Wedding with a View

Okay, so everyone must do their own version of a rain dance while concentrating on September 23, 2007. Actually, I think the location of the wedding will be beautiful in rain or shine, but certainly shine is preferable.


While visiting Boston a few weeks ago, my mom and I had the chance to go and check out the location of the ceremony and reception; Misselwood at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. It was so exciting to see the house where both John and I will get ready before the ceremony, the grassy area overlooking the Atlantic where the ceremony will take place, the grounds where we will have our photos taken, and the reception tent where we will eat, drink, and dance (some of us!) the night away! Everything was even more perfect than I could have imagined.


Here is the view of the Atlantic from where the ceremony will be held:



Here is the house that I will walk out of with my dad to marry John:



And here is the reception tent and patio:

You'll have to wait until the wedding to see the rest!!

Let's Eat (Vegan) Wedding Cake

One of the first things I did when John and I started narrowing down dates to get married was to check and see if the Hippie Chick Bakery was available to make our wedding cake. Last week while in Boston, we drove up to Amesbury and met with the owner, Amy, to discuss the design of the cake and of course, do some tasting!! Sorry for my photos of half eaten cake, I was so excited about tasting, I forgot about pictures! Here is a run down of what we tried:

First up, a chocolate cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting layered with fresh strawberries. Luckliy this was the biggest "test" cake in the box, I could have eaten an entire cake of this myself!


Next up a more sophisticated spice cake with ginger "buttercream" frosting. The ginger frosting was amazing.


And finally a carrot cake with vanilla "buttercream" frosting. I really didn't used to like carrot cake, but this was like a little slice of heaven.



Additionally, we also sampled a lemon cake and a marble cake with yummy chocolate frosting. We had wanted to taste a pumpkin cake, but since they aren't in season yet, we will have to do this by mail closer to the wedding date. The cakes were all unbelievably moist and tender, with thick, creamy, sugary frosting. Perfect. For the wedding we will have a three-tiered cake. The bottom will be the chocolate cake, the middle will be either the spice or pumpkin cake with ginger frosting, and the top is still being decided. We will be taking the top layer home to Houston, but probably not waiting till our first anniversary to eat it, that would just be torture! The design of the cake is not your typical white fondant topped wedding cake. I wanted something a little different but still classy, so we are using the wedding colors, two shades of green and orange for an accent. The cake will be similar in style to this one.


John was admittedly worried (as possibly many of you are that may be attending the wedding) that vegan cake wouldn't live up to non-vegan dessert counterparts (I don't know why since I bake him fabulous desserts all the time, all vegan!). Vegan baking is actually relatively easy. The most crucial piece is usually the egg replacer, something to bind the baked good. Check out this link on some trustworthy replacements. If you want to try it out for yourself, here's a really easy recipe for a super moist chocolate cake and a delicious coconut pecan frosting to top it off. You won't notice the difference, I promise!!

Not sure about you, but I can't wait to taste the cake on our wedding day! I just might have to have a piece of each flavor!

Green Dream Wedding Jewelry

As soon as we began planning our upcoming wedding, one of the parts I was most excited about (besides tasting wedding cake) was picking out the jewelry I will wear on our wedding day. Several months ago, I discovered a website called Etsy, where you can buy and sell all things homemade. Then I also found a network of vegan and vegetarian friendly sellers (EtsyVeg and Etsy for Animals), some of whom also donate a percentage of their profits to animal-friendly organizations. One of my favorites is McFarland Designs. Tamara is a brilliant jewelry designer, as well as a vegan and a mom! I was thrilled when she agreed to custom design my wedding jewelry. Here is a sneak photo that was posted on her website:



She nicknamed one of the early versions of my necklace, the Green Dream, which I thought was appropriate. Some of the stones include: green garnet, prehnite, aquamarine, labradorite, vasonite, moonstone, and Swarovski simulated pearls. I am so excited to get these in the mail sometime this week, hopefully in time for my first wedding dress fitting (it finally arrived)!


Wearing vegan jewelry on my wedding day is important to me. Many of you may ask, what isn't vegan about jewelry? One of the most common stones used in wedding jewelry is the pearl. And yes, pearls are not vegan, they are the product of pain. Besides, Swarovski simulated pearls are just as beautiful and they are cruelty-free!

Our Happy Ending

This weekend John and I picked up our wedding rings at a local jeweler, Reiner's (kindly referred by Rich and Kristi). We opted for simple white gold bands, since John is brand new to the whole man-jewelry thing. Inside, we had the option of engraving the rings. I agonized over this for awhile, wanting something original and also something with meaning. I was so happy when I came up with the phrase "Our Happy Ending". This phrase is borrowed and modified from one of my favorite Avril Lavigne songs "My Happy Ending" where she is not as lucky to find hers. Unfortunately, since my ring size is so small (3.5!) they weren't able to fit that phrase and our wedding date. So, being the acronym-loving geologists that we are, our wedding rings are inscribed:

OHE 09/23/07

Green and Mango

I think we've figured out the wedding colors, mostly different shades of green (think peridote, grossular garnet, prehnite.... light/limey greens for those non-geologists out there) and accented with mango (i.e. light orange). My mom put together a small arrangement of kermit mums and orange roses to get an idea of the colors together. I am hoping to also have spider mums, green hydrangeas, and hypercium berries. The orange accent flower is yet to be decided, maybe mango cala lilies or light orange roses. Any thoughts?




Otherwise, things are coming together for the quickly approaching wedding! We are still trying to figure out the food as well as who is going to perform the ceremony, but most of the other details are covered. We leave for Boston in less than a week to do some scoping work, hang out with John's family, and get some hiking and relaxation time in New Hampshire's White Mountains. Should be a fun trip, I can't wait to try the wedding cake flavors. There will be a full report when we return.