Me like Cookies

Cookies were served as a late night sweet treat in June 2012

It looks like Cookie Monster is helping set a trend for the 2013 wedding season. Cookies are set to be cropping up at weddings next year for favours and desserts.

Entering the wedding circuit in 2011, cookies made an impact, but weren't as popular as cupcakes, cake pops, candy buffets and even pies. But if you or your hubs-to-be is a cookie monster, then you'll be happy to know the cookie is here for 2013!

Sugar cookies can be decorated any way you like, and can also be packaged in a variety of different sizes and shapes - making for a unique and personalized favour or treat.

Two of my clients last year had cookies for their guest takeaway. Giving an edible favour is a great idea because everyone always likes something to eat. Most times the edible favours will be eaten or taken home so you know you've spend your money well, unlike some of the other offerings like candles, soap or picture frames.

Angie & Serge had Cupcake Diner make them themed cookies
for their May wedding.

Natalie & Jason gave a simple sugar cookie for their
June 2012 wedding.

If you want to have cookies at your wedding, just remember that you don't have to go with the decorated sugar cookie. You can pick your favourite from your childhood, or choose one because you like the name (i.e: snickerdoodle) or ask a Grandma or Aunt to bake their signature cookie for you.
There are so many options! Also, think outside the box on how to serve your cookie(s) if you're not having them as a favour, but as a sweet treat. Will you serve it with milk? Hot chocolate?

Photo from Postcards & Pretties

What do you think about this 2013 wedding trend? Do you like cookies?

Looking back on Angie & Serge's day

Signing the registry - they're married!

In May, we executed Full Wedding Planning services for Angie & Serge. Lovingly referred to as "the Brady Bunch" by family and friends, this outdoor backyard wedding was one so full of love that it was palpable.
During their wedding ceremony, I actually had tears running down my cheeks.

Angie and Serge met and instantly fell in love. Every Sunday he brings her flowers. She believes that their love is one of fairy tales, so that was the underlying theme for the wedding. Cupcake Diner provided the mini cake, cupcakes and the favour cookies shown.

The ceremony took place on their property with the reception being housed in a tent provided by Special Event Rentals. Christine of Designs by Law made the tables beautiful with illuminated centrepieces and Gary from Ted's Tunes kept the crowd on their feet all night. It was a pleasure to have worked with vendors that I know and trust, and helped bring the fairy tale vision to life for Angie and Serge.

These newlyweds are a fabulous match brought together later in life to form a beautiful family. All of the kids like each other, get along and treat each other with respect. They are more than step-siblings, they are friends. It was an honour to have been a part of their special day and to witness the love and share in the joy with their family and friends. Congratulations, and thank you!

Bride, Groom, their kids and the Best Man.

The Bride is escorted down the aisle by her Father & her eldest son.

A Saaweet Wedding!

Natalie got married to the love of her life, Jason on June 16^th and we were there to coordinate their special day.

It was a beautiful, yet hot summer day when these two love birds said “I do.”  Both the ceremony and the reception was at Liberty Grand in Toronto (on the Exhibition grounds). Natalie is all about the fine details, she had a complete vision in her mind of how she wanted her day to look and feel, I think we did a pretty good job bringing it all together for her and her hubs.

From the rose petal aisle, to the lemonade stand for guests after the ceremony – to the homemade cookie favours, cupcake tree (or rather tower) and small personal touches like a picture frame stand with little pictures of loved ones passed, to a note card detailing their flower choices, this wedding was simply beautiful!

On top of all the beauty that was in the details and décor, there’s Jason, Natalie and their wedding party too! A great looking group of people that were such a pleasure to work with. Not one person complained, or didn’t offer to help out in some way. This couple was truly blessed to have been surrounded by such great family & friends on their wedding day.

With Natalie owning Cupcake Diner, it was expected that there’d be some sweet treats available! The late night buffet consisted of homemade goodies like cupcakes (chocolate mint, lemon, red velvet just to name a few) and cookies. In conjunction to the sweet table, there was a buffet of French fries – a perfect snack for party!

The new Mr. & Mrs will be featured in an up-coming edition of the Hamilton & Halton Weddings Magazine, so be on the lookout for that! In the meantime, check out some pictures here of the happy couple on their special day. It was a pleasure and an honour to have been a part of Natalie & Jason’s day. We hope that they had a fantastic time with memories to last a lifetime.

Congratulations!

To see more pictures, like us on Facebook, or you can also go here.

