Heather and Mike were actually quite ‘late bookers! When Heather and Mike visited us 8 weeks ago, Heather actually was totally shocked to learn that people actually order wedding cakes 18 months in advance…. Yes, they certainly do!
We usually design from scratch and it is our absolute policy not to recreate a design of one of our competitors. But, Heather did bring some images with her of something she had seen in a magazine that she loved. So, although we based our design on these images, we applied our own detail and transported our ideas into the final creation.
As you will gather, the theme was gold. Ornate gold detail, surrounded by elegant displays of ivory patience David Austen roses, the most amazing ivory peonies and huge radial designs of Avalanche roses and Molucella… absolutely stunning. Although the most of the flowers were white and ivory, Heather also added a touch of pink and I advised her that pink would work much better with the gold.
Being that every single bit of gold detail on the cake was created in sugar and then hand painted. this was a hell of a job to get wrong and start again! The shade of gold had to be exactly right. The bottom tier was actually done twice, the first shade of gold not being to my liking. I have shown here some images of the gold painting in progress. As you will see even the individual royal iced dots were hand painted before being applied to the cake.
We were delighted when we set up at the venue to see that the gold tones were perfectly matched. Overall, a very ornate look and a truly stunning ensemble of a everything that is very regal and traditionally English.
The wedding cake was just half the job….. Heather (American) and Mike (English) met at the University of Notre Dame, a very famous college situated in Indiana, USA. It is traditional at American weddings to have a ‘Groom’s cake’ and this cake design is usually reflective of how the couple met or something more fun to do with the groom or the couple.
Mike asked if we could recreate the main entrance building of the University – complete with its famous gold gilted dome and statue of Mary. I obviously said yes, and then after they left the studio spent the best part of the next week figuring out how the hell we were going to do it!
But, as you can see, we certainly did. I have to admit the whole thing was not actually cake (otherwise they would have had enough cake for about 1000 people).
Whilst I haven’t spoken to the couple yet, I am told they were overwhelmed with their cakes and had the most amazing day.
I hope you like these images and hope that you agree that all of that hand painting was really worth it in the end!
Lastly, fantastic to work with London wedding planner Sarah Ducker of SJD Events (as always) http://www.sjdevents.com Thanks for all your hard work and organisation. A true pleasure to work with a true professional.
Nicola…