Karen Smallbone

On August 23, Richard and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary. Wow, time really flies. I remember the day we got married like it was yesterday. I thought it would be fun to share our wedding day with you.

Richard and I designed our own invitaitons and my best friend Cindy printed them for us. Our colour theme was sage green, yellow and brick red. We used daisies throughout the wedding. We made our invitation in a square shape (which was unheard of at the time) and made square envelopes that folded over and were sealed with a daisy sticker.

We had our ceremony and reception at Rich’s parent’s. They lived out in the country and had lots of land for us to use. We built what we called the “structure” which we were going to use to get married in if it rained. We had our reception in a big tent.

Building the “structure”

Finished “structure”

I wanted to have an arch built out of twigs. Rich and his bestman Rob built this the day before the wedding.

Here are some of the photos from our wedding. We hired Marc Rochette from Reportage. He did a wonderful job. We really wanted the photo journalist style and didn’t want any posed photos. After a while we didn’t even realize they were there taking our pictures. We are big fans of black and white pictures so most of our photos were taken in b&w with a grainy texture.

Here is our cake. I was all about the cake. It was made by Cakewalkers in London. They did an awesome job. I really loved it.

Our favours. White boxes tied with yellow ribbon and a daisy on top. Inside was a miniture version of our wedding cake made with fruit cake (yuck. I’m not a fan of fruitcake, but Rich loves it.) The photos of the mini cakes aren’t great, we took it and this was the only one. Apparently they tasted good. We also had a small white box with 2 truffles inside tied with yellow ribbon and a daisy on the top. And we also gave a small package of daisy seeds.

Emma took this cool picture. Our wedding was right before she left for college to study photography. Too bad we didn’t get married later, we would have loved for Emma to take all of the pictures.

I saw this gorgeous cake plate and thought I would share it with you. It would be lovely to use for a cupcake tower for a wedding or any other special party. It is available online at Bodie and Fou and was designed by Polly George. There is also a teapot that is just beautiful.

Nadia and Andrew asked me to create some wrappers for the chocolate bars they were giving as favours. I thought I would share some photos with you.

Nadia and Andrew’s Chocolate bars

Nadia and Andrew

Congratulations to Nadia and Andrew. We hope your guests enjoyed their sweet favours and the cute story you included on the back of the wrapper.

Thank you to Emma of barebonephoto for sharing these lovely photos with me.

If you are interested in having custom designed chocolate bar wrappers, please let me know. I love designing them.

On May 13th it was my moms 60th birthday. My sister and I planned a surprise party to celebrate. Our colour theme was green and blue and we also used daisies.

I saw these large pompoms in Martha Stewart Weddings and decided to try to make them. They actually turned out pretty well and were easy to make, unlike some of the projects that are shown there.

Here are the 2 cakes that I made.

We gave out favours in the aqua and apple take out boxes. Inside was very yummy chocolate covered peanut brittle made by Jenny who is a friend from Stratford who has a business making peanut brittle.

Aidan was kind enough to provide the musical entertainment.

Me, my mom and my sister.

Thank you to everyone who helped us make Mom’s birthday a special surprise.

Hope you had a great birthday Mom. I can only hope that I look as good as you do when I turn 60!

I’m very excited. I just got a macbook. I’ve never had my own computer before. I’ve always had to share with Rich. But this one is all mine and I love it. I can sit outside and answer email while I watch the boys play. It’s great.

Now I’m on a quest for a funky bag to carry my shiny new macbook in. Does anyone know where I can get one? I would like something in pink and brown or another fun colour combination or a cool pattern. If you know of anywhere or you have a cool one yourself, I would love to hear from you.

I’ll keep you posted about my search. I’m hoping to find one soon. I hate waiting. I’m just not that patient.

I love handbags and I love these. Sarah of Sarah and Company makes funky and gorgeous handbags. If I had an unlimited supply of money, I would buy all of the handbags on her site. Here are a few of my favourites.

I met Erika, owner of Petite Parfait, at Brides on Bloor way back in October. She creates the most beautiful couture flower girl dresses. The fabric she uses is gorgeous Silk dupioni and is available in lots of colours. Erika custom makes each dress to the measurements of your flower girl.

I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t have a girl. If I did, she would always be dressed in one of these amazing dresses complete with matching ballet slippers. I’m in love with the contrasting sashes.

Petite Parfait also creates christening gowns, super cute outfits for boys, ring pillows, jewellery and accessories.

If you are looking for a gorgeous dress for your flower girl visit Petite Parfait.

Finally, here is part 2 of the great cake artists I met at the Wedding Show at the Carlu back in January.

Yummy Stuff

I am in love with brown and pink and the ladies at Yummy Stuff have created a beautiful cake in these colours. They also make super cute cookies that would make great favours for your shower or wedding. They even can make cookies to match your wedding cake. They also make the most delicious cupcakes. I had the pleasure of sampling the Raspberry and Red Velvet flavours during the show. YUMMY!

LPK’s Culinary Groove

Leisa’s cakes are fun and funky. Her signature green cake is topped with a sugar sculpture. Not only are the cakes a work of art, they taste wonderful too. She uses organic and in-season ingredients to create her delicious cakes. As well as making gorgeous cakes, Lesia makes lovely cupcakes. Decorated with edible, organic flowers, they taste as good as they look. If you are looking for something a bit different, LPK’s is the place for you.

With all of these great cake artists out there, it would be hard to choose just one to create your dream cake. It was a pleasure to meet everyone at the show. Each one of these artists is highly skilled and a professional at what they do.

For those of you who know me, you know I have a weakness for cake. I LOVE cake. There were just so many great cakes at the show. If I were a bride trying to choose the perfect cake, it would have been a tough choice. They were all so beautiful and skillfully made. Here are a few of the “Cake Artists” I had the pleasure to meet.

Iris Segal

Iris’ cakes are a work of art. The detail that she achieves with molding sugar is nothing short of incredible. I can only dream of having half the talent Iris has. I think if I had a cake that was made by Iris, I wouldn’t be able to eat it. Oh alright, I could because it would be delicious, but I sure would have a hard time cutting into one of these works of art.
Here are a few of Iris’ cakes that I just love.

Perfect for a winter wedding. Gorgeous and white and don’t you just love the feathers! Can you believe that the flowers are made of sugar?

flourgirls

The flourgirls are expert cupcake artists. If you are hoping for a cupcake tower, this is the company to go to. Susie also makes super cute cookies that are perfect for shower favours. She can also make tiny cookies that fit perfectly in our Ring Box - a great favour idea!

Allyson Meredith Cakes

Allyson’s cakes are edible works of art. Her hand crafted sugar flowers are gorgeous. I just love this cake. If I were getting married again, this one would be one that I would definitely consider.

These are just a few of the talented cake artists I had the pleasure to meet. I’ll be posting part 2 soon with even more gorgeous cakes.

I finally have a picture of myself that I love. I have more than one actually, but these two are my favourites. Emma took them for me this weekend and I love them. Thank you Emma!