Up to My Knees in...Wedding Cupcakes.

.  And the updates continue...!

You may remember my post a couple of months back about a fellow UP employee who approached me about my baking hobby.  He indicated he had the pleasure of trying one of the cupcakes I made for a donation drive [the Nutella Cloud Cupcakes, to be exact] and that he absolutely loved them. So when talk of his daughter's wedding reception came about, he threw out the idea of hiring 'whoever made that cupcake' for the big day. And [shockingly], the bride accepted. So long story short, I became the official baker for a wedding reception. 

Ironically, I was engaged just a short time after this all happened so you can imagine the pressure I began to feel in not screwing this up. I mean, I would be absolutely devastated if for some reason my wedding cake/cupcakes turned out to be a complete failure. So there was no way I was letting that happen to this bride!

Fortunately the bride was not controlling nothing like me and put full trust in yours truly that I could deliver something presentable.  So with a few discussions here and there, flavors were decided rather easily, decorations and stands chosen, and when June 29th, rolled around, all was left up to me.

I've most definitely been pretty quiet about this monumental event in my baking career.  Probably because I was [a wee bit] nervous and in typical 'me' fashion, doubting that it would actually get pulled off.

But lo' and behold, we did it.

And not only was I ecstatic about the results, but the bride and her family also shared in my enthusiasm.  So I would say it was most definitely a success and job well done!

But don't think I'm trying to toot my own horn here.  I'm just over joyed with how this whole thing went down and thanks to my crafty, helpful friend Hollyann [aka Bacon Loving Girl], we managed to string together 3 cupcake trees, 300 cupcakes, and 300 toppers, to create a beautiful display of three different types of cupcakes [Nutella Cloud Cupcakes, (Better Than) Classic Vanilla Cupcakes, and Hummingbird Cupcakes] for this wedding reception.  So just let me be happy for a bit.

And because I was SO very happy with everything, I want to give a little shout out to some of the vendors I used for supplies.  I found myself being extremely cost conscious but also wanting to get the best products possible.  And I found the best of both worlds via the following channels:

•  Costco: I used my Costco membership to buy a number of baking ingredients, but only for those in which it made sense.  So for example, I went to the regular grocery store for flour, sugar, etc. because let's be honest, I didn't need the 10 pound bags Costco sold (if I ever own my own bakery though, Costco is where it's at!).  But I did end up buying things like Nutella, vanilla extract, butter, and eggs, at Costco and I got some FABULOUS deals.  I needed those ingredients in mass quantities and you can't get better than the bulk prices at this place.  Score!
• Cupcaketree.com: I stumbled upon this site for cupcake towers and I must say, uber pleased with the product!  The 'trees' are only cardboard but they're sturdy and I'll be using mine over and over again [that is, if I get another opportunity like this!].  You can also decorate them as you wish, tailoring them to the event you're using them for and they have loads of decorating ideas on their site.  When I bought them, the site also had a deal going on so I received free end caps, which I highly recommend, with the three pack of Mini Square Cupcaketrees the bride picked out.
• American Celebrations: For an extra special touch, we opted to go with cupcake wrappers from this site.  The bride picked out the design she liked [Spanish Tile wrappers] in purple, grey, and ivory [the reception colors], and the rest is history!  My only complaint is that there was some kind of glitch in the shipping that I had to deal with, but fortunately the wrappers still made it to the house in time for the big event.  Crisis averted!
• Etsy: I had to take full advantage of this business/blogging opportunity, so I ordered some clean, simple business cards [design to reflect LSM] from Mallory Hope Design on Etsy.  I was very pleased with the cards and Mallory was a joy to work with, providing numerous iterations of the card design until I got exactly what I wanted.  If I ever need more cards, I'll be going back to her! 

So if I must say it one more time, I absolutely loved the opportunity I was handed.  It's something I've always wanted to try but hey, not many chances come around when someone would take a chance on a novice baker.  For their wedding!  So I must say congratulations and thank you again to the happy bride and groom, and I hope you enjoyed the cupcakes as much as I did making them!  This is most definitley one for the books!  .