Real wedding: Carrie + Eric

I just had to draw your attention to this beautiful wedding featured on 100 Layer Cake.  It's a forest fairytale wedding by at a riverside cabin.  It makes me sad and happy at the same time to see these images because these are exactly the type of photos I had hoped to capture at my own wedding in the woods (also at a riverside cabin) before a week of rain made the roads too muddy to cross.  *Sigh*  I'll always wonder what that would have been like.  In the mean time though, you can check out the full post with more photos here.

Custom Wedding Maps

Today I want to feature the work of a talented calligraphy artist and fellow Etsy seller who is also named Laura.  She's the owner/operator of Trial By Cupcakes. In addition to offering calligraphy services for wedding invitations and a really cool custom calligraphy address stamp (which I may have to order!), she'll design beautifully illustrated hand-drawn maps to accompany your invitations and guide your guests in style!  I really would've loved something like this for our wedding.  Maps are offered in black ink or hand-painted color.   Pretty Pretty!

What I'm Working on Now

We are moving this month, actually in no less than 2 weeks, so I'm working on that!

We just got the keys yesterday and brought over a few items including the new porch swing cushion and pillows I made!  We ordered a pizza, measured all the rooms, argued about where to put to the TV (as of yet still unresolved) and explored the cobwebby basement.  When our pizza arrived we sat on the porch and enjoyed listening to... nothing!  In contrast to our current apartment there's virtually no traffic and certainly no bar noise at this house.  As it got dark we unpacked a pint glass and found a votive candle for a make-shift porch lantern.  We were very tired but also very excited to be finally eating dinner on our new porch.  Today I'm dedicating the entire day to packing and cleaning.  Blog posts might be a little light in the next week or so but I'll try to keep on posting!

Ice Cream at a Wedding?

Okay so it's ice cream week over at The Kitchen and while I've resisted the temptation to go out and spent all the groceries money on frozen confections, all the pretty pics of gourmet ice cream has made me wonder why more people don't serve ice cream at a wedding.  Sure cake is traditional but most large weddings serve the guest sheet cake, and does anyone above the age of 10 actually like it that much?  Why not serve a few flavors of ice cream in a pretty dish or set up an ice cream buffet with sprinkles and the like.  Perhaps it's too messy and melty for a wedding but I know I'd welcome the alternative to the standard butter cream frosting.  What could be more refreshing at a hot late-summer wedding than ice cream after all?   Don't believe me?  Maybe the photos below will convince you!

 Rose Geranium Ice Cream with Pistachios - Find the recipe here.

Red Plum Sorbet with Lemon Verbena - Find recipe here.

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream - Find recipe here.

 Coconut Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries - Find recipe here.

Dessert Bar

I love the idea of doing a dessert bar at a smaller wedding or bridal shower.  This one over at Sunday Supper is almost too pretty to eat!  I love the lavender Cream
Croquembouche.  Tres Chic!   

Lakeside Wedding

You see a lot of beach-themed or coastal wedding inspiration in the blogosphere but Minnesota, like many others, is a no-coast state.  We are however the land of 10,000 lakes.  Actually there are really some odd 12,000 lakes here! Hell, everyone either has their own lake cabin or knows someone who does so I thought I'd give my Minnesota maidens some inspiration for planning a lakeside wedding.  We don't have our own lake spot but we do visit a few every summer and any lake we go to is a place for casual relaxation.  Muted blues, greens & wild prairie flowers came to mind. 

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!   There's a huge overly commercialized "art" festival invading our neighborhood this weekend so we are hitting the road and getting out of the city!  We'll be kayaking in northern Iowa, soaking up the sun and dipping our toes in the cool water as we drift down the river.  Hope you're all doing something equally nice!