Venue: Liberty Grand 

Florist/Décor: Sue Gallo Designs 

Cupcakes & Cookies: Cupcake Diner

Photographs: Angela Devries Photography  

Congrats Natalie & Jason!

I am beyond excited to be coordinating the wedding of Natalie & Jason tomorrow!

Natalie is the owner of Cupcake Diner, Canada's first mobile cupcake shoppe. She's not only a local celebrity here in Hamilton, but she's also one of our favourite Friendors, so it's obvious why I'm super pumped about their big day!

Since 2010, Natalie has been planning her wedding to Jason and has a ton of fine details.
From an outdoor ceremony complete with a rose petal aisle, to honey & sugar sticks for tea and coffee, to homemade cookies for the favours - this gal has thought of a bunch of little things to bring together her event in a big way. It's always a joy to hear about how couples are incorporating their personalities, styles and ideas of romance into their wedding day.

Stay tuned to the blog for a recap post or two about Nat & Jay's wedding. You'll also be able to see it featured in an up-coming edition of the Hamilton & Halton Weddings Magazine!

Love is Sweet

I'm a big believer in edible wedding favours. If you're not going to donate to a charity, give a plant or seeds, then you should make it edible. You'll find that most guests don't 'favour' the trinket kind like candles, picture frames or wine stoppers.

One of my clients will be providing her guests with a custom made sugar cookie for her wedding. Made by Natalie from Cupcake Diner, this cookie will display the words "Happily Ever After" and incorporate the wedding colours. Customized cookies allow you to bring your personalities, hobbies or simply your wedding theme into another detail of your special day.

These cookies range from $3-$9 a piece depending on the detail, size and amount ordered.

Here are some of our favourites that we found when searching for these sugar cookies that are sure to remind your guests that love is sweet.

Love art?
Image from The Knotty Bride

Are you movie buffs?
Image from Martha Stewart

Bride & Groom Hearts.
Image from Bridal Guide

Facebook Wedding Etiquette

Facebook has more than 800 million active users. That's a lot of likes, wall posts, photo uploads and tags.
Like most things in life, there are certain rules to follow for certain tasks.
Do you know how to properly use Facebook during your planning process?

Here are some guidelines when using the popular social media site:



Announcing your engagement.

It's totally normal to want to shout it from the rooftops and Facebook is the perfect platform to do so. Update your status to "we're engaged" or "is gonna be a Mrs!" to tell all of your friends about the proposal. You can also upload a picture of your diamond, or if you've got pics or video of him popping the question, by all means share it.

Sharing some of the details.

Feel free to share your wedding date via a status update, but be sure to keep it simple and to the point. Not all of your 100+ friends on FB will be invited to your big day, so be a little sensitive to that. And of course, change your relationship status from "in a relationship" to "engaged!!"

A lot of Brides like to keep everyone in the know about their planning process, and again, feel free to do this with your status, but be sure not to go overboard with Bride Brain.

Sharing a countdown to your special day is okay too - just try to stick with the landmarks of one year, 6 months, 1 week and 1 day. Seeing a constant countdown for most, is annoying.

Proper etiquette would be that you don't post your Registry information online. Getting a gift for getting married is a privilege, and not a right. If people (guests) want to buy you something, they will ask you, your fiance, a family member or a friend.

After your wedding feel free to brag a little. Heck, brag a lot. Post your pictures, thank your guests and  change your relationship status from "engaged" to "MARRIED!"
Just make sure to keep everything positive, do not complain about guest behaviour, or how much your new mother-in-law got on your nerves.

Wrap up all your wedding talk within 6 months, or less. As much as you're stoked to now be a Mrs, there are other things that should be important in your life as well.

Invitations.

Do not by any means invite friends/family/co-workers to your wedding using Facebook. Send out a proper invite with an RSVP card for them to reply.

Bridal Showers, Stag & Does and Bachelorette/Bachelor Parties can have Facebook Event pages to keep everyone in the loop, but we still advise that you send out proper invites or personal emails to all invited.



Incorporate FB into your Bridal Shower with customized cookies!

 Vendors.

Use Facebook to help you find vendors - that is if you don't have a Wedding Planner. And be sure to "like" the Fan Pages of the vendors you book with. Not only does it show support, but you just might see your wedding crop up in their status updates or albums.

While we're chatting about vendors, make note that it is a big no-no to post anything negative about your vendors through the social media site. We know that planning a wedding can be stressful, but please do not use Facebook to bad mouth anyone. Send an email or pick up the phone and make a call instead if you're not happy with their services/products.

