly Disney) and says desperately,
"Sir WAIT! I just need a box of cake mix!"
"We're closed - it's Christmas!"
"Sir, PLEASE, it's my sister-in-law's wedding tomorrow and we're baking her wedding cake and
I JUST NEED A BOX OF CAKE MIX PLEASE!
Don't make me go home without cake mix!"
See...
Exactly why we wanted: PIES.
From the PUB.
Down the Street.
We laughed hysterically as she painted the picture of her fiance practically mugging a poor convenience store worker on Christmas desperate for a box of cake mix!
Our Almond and Lindt Chocolate with Vanilla Pudding Cake with cream cheese icing was absolutely delicious and beautiful!
THANK YOU PIANCA AND RUMON for making us the most incredible wedding cake - the thing that I'll be fantasizing of for the next 17 years!
I never imagined that I'd ever be a Christmas Bride! Imagine my surprise deciding on a wedding date of December, 26th - the day after Christmas!
What a stressful endeavor, a wedding... so many details. I've realized just what a wonderful blessing it is that we decided on such a short engagement! The longer the engagement, the more expectations, the bigger the bridal party, the bigger the show!
The most difficult decisions for me were THE FAVORS! I knew I didn't want anything chotchkie or cheesy - nothing that would be thrown in a drawer and forgotten...
And then it hit me! After all, it was CHRISTMAS!
COQUITO!
Coquito is Puerto Rican coconut rum eggnog and a family favorite. It couldn't be just any kind of Coquito - nope - it had to be special!
I found a great wholesale distributor of full-sized glass liquor bottles! Of course I could have made small flasks instead since Coquito is suppose to be enjoyed as a shot, not a drink, but the image of my elegant wedding favors fitting into the back pocket of a pair of jeans, was not what I envisioned!
After a little time on Etsy, I found customized wine bottle labels to match our Red Rose Theme from tishtica.etsy.com! I was absolutely thrilled with how beautiful the bottles and the personalized labels came out!
We then wrote the recipe on Letterpress Cards from missive.etsy.com and attached them with personalized ribbon from espritdejoie.etsy.com!
After 12 dozen eggs, mountains of coconut cream, and 6 gallons of Bacardi Gold, all the anxiety of choosing the perfect wedding FAVORS for our guests, faded away as we watched our friends and family toast the night away with our special brew!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach.
Todd has always been a big fan of the art of Letterpress, so it was important to me to have some Letterpress pieces in our wedding. I was thrilled to find Lisa of Etsy's Missive.etsy.com!
Words cannot begin to describe the amazing design and quality of our custom Red Rose Coasters and Place Cards. They were exactly how we had imagined them and brought a truly special touch to our wedding reception tables!
Our guests were very impressed with the beautiful print work and I ordered an extra set of Place Cards as the Recipe Cards for our favors. THEY WERE PERFECT!
We were touched by the beautiful handwritten Thank You Card and good wishes that Lisa took the time to send to us.
In this process, we learned that how you're treated AFTER the sale is just as important as the way you're treated before the sale. Lisa has been an invaluable resource of information in her trade as we now help my younger sister plan for her wedding this summer!
Thank you SO much Lisa for helping us achieve our dream handmade wedding!
Photography by Stephen Shadrach
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