Made in the Shade: Grand Entrance & The Cake

We made it to the reception venue just prior to the start of cocktail hour.  We were able to see the space before anyone arrived.  This also allowed us to stand by the entrance in a sort of informal receiving line and greet our guests as they arrived.  I didn't know how much time we'd have later on in the evening to speak with everyone so I was very happy we took the time to do this.

We were serving a fairly large meal after the one hour cocktail hour, so hors d' oeuvres consisted of bruschetta on toasted baguette and spinach and artichoke dip on toasted baguette; both served butler style.  I didn't even try one!  I was on such a high and was so excited to see everyone that food was the last thing on my mind.  I did have someone grab me some water - I was parched from talking so much!

As cocktail hour wound down, the parents, along with us and the bridal party, lined up in the lobby.  The DJ cranked The White Stripes Seven Nation Army and everyone strutted their stuff to a round of applause.

Video via YouTube.com

 My dad and the MOB

 Cousin R and Sister A hammin' it up.

 The 'hotties' of the bridal party!

 Our siblings - Best Man and Maid of Honor

Long before Mr. Ball Cap and I were engaged, we knew what our entrance song would be should life lead us to this moment.  We were riding in the car one day and the beginning of Foo Fighters Hero came on.  I could just picture us walking into that awesome drum solo (cheesy much?!).  Well the Mr. was totally on board and it stuck with us until that amazing December night.

Video via YouTube.com



Since you can clearly see it in the above shots, I can't help but also talk about the cake.  We wanted to cut the cake first thing.  This allowed all of our guests to get an up close view of our baker's hard work and to actually witness the cutting instead of having it lost among the middle of the party.

Our baker, Linda, just knocked it out of the park.  She took all of the elements we loved from our inspiration pics and created a cake that was all our own.  I had tears in my eyes when I saw it!

I didn't want a traditional topper so I left it up to Linda to decide what would look best to finish it off.  The sugar snowflake couldn't have been more perfect.  The first and third layers were white cake with a raspberry filling.  The second was a yummy lemon with vanilla buttercream and the bottom was chocolate with vanilla buttercream.  Our guests raved over the taste.

Cutting the cake together was kind of hard!  It's not a natural action and not exactly something we practiced beforehand.  We managed!

Ball Cap wanted to sneak a taste!

People were actually shouting for us to smash it!  That wasn't really our style so we kept it civilized.  The evening had just started - couldn't spill on my dress so early in the night!

After our delicious bites, the cake table was whisked away and it was time for our first dance.

Up Next:  First Dances

Images by Stephen Martin Photography