Our Little Brooklyn Wedding

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Cake tasting #1

Will this be our one and only cake tasting? Probably. :) 

We went to Butterfly Bake Shop last night for a tasting but it actually was handed to us in a bag.  I was expecting to sit down with the bakers, but it’s fine. I took the samples home and Tony, AJ, and I all sat down and tried them one by one. 

The cakes were delicious and the frostings were really yummy. We tried:

1.)Almond cake + raspberry jam filling 

2.)Vanilla + guava & dulce de leche

3.)Lemon + honey-ginger buttercream

4.)Chocolate + chocolate orange buttercream

5.)Vanilla-orange + passion fruit buttercream

6.)Vanilla + coconut buttercream

My dream wedding cake would be: Almond cake, almond buttercream frosting, raspberry jam, and a layer of marzipan beneath the filling. I have asked them a few times about the marzipan but it seems to go unanswered, I will have to make sure to ask again. 

Anyway, one of the thinks I really liked about Butterfly Bake Shop is that Massiel, one of the owners, in her initial e-mail response, included pricing, vast amounts of options, while keeping it simple.  We are ultimately going for a 3-tier, old fashioned frosted buttercream cake with pink and peach sugar peonies and ranunculus flowers decorating it.  I cannot waaaaait to see the final product. On top, we were thinking a “love” golden, glittery cake topper.

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Save The Dates

I refuse to spend hundreds of dollars on wedding stationary.  I just can’t. It doesn’t make any sense, it isn’t necessary, nor is it better than anything else more economical out there.

I sought out Save The Dates on Etsy and found that I was overwhelmed with options.  I favorited a bunch, sat Tony down, and went through the process of elimination and ended up with a perfect Save The Date.  It was only $20 for the template which after I sent my details, I received in 2 days. In addition printing from vistaprint.com was about $14 for 50 postcards.  With the color option on the back and using matte paper as upgrades, I’d say we made out pretty well for ~$34.

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Venue

This was probably the hardest part and obviously the most important.

Once you know your venue, you will know how many people you can invite; what the rest of your budget will be spent on, whether it’s food, dj, flowers, or if all of that is included; and then you can start planning everything else that will easily fall into place.

Honestly, the most stressful thing so far has been finding the perfect venue. My fiancé, Tony, and I were looking for a place that was very low-key, beautiful, and within our budget that wasn’t a gaudy reception hall or a great location that was super far away.

We went to Scottadito’s, a restaurant in Brooklyn that had a beautiful, sun lit dining room, the menu looked great, but it just wasn’t for us. If considering a Brooklyn venue for up to 70 people, I would recommend checking it out. Naturally since it’s a restaurant, they provide the food and drinks so that’s one less thing to worry about.

A few weeks later, I think I found Bacchus somewhere online and immediately fell in love with it. I sent them an e-mail and their GM, Meryl, was very quick to reply. Shortly after, Tony and I met up with her at Bacchus and LOVED it so much. There is a bar area, dining room, patio, and outside seating that can all be used for the wedding. When we went, they were renovating the wine bar next door, at least that’s what I believe it was being made into? So we haven’t seen it yet, but I noticed photos online and it looks gorgeous.

Things I like about Bacchus: -The menu looks AWESOME. -The price is not bad at all. -Since food and drink is included with our price per head, we only have to worry about flowers, dj, cake, officiant, stationary, and little odd things here and there. The restaurant is set up beautifully and Meryl mentioned that when I bring my own flowers, she will set them up for us. Meryl is so kind, so easy going, and has a great correspondence via e-mail. Basically, we won’t need a planner since we have her. -The actual space is gorgeous, there is a rattan sort of wall around the entire perimeter outdoors, this one big whimsical looking tree to the side, and I believe I saw candle holders and white linens suspended from the ceiling in the outdoor dining area. -Oh yes! Fear not, rain or shine, they have tents that can be put up on the patio as well as over the outside dining area.

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Ring

Like almost every other female in America, I went to Pinterest and drooled over rings for a while before showing my fiancé, Tony, what I thought I wanted.  I started off with a pear in mind, then cushion, then round as per encouragement by the first jeweler we saw, emerald, then back to pear as it was my first want. 

I looked online, I looked in person, I looked on Instagram. Somehow I found Lauren B Jewelry online. They had the pear shape, with halo, and thin band that I WANTED so badly.  I e-mailed them and almost immediately heard back from Sarah, a lovely girl who works at Lauren B.  She told me to come in and try the rings on, see which style was my favorite, and that’s exactly what I did.  I fell in love with the pear shape after seeing it in person, decided that I liked the halo, and halo beneath on the basket that they offered, and she kept note of everything.  Shortly after, Tony went in and that was it! I recommend going there in person to try different styles on as well, they have tons of gorgeous pieces and Sarah was so incredibly helpful and patient. They’ll work with your budget to get you what you want instead of pushing you towards buying something you ultimately won’t be happy with unlike many other jewelers. 

Lauren B is a very nice place in Manhattan, they have beautiful jewelry, Sarah was a dream come true but unfortunately I wasn’t crazy about everyone else working there.  They seem a little fake friendly, I know for a fact two of the younger men exchanged glances when I returned one time, and I didn’t appreciate that.  It’s alright I mean not everyone can be a sweetheart, we are going to get our wedding bands elsewhere though I think. 

For the engagement, Tony took me to the spot where we first kissed and proposed right there. :)

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Intro :)

So, I like to keep track of everything, even when it isn’t necessary… I just don’t know why. I write lists, I log everything, and I make note. This just happens to be a blog keeping track of the planning of my wedding, hopefully I might be able to help someone out along the way!

Let’s face it, planning is a bitch, especially if you have no experience in this sort of thing, nor do you really have any guidance besides Pinterest and Etsy.