Wedding Flowers

For Cami's wedding I got to work with all the flowers to make corsages, boutonnieres, bouquets, and centerpieces. I already posted what the wedding bouquet looks like and then it was just a basic rose/petal bout. The centerpieces were fun, they were Cami's brain child, but ended up being very simple, elegant, and beautiful. It was just a few roses in a vase with some river stones. These vases were then placed on top of a mirror, doily, and a piece of scrap booking paper. Voila, beautiful.

Wedding Cakes

With all my work with fondant, I have had a lot of fun making cakes like this one for Cami's wedding. Here we just have a basic double layer 9" circumference chocolate cake covered in my wonderfully simple marshmallow fondant recipe that I borrowed from my sister Susan. At the bottom you see the double ribbon which adds a hint of color and texture. Then, of course, there is the cake topper with the love birds and some beautiful roses and mint flavored decoration balls.


Here you see the cupcake tree, decorated by Cami's cousins and the cupcakes created the night before with the help of Carin, it takes a while to make the frosting and considering how much we put on each cupcake, it took a very long time, however, it worked out well and looked Be-a-u-tiful.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe (by Manny Ramirez)

• 16 ounces white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 lbs icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)
  

1. Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted.

2. It usually takes about 2 ½ minutes total. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

3. Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY - palms, backs and in between fingers, then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle.

4. Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands.

5. Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.

6. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant is sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about ½ tablespoon at a time then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.

7. Its best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.

The Wedding Planner

My friend Cami got married last week in the Draper temple and I helped with... pretty much everything. It was a lot of fun though to decorate cupcakes for the cupcake tree, put together the fondant cake and arrange plenty of flowers.

The happy couple looking hopefully into the future.

First kisses! Well, not exactly, but you have to have the veil photo.

The happy family. Notice the redhead on the far left, refused to smile. Oh well, what can you do?


Here you can see some of the preparations for the reception that Carin and I (along with a few others) participated in. 10 flower arrangements, 190 cupcakes, 200 cucumber sandwiches, corsages, boutonnieres, bouquets, etc.

It was wonderful and I am so happy for Cami. I love her and Dave and I know that they will live a long happy life together.

In the Morning Sun we Glisten

I have a love hate relationship with the box elder bugs. I hate when they fly past my ears. I hate when I find them crawling on my bed. I don't like to share my kitchen with them. I can't stand to find their dead bodies in my water cup and I hate the thought that they are always there, always watching.

But they remind me of this place. I can't think of the past year and a half without them. Loves come. Loves go. Best friends bond then marry. The grass grows, then dies (we never remember to water it). Even as the furniture, trees, and garden change, those bugs are constant. There isn't a day that I don't see one scurrying in one direction or another and although it irks me, it is that one constant in my life of the past year and a half that I can't ignore. It reminds me of the cycle of life.

Starting a new. Running. Falling.

Starting a new.

And when I can't take it any more, when all my memories crowd my mind and all my pasts threaten to become my present and my future, then I retreat to the basics. The shoes, the street, running. The bugs. They are always there.

You can always count on the box elders.

Alstroemeria

I love flowers. When I was young I thought it was silly to grow flowers, why would you spend so much time, effort, and garden space on things that you can't eat. Why not plant just vegetables, berries, and delicious fruit? That all changed when I started to take my floral design class and I realized the powerful effect of flowers. One of my new favorite flowers is the Alstroemeria. Alstroemeria, also known as the Peruvian lily or Lily of the Inca's, has a vase life of about two weeks and makes it equitable in vase life to that of a carnation. And yet it is just so much more unique than a carnation (and just as cheap). It is like they are always looking at your with their exotic faces, enticing you to visit the lures of South America.

It also reminds me of Juan, because it is Peruvian. Even though Wikipedia states that these gorgeous flowers are grown in Chile and Brazil almost exclusively, we all know that Peru once covered almost half of South America and so the name is still appropriate.

Speaking of, Kevin knew that it was one of my favorites and bought me an entire bouquet which I was able to use to make this gorgeous arrangement.


And while I was practicing using the floral tape and wire for Cami's wedding, I made a neat little boutonniere with one of the flowers. I thought the orange, black, and green made a stark contrast that was absolutely irresistible. What do you think?

Garden Fresh

Anna and I went to take sister pictures after I threw together a practice boutineer for Cami to look at. I was feeling particularly cute looking and I couldn't keep it to myself, so here are some of the results.

Here you see a beautiful girl smelling a beautiful flower.

Anna is a cutie pie with a flower hat.

We are dating.

We hold hands.

Stick it to the man--- but not really

I had a great idea while in the loo today. As I sat down I saw a newspaper, on the ground, and I read it. And I realized, there should be newspapers in every bathroom stall. The Daily Universe has a super low readership, but I think this would get people's attention. Except, asking the Daily Universe to install newspaper holders in every stall is ridiculous, I still think it is possible.

It's a grassroots movement. BYU students love doing things that seem somewhat "contraband" and we would just be leaving newspapers under the bathroom stalls and then passing it on. Now for a witty name...