Cake, Cake, Cake

Posted on April 22, 2013 by lysse48

We killed that cake

I love desserts. Phil also love desserts. So when it came to picking out a wedding cake it was easy as pie….or should I say cake. (Wow that was lame, but I’m keeping that joke anyway). In the summer of 2011 Phil and I traveled to New York to volunteer at the Greek American Foundation’s Gabby Awards. At the Gabby’s I had my first ever Georgetown Cupcake, it was a salty caramel cupcake and I was in love.

My first Georgetown Cupcake…June 2011

After the Gabby’s, and my first Georgetown Cupcake experience I become obsessed with everything that had to do with salty caramel. Salty caramel cupcakes, salty caramel ice cream from Jeni’s, salty caramel cheesecake, salty caramel popcorn, and everything else that was salted and caramel. So when it came to deciding on what kind of wedding cake Phil and I wanted to have it had to have some kind of caramel in it. When my mom, Phil’s mom, and I went to the Today’s Bride Bridal Fair I went to the fair with the intention of finding a cake vendor who offered a caramel flavor. To my surprise none of the cake vendors at the fair actually made a caramel cake but most vendors make a banana flavored cake, a flavor that I never ever tried, but none had a caramel flavored cake. So I had to choose vendors that had caramel filling, which is just as good. Phil and I setup an appointment with Any Way You Ice It because 1) it had a sweet punny name 2) they had caramel filling 3) they handed out cupcakes at the bridal fair and it was tasty and 4) the price was right. So Phil, I, and Phil’s parents went to go taste cakes and these were the flavors we tasted:

1. Chocolate with Peanut Chips cake with Creme Caramel filling
2. Chocolate cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling
3. Yellow cake with Creme Caramel Filling
4. Strawberry Cake with Chocolate Gnache filling.
5. Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese filling.

All the flavors were AMAZING! We especially like the chocolate cake with the peanut butter cream cheese filling and the yellow cake with you guessed it the caramel filling. So we decided to have 2 flavors of cake at our wedding chocolate cake with peanut butter chips with peanut butter cream cheese filing and the second flavor being yellow cake with creme caramel filling.

Phil’s Mom and Dad enjoying the cake flavors

When it came to the design of the cake that was pretty easy. I wanted to incorporate an art deco design with my wedding colors. Luckily art deco style is based on a lot different designs and patterns and it wasn’t had to find inspiration for the cake. I received inspiration for the art deco design from a Martha Stewart art deco wedding cake, a 1920s screen door, and the Great Gatsby book cover. It was actually much easier than I thought to create my own design. Since we loved the flavors and Kelly, the owner of Any Way You Ice It, we booked her as our cake vendor. One thing we do regret is interviewing more cake vendors just for the sole purpose of tasting more cakes.

Our Cake Design

Our Ohio State Tailgate Engagement Party

Posted on April 21, 2013 by lysse48

Us in our Ohio State gear

When my parents decided to throw Phil and I an engagement party, my mom asked me what kind of engagement party we wanted to have. My mom was thinking about throwing a party with heavy appetizers, champagne, and other fancy stuff. My idea was to recreate the day Phil and I met and have an Ohio State tailgate themed engagement party. My mom was kind of shocked to hear that I wanted a tailgate themed party. “OSU themed party? Don’t you want to use the champagne fountain I just purchased and have sushi?” she said to me. I was sticking to my guns and told her I wanted an Ohio State themed party. I wanted a party that was fun, relaxed, and celebrated what Phil and I were all about. As much as I love champagne and sushi, I wanted a relax fun environment for our extended families to meet. So my mom took my idea and ran with it and pulled off the best engagement party ever!

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The party was on March 2nd at the Monticello Barn in Canton, Ohio. The guest list included 120 people of just family…yes you read that correctly Phil and I have 120 family members combined…that is the size of a normal wedding. Originally I wanted to serve Pita Pit to our guests because that is the first meal Phil and I had together but my mom nixed that idea and instead served “very little” food which included Italian sausage, pulled pork, gumbo, pastitsio, chicken wings, salad, meat pies, baked beans, chili, meatballs, cheese tray, a bunch of dips, pasta salad, and enough dessert to feed a small village. My mom also gathered all the decorations and a lot of the Ohio State decor was provided by family members who are OSU alum. She had a lot of help from my Aunt Carolyn, my Nouna, my Yiayia, Sarah, my brother Alexander, my Uncle Jr., my Aunt Mona, and my Aunt Dina. In the invitations we told everyone to wear Ohio State gear and/or Scarlet and Gray and to Phil and I’s surprise mostly everyone wore OSU stuff. We were super happy about that. The night went smoothly we everyone eating too much, music from our college days playing in the background, and 2001 National Championship Game playing on the TV it was perfect. Phil and I like to thank everyone for coming and all the awesome gifts you gave us, except we don’t thank you for the photo of Phil in his M*ch*gan gear.

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Dear Brides Everywhere Don’t Let Your Bridesmaids Pick out their own dresses, it’s too hard

Posted on April 7, 2013 by lysse48

My Bridesmaid Dresses from “Louisa” from J. Crew my 1st and approx. 250th choice.

