I do ... again and again

Call it my sappy romantic side, but I adore vow renewals, and yesterday we were fortunate enough to be part of one, when we delivered the cake for our clients Peggy and Bob. While we've made cakes for other vow renewals, we were reminded just how romantic love over the years can be, when two people say I do again and again. If renewing one's vows once in the course of a marriage is romantic, imagine creating a tradition and doing it again five years later, which is exactly what Peggy and Bob did. Five years ago, they celebrated 25 years together, and though we did not do the cake as we were still living in L.A. then, we were honored to be part of their 30th anniversary/vow renewal ceremony. To help celebrate the special day, Peggy and Bob chose Rick's signature All Bamboo cake in our Hawaii Five-O flavor.

I recall in one of our emails that Peggy said she had gone to Barnes and Noble and purchased nearly every wedding magazine out there and couldn't find anything on vow renewals. She asked if what she was doing was strange. Not at all! After further research she sent me a website that she found that I'd like to share with other couples planning to take the big step once again. It's called I Do Take Two.

Vow renewals are romantic in the classic sense because they remind couples that many years later, after everything they've been through, that they would still say I do if given the opportunity. Rick and I were married in 2004 and plan to have at least one vow renewal ceremony in our future, maybe at the ten year mark. It doesn't need to be extravagant or large, it could be just the two of us on a beach somewhere, with hopefully a little cake to celebrate.

A slice of Morocco right here in Kailua

Yesterday mid-day we decided to play hooky and go see "Iron Man" at the theater. We kept hearing how good this movie was and we both thought it was better than expected and quite engaging. On our drive back to the studio we wondered, "how would Iron Man look in cake?"

Today's blog takes us to Morocco, and the wonderful thing is we don't actually have to leave Kailua to go there. The Moroccan culture has always been a favorite of mine, and in any city whether living or visiting, it's not long before I seek out the local Morrocan restaurants. Living in Seattle, I frequented a Moroccan restaurant in Capitol Hill and used to cook at a bistro next to Dar Salaam, a Morrocan import store, who has since relocated to downtown Seattle. In L.A. Rick and I celebrated one of my 30-something birthdays at Dar Maghreb, complete with belly dancers and Moroccan themed birthday cake covered in beautiful tiles. When we moved to Hawaii, we found out about Casablanca in Kailua after one of our clients requested delivery there. We've also enjoyed dinners with friends there. Casablanca, as luck would have it is close to our studio. The past several Moroccan themed cakes we did were for parties at Casablanca. Each custom designed and different in their own way, we love how the cakes integrate a lot of color and the shapes and tiles that Moroccan art is known for. (Our Chai Latte flavor worked well for the couple in the bottom photo). Since work prevents us from actually going to Morocco, making these cakes is the next best thing!

next Featured Wedding sneak peek

Photos by VISIONARI

We're very excited about our next Featured Wedding on the website, Tanya and Louie who were married on April 21, 2007 at the Hawaii State Art Museum. We chose to feature Tanya and Louie at this time because they recently celebrated their 1-year anniversary and were reminded again just how beautiful their wedding was, and of course what an absolutely divine couple they are!

Tanya and Louie, both art lovers wanted an art-inspired, contemporary venue for their wedding and the Hawaii State Art Museum was the perfect location. Their colors were pink and red and the feel of the wedding was stylish and contemporary, with soft feathers as accents. For their cake they wanted a work of art worthy of displaying in the museum's gallery, where they had their reception, so Rick designed a 5' tall towering art piece, complete with thousands of beads placed by hand, feather boas and many handcrafted elements adorning the cake, which was both our Bananarama and Hot Fudge Sundae flavors.

To see their incredible art cake and the rest of their wedding details as our Featured Wedding visit www.cakelava.com and go to the Weddings page. It will be up on our site soon.

Aloha!

When fashion takes the shape of cake

Back in November, when ANTEPRIMA was planning their big celebration Anniversary party for their Waikiki store, we were approached to design the cake. We were immediately taken by the ANTEPRIMA style and were happy to take on the project, or should I say challenge. The material of these purses are made of a type of plastic that looks woven, and is more difficult to simulate than leather. It's hard to tell in the photos but each of the sculpted purses are textured to look like the actual material used. The lavish event expertly planned by Event Coordinator Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace & Mona took place at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center Grove area, the home of the first ANTEPRIMA store in Hawaii. At the fashionable gala were huge displays of their purses. Many guests enjoyed our sculpted Guava Lava flavored cakes. Last month, ANTEPRIMA opened their second location in the Ala Moana Shopping Center and I'm sure they are doing very well there. :-)