DFTW can make dreams into…..cakes!!

Posted in Wedding Planning by Living Seas Bride

Two years before our wedding, I sat one night and watched a tv special on Disney Fairytale Weddings. I was so excited for my own wedding that I was glued to the screen and I loved every detail.

As the show came to a close , I saw the most amazing cake I had ever seen and I knew I needed it. In that moment, I grabbed my sketchbook and literally drew the cake I saw. It had silver Mickey heads stamped all over it and had a white chocolate castle on top.

That was my cake.

Flash forward, two years later, we are in the midst of planning our dream Disney Fairytale Wedding. It was time to plan the cake…my favorite part.

My planner sat there across from me and asked: ” Any thoughts on a cake?”

I pulled out the sketch I had made four years prior and said this one. I need this cake.

She responded “Ahh the Mickey Wave cake is very popular. That can be done.”

Of course we made a few adjustments to make it a bit more us, but in the end the cake was exactly as I dreamed of and envisioned.

We added a touch of color to the cake and made the ribbon match out wedding colors and adding a touch of blue to the castle turrets. My favorite Disney touch was the addition of some hidden character stamps…Donal made an appearance as did Tinkerbell herself. I loved this because our flower girls dressed as Tinkerbell.

I remember walking into the Living Seas and I couldn’t stop looking at the cake…….they had made my dream come true.

For more photos and options for cakes for a Disney Fairy Tale Wedding please head over to our private forums Disneymooners

14Sep2012

Custom Disney Wedding Cake Design

Posted in The Finer Details by FantasiaSam

Custom Wedding Cake Design by Disneymooner Vanessa

One of the advantages of having a Disney wedding is that they offer every service needed for your big day including providing your wedding cake. Disney chefs are known for their unique designs and couples are offered a variety of choices for their cake through Disney Fairy Tale Weddings. Classic designs topped with the chocolate castle to more unique offerings with the Mad Hatter cakes give most brides a choice that will meet their needs. However, if you are looking for something a little different do not worry because Disney will work with you to make your cake dreams come true.

During my planning session I chose one of the standard cake designs offered by Disney. However, a few weeks later I started to have second thoughts about my choice. My planner had me send over pictures and descriptions of what I wanted to have in a cake and then set up a conference call with one of the pastry chefs at the Grand Floridian.

In advance of our call my planner forwarded the pictures and requests I had made to give the chef to give him an idea of what I was looking for in a design. We then had a call that included the pastry chef and my planner. During the call, I described my vision and was given input on a possible design by the pastry chef. After our call I was sent over a sketch that showed the proposed design for the cake. Then I had time to review the sketch to provide input for any additional changes.

I purchased a Jim Shore castle to sit at the top tier because I wanted something that was easier to keep compared to the chocolate castles that are often used. I had pastry chefs duplicate the design of the castles’ walls on the sides of each layer. I also had the banner of “And They Lived Happily Ever After” copied off of some of Disney’s other cake designs. They even created custom flowers that matched those in my bridesmaids’ bouquets.

Other unique touches that I requested came into the shape and placement of the tiers for the cake. I did not want a standard round or square cake, so I requested hexagon shaped layers. These shapes added to the size of the cake, but provided a unique design that is not typical of most wedding cakes. In addition, I asked for the layers of the cake to be staggered giving more height to the design and allowing other items such as floral and a small glass Mickey and Minnie bride and groom to be placed on the table.

I was able to incorporate the bouquets from my bridesmaids in the layout of the cake table. Many brides will choose to have the bouquets adorn the table, but they often end up placed in a circle around the edge of the cake. Brides do not often know that you can rent clear vases to have the bouquets stand upright adding height and depth to the arrangement on your cake table. At my reception we used 9” clear cylinder vases to hold the bridesmaids’ bouquets.

Many custom designs that are created might have a minimum size for the cake based on an estimated number of servings. For many couples this might mean paying for a larger cake than your actual guest count. At my wedding we had 50 guests, but our cake design was based on pricing for 65 guests. Therefore we had to pay the additional per person serving costs for 15 people.

Besides the design of the cake another tip is that there are more flavor options for the wedding cakes than what is offered at the standard tasting. When arranging your tasting make sure to let your planner know any flavors that you would like to sample that might not be typically offered for you to taste. Having these options added to your platter will let you broaden your selection for your final cake. The cake flavors include yellow, chocolate, marble, carrot, red velvet, lemon, orange and almond. The biggest selection for Disney cakes comes with the filling options. For my wedding we had chocolate cake with peanut butter cup filling, orange cake with orange mousse and carrot cake with cream cheese filling.