On the day of.

Do not log on Facebook on your wedding day. You can change your status and upload photos the day after, or even when you get back from your honeymoon. Enjoy the day and stay offline.

Posting as a guest.

Most of your guests will post pictures from your big day on Facebook and tag you in the pictures. If this bothers you tell your friends that. Some people are private and do not want memories from their special day to go viral. There's no harm in placing a small note on your ceremony programs that you wish to be shown any pictures prior to posting - or that pictures simply aren't posted. Remember though, you can't control what others post, but you can ask - there's nothing wrong with asking and making that request.

However, as a guest - do your best to be respectful to the newlyweds and only post pictures that display them in their best light. Do the same for members of the wedding party - no one wants to see the Best Man making out with the Grooms sister. Tisk, tisk.

Now, go on....log on to Facebook and "like" us - The Bride's Butler.

Friendor Spotlight

Cupcake Diner: Natalie Ravoi

Cupcake Diner is Canada's first Mobile Cupcake Shoppe! Since we love cupcakes, we thought we'd feature Cupcake Diner (C.C.D) as our May Friendor.

You first started with Cakes by NatalieKay. How did you know you wanted to get into the cupcake/cake business?

Baking has always been a big part of my life and over the years this passion has grown and expanded into cake design. After completing my academic career in 2009 and having great success in my part time business; cakes by NatalieKay, I decided I wanted to pursue it full time.

This Spring you introduced Cupcake Diner, Canada's first mobile Cupcake shoppe. How did this idea come to be?

I knew I didn’t want to open just another cupcake store - it had to be something different, unique and one-of-a-kind! Cupcakes are a fun, glamorous indulgence and what better way to refresh the cupcake experience than a mobile cupcake shop! I love the concept of gourmet food trucks, but they remain foreign to Canada. I wanted to change that and bring Canada’s its very first cupcake truck.

What do you think it is about Cupcakes that make them so popular?

I would have to say variety, size and their fun factor.Cupcakes come in a variety of exciting flavours and their small size makes them the perfect snack any time of the day. Cupcakes have that “it factor” that makes you feel good. And now with the Diner, cupcakes are brought to you curbside - what could be more fun than that! Oh the possibilities!

Will you have anything else available on the Cupcake Diner?

You betcha! Did you know Cupcake Diner is also home of the Whoopie Pie and Pocket Pie? Visit us at the curb to see what your treat of choice will be!

Do you have a route that you will repeat continuously, or will the truck be cropping up randomly all over the city of Hamilton?
Each week we will post (on our cupcake calendar, Facebook and Twitter), the daily stops for that week. Also, daily we will post what cupcake flavours we have on board. The Diner will have set stops throughout the city that will rotate. Also, we will be listening to requests from Cupcake City and do our best to stop where you want us to be!

Cupcake Diner is available to book for events like weddings, how do you suggest Brides & Grooms use your service?
For all events, including weddings we offer cupcake trees, cupcake buffets, fondant covered cakes and the option to have the Diner live at your event. Specifically for weddings; there are two options - either after your ceremony (receiving line) or before your reception (cocktail hour) the Diner can pull up and serve mini cupcakes to all your guests. A fun experience your guests will never forget!

How much does it cost to have the C.C.D at an event? What does it include?
There are many packages available to accommodate events of all sizes; from small intimate gatherings to large social and corporate events. Please contact us for more information and quote.

Do you accommodate to allergies, dietary restrictions?

Yes, we offer Gluten-free/Vegan cupcakes! Mmmm.....

What kinds of flavours do you have on board the Diner?

All of our cupcakes are baked fresh daily using the freshest, finest ingredients. We support local farmers, fair trade and green initiatives. We believe in good old fashion service; our cupcakes are made with care and served with a smile. We have 25 curbside flavours, plus seasonal flavours. Flavours will rotate regularly with 4-6 flavours on board daily.

Where can we find C.C.D this Spring & Summer? You can find our Diner curbside in Hamilton, Ancaster and Dundas! Also, you can come visit us at our store  in the Hamilton Farmers Market (Opening Soon), and at some of Ontario’s most popular festivals including the Burlington Sound of Music Festival and Festival of Friends.

We hope you have a lot of fun with our 1950’s inspired mobile cupcake shoppe – See you @ the curb!

Thank you Natalie for telling our readers and Cupcake City (Hamilton) all about the Cupcake Diner! We look forward to working with you with clients who want to add some extra sweetness to their special day!