I have only been a bridesmaid twice in my life and both Kendra and Sarah made my life as a bridesmaid easy. They both did the choosing and I did the buying, just the way it should be. Brides if you need one of your bridesmaids to try on dresses for you, it is totally acceptable. But only ask 1 person to go try on dresses. All of your bridesmaids don’t have to be there. I did this for Sarah’s wedding and she did this for mine. If you are the “chosen” bridesmaid just model them and give both positive and negative feedback and most importantly don’t be a bitch. The best way to give your opinion on if you like a dress is to give a grade “A+ to F”. It is the easiest way for the bride to get true idea of what dresses you like best instead of calling each dress “cute” or “pretty.” If you are a bride, it is still your wedding you should pick out a dress you like and would want to wear and if your bridesmaids like you they will like the dress you pick. For the past couple of years it has been a trend to have mismatched bridesmaids dresses you give your bridesmaids a color and and they go out and pick out a dress they like. To me that is flat out being a lazy bride. “But, Alysse if I just give your bridesmaids choices they will be happier and they will love their dress so much more that they will wear it again!” This is false, bridesmaid dress shopping is stressful there are a lot of stores and styles and different dresses to choose from, you don’t want to pass that stress onto your friends and family. If you want the mismatched look, pick 3 or 4 dresses yourself and have your bridesmaids choose from those 3 or 4 dresses or you can pick a color and fabric by a certain designer they pick from the different styles.

This 1/18th of the dresses I found when I was looking for a bridesmaids dress.

Let me tell you about my journey of finding a bridesmaids dress to enlighten you on the situation. All bridesmaids dresses look the same. You got your strapless dress, you got your spaghetti strap dress, you got your edgy one shoulder, you got your Duggar cap sleeve dress, a cool back dress, you got your halter dress, and finally you got your regular strap dress. The dresses come in three fabrics chiffon(two kinds), satin, or jersey. Add some sparkly brooch or a rose and you got a bridesmaid dress. I wasn’t floored by any of the bridesmaids dresses I saw at bridal shops or online bridal shops. So I thought I would just search other dress shops and websites that didn’t sell exclusively bridal stuff. You would be surprised how many everyday brands have bridesmaid dress lines including J. Crew, Ann Taylor, The Limited, Nordstorm, Guess, BCBG, and a few more. There are also a few websites that sell bridesmaids dresses like ASOS, Monsoon, BHLDN, and ModCloth. I spent about 3 months searching these websites and checking them a minimum of 3 times a week looking for dresses. I wanted a dress that was 1920s inspired but didn’t look like a costume. Due to the movie The Great Gatsby coming out this May there was a lot of 1920s/ Art Deco style dresses out in the stores for the holiday season. But a lot of these dresses were too flashy or too slutty. I knew that I liked J. Crew bridesmaids dresses and that was my backup plan if I couldn’t find an unconventional dress. I figured out why so many brides buy dresses from bridal shops because every time I found a dress that I liked it either was too expensive, didn’t have all the sizes of my bridesmaids, or sold out too quickly. It was not only hard to find a dress that was in stock and had the right number of sizes it was just as hard to find the right color. There are tons of different shades of blue especially my minty/seafoam/grayed jade blue I had picked for my wedding color. Even if I wanted to shop at a bridal shop for the dresses there wasn’t a designer that sold a dress in my colors. I found a dress at BCBG that I really liked but it was $325 and since I would never spend that much on a bridesmaids dress I wasn’t going to have my ‘maids spend that much either. So I waited to see if it went on sale and unfortunately that dress was so popular that it sold out before it hit the sale rack. After ordering a few other dresses online and then returning them because they were just a hot mess; I went with my 1st/backup choice the J. Crew dresses because they are so pretty aka an A+ and the dusty shale color was the perfect color I was looking for. The “Louisa” was also flattering and had the 1920s inspiration I wanted with the V pleated on the bodice. So ladies you see how time consuming and options there are for bridesmaids dresses, don’t let your ‘maids bare that burden.

Sarah in the BCBG dress…she will probably kill me for posting this…so if I go missing you’ll know where to look first 🙂

Questions You Should Ask Before Marriage…Really?

Posted on April 1, 2013 by lysse48

I found gem of a questions on Pinterest titled “100 questions couples should ask before getting married” After reading these questions I thought “oh Phil and I should ask these questions to each other we could learn a lot” after reading through all of the questions I thought, “What kind of questions are these?! Shouldn’t all couples know all of the answers to these questions before you get engaged?!?” Below are Phil and I’s answers to some of these questions; our answers were kinda comical.

Question #1: What is the best way for me to show that I love you?

Phil’s Answer: You show it to me everyday

Alysse’s Answer: Awwwww, how can I follow that answer? Kisses and hugs.

Q#2: Have you ever been involved in any criminal activities? What were they?

P: Have you ever been involved in any criminal activities?!? Huh? Huh?

A: No, what is this NCIS? You have been watching too much NCIS.

Q#3: Is it permissible for us to open each other’s mail?

P: I don’t see why not.

A: You can’t open my mail when it is from a clothing store because I love opening up packages from clothing stores!! Also don’t open your Christmas presents before Christmas.

P: Well, duh.

Q#4: Do you trust me with money?

P: Yes, of course…

A: What is that supposed to mean? I trust you.

Q#5: How will you support my hobbies?

P: What does that even mean??? What are your hobbies? You tell me your hobbies and I will tell you if I support them.

A: Well, let’s see my hobbies include celebrity gossip, watching a bunch of TV and movies, and listening to a ton of music, and I guess now blogging.

P: I pay the cable bill so I support your hobbies!

A: I support your hobby of fantasy sports teams because sometimes you take me on nice trips with that money. I also support your man cave sports collectibles collection obviously because I have gotten you half of your collection.

Q#6: Do you anticipate maintaining your single lifestyle after we are married?

P: Video games and sports games.

A: I just studied when I was single I don’t know what single life is like without studying. Thus, I don’t want to maintain my single lifestyle.

Q#7: Is there anything about marriage that frightens you?

P: Nope.

A: You getting sick of me.

P: I’ll never get sick of you.

A: Awwwww

Q#8: How will we schedule holidays with our families?

P: We have being doing it before we get married so no need to change now.

A: Ditto and why not have every holiday!

Q#9: Other than formal schooling, what types of education will our children get and how will they receive them?

P: Well kids, you’re Cleveland fans, sorry!

A: No matter if they are boys or girls or both they will watch classic movies, television, theater, and appreciate art. They also will go to clown school.

P: Oh yes, they are totally going to clown school.

Q#10: When we have children, who will change the diapers, heat the bottles, prepare the meals, do the housework, bathe the child, get up in the middle of the night when a child is crying, take the child to the doctor, buy clothing, and dress the child?

P: Both of us. Is that the correct answer?

A: Yes, it is. I have trained you well.

Q#11: If I had bad breath or body odor or wear dirty clothes, will you tell me? Should I tell you? Why or why not? How should we do it?

P: Yes, I will tell you.

A: And I will tell you too, your breath is stanky.

Q#12: Do you approve without reservation of the way I dress?

P: Yes, minus blazers and that headband you are wearing is a little whack.

A: What you don’t like I’m wearing it like I’m a ninja. What is wrong with a strong female wearing a blazer? I like them they are cute and I wear a lot of them. Yes, except you can wear less sweatpants in public and sometimes you wear stuff that doesn’t match.

Q#13: Would it bother you if I made body noises all the time, like passing gas or burping?

P: You are already do that! Oh Burn!

A: Whatever you fart too. If you don’t fart and burp in front of each as a couple something is wrong.

Q#14: When do you need space away from me?

P: Never!

A: Awwww there is he goes again.

Q#15: If you always say you are going to do something but never do it, what is the most effective way to bring this problem to your attention?

P: Bribe me.

A: Hahaha. I have done this before and it does work. You can just remind me.

Q#16: What makes you not want to talk to me?

P: Your stanky breath.

A: You just stole stanky from me. I usually don’t want to talk to you when your cranky and you haven’t eaten.

Q#17: What justifies going into debt?

P: Food, is that lame?

A: Hot tubs, In-Home Movie Theaters…

P: Pool tables, calf implants…

A: Backstage passes to meet Justin Timberlake and anything from Madewell.

Q#18: How should we prepare for a financial emergency?

P: Buy blow up furniture. What are your thoughts on that.

A: Whatever happened to blow up furniture? I say let’s do whatever they do in NBC’s “Revolution”

P: So basically gather a bunch of candles and crossbows.

Q#19: What do you fear?

P: Nothing. Read the quote my twitter profile, “Limits like fears are often an illusion” said by Micheal Jordan.

A: Thanks Master Phil. I fear snakes, just snakes and NSYNC never getting back together.

Q#20: How do you feel about having guns in our home?

P: There are already guns in our home (Phil then points to his flexed arm muscle)

A: SMH

Q#21: Do you like pets?

P: I’m allergic to pets.

A: And that’s why we are a perfect match. I don’t like pets 🙂

Q#22: Have you ever had any psychological problems?

P: I have ADD….What did you just say?

A: I’ve just been crazy for you 😉

Q#23: Is there anything in your past I should be aware of?

P: I just farted it is right behind me.

A: I once stole a Barbie bookmark from the book fair in the 2nd grade.

P: You criminal.

Q#24: Have you ever been able to overcome a bad habit? What was it?

P: I don’t eat fast food any more.

A: Lies!

P: Not like I used to!

A: Well, if you gave up fast food. I gave up reality TV shows.

Q#25: Would you prefer to live in the city, the country, or by the beach? Why?

P: In the jungle. I am Tarzan.

A: That wasn’t even a choice.

P: I’m tired.

A: Ok, I’m done with this too.

Phil & Alysse's Wedding Blog :p+a:

Monthly Archives: April 2013

Cake, Cake, Cake

Our Ohio State Tailgate Engagement Party

Dear Brides Everywhere Don’t Let Your Bridesmaids Pick out their own dresses, it’s too hard

Questions You Should Ask Before Marriage…Really?