The current fillings listed on the Disney Fairy Tale Wedding site include the following options:

White Chocolate Mousse
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Milk Chocolate Mousse
Raspberry Mousse
Orange Mousse
Amaretto Mousse
Strawberry Mousse
Passion Fruit Mousse
German Chocolate
Cream Cheese
Bavarian Cream
Peanut Butter Cup
Bailey’s Mousse
Blackberry Mousse
Mocha Mousse
White Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Strawberries or Raspberries
Bavarian Cream with Fresh Strawberries
Passion Fruit Mousse with Fresh Raspberries
Dark Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Raspberries
Strawberry Mousse with Fresh Strawberries
Raspberry Mousse with Fresh Raspberries

No matter what your dream is for a wedding cake, Disney can help make it a reality. I am happy that I worked with my planner to create a custom designed cake that followed our theme and that was unique to our wedding.

Thank you to Vanessa for a mouth-watering blog post and if you would like to see more Disney Wedding cake designs please go to the Disneymooner Forums

3Jul2012

DIY: Rhinestone Cake Topper

Posted in DIY, The Finer Details by Kindlelicious

Our first DIY tip is written by Disneymooner Laura, who just had a fabulous vow renewal aboard a Disney Alaskan Cruise. To read more about her wedding, vow renewal and read her recaps, please join our private forums.

Whether you are looking to save money, want a custom design, or are just really crafty, making your own monogram cake topper is probably easier than you think.

The first step is to choose or create a design. It’s best if you can create it as an image file, but even a drawing might be doable. Try to minimize really thin lines or small holes, as these will be hard to cut. This was the design we created for our vow renewal cake topper:

Once you have your design, you need to decide what material you want your topper to be made of. We went with stainless steel, but you can use other metals or even acrylic. You’ll have to choose the thickness you want (1/8”, 3/16” and 1/4” are standard for metals) and whether you want the rods to be welded to the bottom or inserted into pre-drilled holes. You’ll also have to figure out how big you want it to be. It’s a good idea to check with your baker beforehand to get any necessary dimensions and weight limits.

With all these decisions made, it’s time to contact a metal cutter. I started with a web search and looked for companies who made cake toppers or had examples of their work online. After talking with and getting quotes from a few different people, I went with the one I felt most comfortable with. About a week later we received our metal topper.

If your topper came with pre-drilled holes but no rods, you can purchase metal rods online or at a home improvement store. You can also use wooden dowels or skewers.

You have a few options for decorating your topper: leave it as is, paint it, or add crystals. If you’re going to use crystals, decide what color(s) and size(s) you want. The more sizes you have, the better the coverage will be. Crystals can be purchased online or at a craft store. You’ll also have to decide how to attach them. If you purchase hotfix crystals, you can try using a hotfix applicator. With both flat back and hotfix crystals you can use an adhesive. If you have trouble getting them to stick to metal, try scuffing up the surface.

Lastly, plan out your crystal pattern and attach them. I found it easiest to plan a small section and then glue it down. It’s best to start at a corner or edge and work your way across, as it can be hard to make the crystals fit in a way you like when two sections meet. However, you can pull the crystals back up if you need to redo an area.

Make sure you have extra crystals and glue with you (especially if you’re travelling to your wedding) just in case anything happens.

Here is our finished topper:

14Jun2012

Trends We Love: Feathers

Posted in Trends We Love by Living Seas Bride

Feathers have been seen at weddings a lot over the past year and they seem to be gaining momentum as we head into summer. From ostrich to peacock the feathers are making a statement down the aisle this year.

We’ve seen them in bride’s hair, used an accent piece or in lieu of a traditional headpiece of veil.

We’ve seen them infused into bouquets to add texture and a sense of fantasy.

The groomsmen have even been seen getting in on the feather accents as bouts.

Centerpieces are also a great place to add feathers to. This centerpiece is just feathers!

And my favorite are these incredible edible peacock feather toppers for wedding cupcakes. Couples could even buy these to place on their wedding cake.

Where else have you seen feathers used in a wedding?

Have any of our followers used or planning on using feathers on their wedding day? We’d love to hear about it on our forums!

5Apr2012

Trends We Love: Geek Wedding Cakes

Posted in Trends We Love by Kindlelicious

The wedding and groom’s cakes are one way to really highlight a couple’s personality. It seems that more and more couples are opting out of the traditional wedding cakes and really dorking out over things they love! This can especially be seen in the groom’s cake. Hubs and I LOVE Transformers, so we went with this for the groom’s cake: