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Fondanista Files Blog

Julie

Now that's how you do "Inclement Weather"!

When brides tell me that they are planning on holding their receptions at an outdoor venue, I think that I worry as much as they do that the weather may not cooperate.  In fact, I had to move my own wedding indoors when a rogue wind storm came through 18 years ago!  All of the careful planning and everything you envision for your wedding comes to a screeching halt when you hear that fateful weather report and you see the first rain clouds.

However, I had the pleasure of doing two weddings this weekend where the bride put her foot down and worked around the rain to thwart the unexpected weather (I mean really, is it too much to ask for nice weather in June?).

This is Emily and Wes.  They had a cool wedding...both literally and figuratively!  But as you can see, they are both happy and smiling:

The reception turned out extremely lovely.  They set up tents, moved things around and it was all very romantic!  The reception was poolside and the steam coming off the pool in the rain was so beautiful.

We decided to use the couple's monogram on cupcakes which made them elegant and casual at the same time.

Shawn is the name of the other brave bride I mentioned above.  Coincidentally, her new husband's name is Shawn as well (perhaps that's fate, not coincidence!) We decided to borrow the fantastic monogram from the couple's invitations and use it on the cake as well: "S squared."

So, to all of those brides who fear that their beautiful receptions will be ruined by crazy weather, remember that inclement weather can be beautiful too.

The Well-Groomed Cake

Well, it's wedding season and along with beautiful wedding cakes comes the wacky, outrageous, sometimes weird, but always interesting groom's cakes.  I recently did another spot on Studio 5 dedicated to groom's cakes...If you've ever had a question about groom's cakes, take a look!

Studio 5 spot

Doesn't that just make you want to run out and get some Armadillo soup? :)

I have a couple of other favorite cakes I wanted to show you since I've been on my "blog hiatus":

This cake was so much fun... a graduation cake for guy who loves Mac n' Cheese almost as much as I love cake:

Of course diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I would definitely say shoes and accessories come in a close second.  This cake was a combination graduation/birthday cake.  My favorite part is the Chanel sunglasses!

May the 4th Be With You...

Okay, I have no idea how I'm going to cohesively tie these cakes together.  So, I'm not going to even try!  The fun part of my job is that I get to do a variety of different cakes in a week's time...keeps me from getting bored.  So although I'd like to come up with a clever theme, I'm afraid it's impossible.  My good friend and awesome assistant, Suzie, is responsible for the blog title!  Here you go:

This was a birthday cake for a groom in an upcoming wedding.  His fiance wanted to surprise him with it prior to the wedding.  This one was a blast, but also a challenge.  When all was said and done, it was well over 15" high and weighed a ton!  The best part is that it had a sound component (Darth Vader breathing).

This next cake was for a beautiful wedding at Sundance.  What a beautiful setting for a wedding.  I must say that although the cake is not typical of my style, it turned out perfectly.  All of the nuts and berries are sugar.

Fashion Trends

One of my favorite places to find design inspiration is the fashion world. Whatever is hot in accessories, clothing or home decor is hot in cake design! Here are a couple recent examples that I had a blast doing...

This cake was for a bridal shower for one of my favorite clients. I had some help with the jewelry on this one and I think it turned out fantastic. Notice the Tiffany bracelet on the board...awesome!

Another trend that I am loving right now is the chandelier motif. Here is an ultra modern yet romantic design. I used swarovski crystals to highlight the design.

In fact, one of the coolest weddings I did this month utilized the chandelier motif. Chantel and TJ used the motif on their cake and throughout the decor:

Notice the chandelier crystals that hung from all of the flowers arrangements (flowers by Willow Specialty Florist):

One more trend that I'm loving is the animal prints...I love these cupcake wrappers. Who knew that fashion could taste as good as it looks.

Good Day, Sports Fans!

This week was full of orders for beautiful and elegant wedding cakes. So, what should I post on the blog? The cakes for the rock climbing enthusiast and the BYU Super-fan of course! Don't get me wrong, I love creating beautiful cakes, but I have a soft spot for the unique.

This cake was for a great guy that is into rock climbing. The cake was a Hazelnut-Chocolate with a salted caramel buttercream. The rope and the carabiner are sugar too.

This groom's cake was for the ultimate BYU fan. The cake was modeled after the groom's own BYU helmet. The cake itself was vanilla, but the bride and I decided that it would be fun to dye it a light blue on the inside. I love surprises!

Studio 5

Hi y'all! After recovering from an extended spring break (translation: recovering from kids being out of school!), I am finally posting the link for my Studio 5 segment. It was a lot of fun and the hosts couldn't be cooler. In the spot, I show Darin Adams and Tonya Papanikolos how I use a silicone mold to make jewelry for cake. Thanks for watching!

Studio 5 Spot