We Did It!

 We survived our wedding almost 2 weeks ago and I have to say it went pretty well.  It is so true what they say that the day passes in a blur!  Unfortunately, these are the only pictures I have from the day so far because I'm waiting for photos.  My cousin Stephanie did our wedding photography and did a fabulous job!  My dear friend Brenda was my roving casual photographer and she also got some great shots.  I greatly appreciated both of their efforts!

 I made a kransekake for our cake table because it is a Norwegian tradition and I chose a lot of Norwegian details for the day.  This is the only photo I took of it and I used my cell phone.  I was so rushed that it didn't occur to me to take a picture of it.  I bought the almond paste at Ingebretsen's a few weeks before for $10/lbs and made a practice one earlier in the month.  I have non-stick pans that our relatives in Norway sent us years ago but they are at least 15 years old and the non-stick does eventually wear out.  I piped the dough using a cookie press and baked them...but then couldn't get them out of the pan!  I was practically in tears and unsure of what I was going to do.  For the real cake, I piped the dough into the pans, and then flipped the rings onto a silpat-lined cookie sheet.  I used the pans really only as a pattern and it worked just fine.  Whew!  Then you cement the rings together with icing and decorate it with flowers, flags (I used Norwegian, Czech and German flags for mine and his heritage), candies and crackers.  Traditionally you hide a bottle of wine under the rings of the cake but this cake was only 12 rings high.  The rings are separated and broken into pieces when served and eaten like a cookie.  It is soft and chewy like a macaroon.  This cake is also gluten free as it is made of almond paste, egg whites and sugar.  Maybe for Christmas I'll make another one and share a little more about it.

We served cupcakes for our cake because I didn't want anyone to be lumbered by having to slice and serve it.  I found this cupcake serving tier on Amazon and purchased it with a gift card I had from my insurance and got it for a $23.  I hot glued navy blue ribbon to the edges and we placed flowers all over it between the cakes for decoration.

Here is one of the other few pictures I have from the day.  This is my mother assembling the cupcake stand and filling it with our red velvet cupcakes.  You can kind of see how it is assembled.  The different tiers are simply stacked onto the stand.  I also baked a 6 inch red velvet 2 layer cake for the top tier that we sliced for our pictures.  Our cutting cake isn't shown in this picture, nor are the THOUSANDS of cream cheese mints that my mother, sister and nieces made for the event.  My niece Ava was in charge of stocking the mint plate and she did a great job keeping an eye on it!

This is how the stand disassembles and packs away!  I was very pleased with this item.  It holds 120 cakes and can be re-used.  I read that people use these at craft fairs to display items.  My hairdresser already offered to purchase it for her daughter's upcoming graduation.

These are the favors for each place setting.  My poor sister folded and assembled all these boxes and tied the ribbons.  These were Wilton favors purchased at Joann Fabrics with 40% off coupons from their flier.  We also used Wilton invitations purchased the same way.

The boxes were filled with butter cookies baked with my RyCraft cookie stamper.  I've had these forever and thought they'd keep with the wedding crown theme.  These stampers can be found in all manner of gift shops and kitchen shops.  My mother has made these as Christmas cookies as long as I can remember.  The cookies are made from margarine (butter spread out too much), sugar, flour, salt and flavoring.  They hold the design because they have no leavening agent.

Here are the cookies after they are baked and you can see they aren't as sharp as the stamped dough but I was prepared to live with it.  I baked some 360 of these and the kransekake the Wednesday night before the wedding. 

I thought the day went off without a hitch but I have to admit I'm glad it is all over!  It is true that weddings are one of the most stressful times of your life and I can attest to that!  Now I just feel like I have all kinds of free time, but I have to first tackle the Thank You notes!  My sister was the true hero of the day but my Mother, Dave's sister Theresa and my cousin Stephanie with all her wedding knowledge and experience were invaluable!  Thank you to everyone who helped!