Amazing Silk Flowers

I found a website for those of us brides who want flowers but know that they're far too expensive to have real ones. The site is called Afloral.com.

I know that your first thoughts when someone mentions fake flowers at a wedding are probably, "Tacky!" or "Cheap." But this site provides beautiful flowers that can pass for real ones, and the best part about it is that they're cheap.

PROS of having silk flowers:

• Silk flowers will keep a lot of money in your pocket.
• You can arrange the flowers days in advance instead of hoping they'll be what you want the night before your wedding.
• You can get silk flowers in many colors that aren't possible naturally.
• Every flower is "in season" when they're silk.
• The silk flowers won't die so you can use them for your home decor after the wedding.
• And finally, silk flowers are kind to people with allergies.

CONS of having silk flowers:

• They won't always look anatomically correct.
• Silk flowers don't have a scent (but this can be fixed by boxing them with potpourri for 24 hrs.)
  

Here's some bouquets that are made from the silk flowers featured on the Afloral website. All of these cost fractions of what the retail price is. (Click HERE to see the prices and products used).

Hilarious First Dance

Me and my honey want to do something to the effect of shock our guests by starting with a slow dance and then going into "Groove is in the Heart" funky dancing lol. =)

Wedding Colors

So me and my fiancee both love the color purple (not the lavender or lilac shades, but the rich, dark, jewel tones of purple). We originally started out with the idea of having eggplant purple be the primary wedding color with black and white damask accents around. We changed our minds about it when I thought of how beautiful the flowers would be if they were shades of the sunset.

So now our wedding colors are Purple, Fuschia, and Orange with little hints of lime green. I think it's a gorgeous summer color palette and the flowers will look amazing in those shades!

=)

Wedding Playlist

So I've figured out the three songs I want to be special at our wedding. I'll probably change them like 5 times but here's what I have in mind for now lol. My bridal party is really small so only one song is needed for the processional music. 

Processional song including my entrance: 

"Because You Loved Me" - Celine Dion

Candle lighting ceremony:

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" - Aerosmith

Me my husband's first dance:

"Groove is in the Heart" - Deee-Lite

We picked "Groove is in the Heart" because it's a fun song and we don't want to bore people with a lot of slow dances. 

DIY Mini Chocolate Sculptures

DIY Mini Chocolate Sculptures

These mini chocolate sculptures are great to decorate your desserts at your wedding or any event where you want to add funky and elegant details! This project adds dazzle to any dessert dish. It's quick and

 so easy to make, who wouldn't want to do it?!

What you will need:

• Melting Chocolate Discs
• Piping bag
• Wax Paper

1. You will first need to melt some chocolate. You can use milk, dark, or white chocolate, and if you really want to get funky and bold, you can make any color in the rainbow by adding food coloring to your melted white chocolate. While the chocolate is melting in the microwave line a cookie sheet or any flat surface with wax paper.

2. Now add your melted chocolate to your piping bag.

3. This is where creativity comes into play. Scribble designs with your piping bag unto the wax paper. You can draw shapes, initials, etc. I found that the sculptures work a lot better when you use thick lines instead of narrow ones. Also, some shapes are easier to work with than others

 so you just have to play around and see which ones work for you the best. Make sure that the whole design connects with each other.

4. The chocolate will harden pretty quickly so when you're finished drawing your last design the first one should be hardened. Now all you have to do is peel the chocolate off the wax paper, very slowly!, and garnish your dessert. You can stick it right into the dessert, lay it on the plate to decorate around the dessert, or just eat the chocolate by itself.

Now you have your own personal and fun touch to sweets.

DIY Cake Balls - Cake Ball Fiasco

Me and my fiancee aren't getting married until June of 2010, but we wanted to start experimenting with what kind of food to serve at our wedding since we are planning to cater it ourselves to save money. I came up with the idea of serving little cake balls as dessert at our buffet. Here is a tutorial on how to make your own.

What You Will Need:

• Cake
• Frosting
• Lollipop Sticks
• Melting Chocolate Discs
• Wax Paper

Optional:

• Candy Cups
• Nuts
• Powdered Sugar
• Sprinkles
• Coconut Flakes

1. Bake the cake flavors of your choice. Since me and him were just practicing with this idea we opted for box cake mixes instead of making a homemade cake. I used french vanilla and chocolate cake mixes.

2. Once the cakes are done baking let them cool. When it's cool enough to touch with your hands put the different cake flavors in large, separate bowls. When you get them into bowls start smashing and tearing up the cake until it finally reaches a sand like texture. It's important to make sure there are no clumps.

3. Time to get messy! You are going to add a handful of whatever type of frosting you want into your cake as a binding agent. I used buttercream frosting for the french vanilla cake and caramel frosting for the chocolate cake. The amount of frosting you need is determined by however much cake you have. Be sure not to go overboard with the frosting where the consistency of the mixture is gooey. You need just enough frosting to make sure that the crumbs will stay together when you mold them into balls.

 

4. After mixing in the frosting, you are then going to mold the mixture into little balls the size you want your cake balls to be. I recommend not doing a ball any larger than the size of the circle your index and thumb finger make. When you mold all the balls insert a lollipop stick into each of them, making sure not to go all the way through the ball.

5. Freeze the cake balls for 20 minutes or until the lollipop sticks are held firmly inside the balls. Remove the balls and then melt some milk chocolate, white chocolate, or dark chocolate in a microwave safe container. You will then pick up one of the balls by the stick and spoon chocolate over it until you get a nice, even coat around the entire ball.

6. Now this is the fun part! It's time to decorate. You need to add any decorations you want on the ball while the chocolate coating is still soft and not hardened. You can use nuts, coconuts, chocolate candy, powdered sugar, sprinkles, etc. You're only limited by your imagination. For the purple, brown, and tan colored balls my fiancee used homemade colored marshmallow fondant, but you can get the same color effects by melting white chocolate and adding food color to it.

And there you have it, CAKE BALLS!