A Big Piece of Wedding Cake Yesterday and Today

Photo [above] courtesy of New England Culinary Institute (NECI)

Modern day wedding cakes run the gamut of classic to comic

Swirls of piping, rich buttercream frosting, and fondant pearls dotted on a multitiered cake may be what we expect to see displayed at a wedding reception, but in day’s past, a loaf of bread and pile of biscuits sufficed for the celebratory sweet. (Click here to read more about the 1,000 year old traditions of this loaf and the full article by Karen Sturtevant)

Cake above (2) Sweet Crunch BakeShop and Catering Co

Cake above (3) Gourmet Provence

Bride's Pie

In medieval England, simple flour based unsweetened biscuits or scones (provided by guests) would be piled high––a prelude to today’s cake toppers. If the couple could kiss over the top, good luck, prosperity, happiness, and many children would follow (or so it was believed).

First appearing in the seventeenth century and lasting for the next 200 years was a common dish called the bride’s pie: a meat pie with sweet bread, mincemeat, or mutton with the secret ingredient being a glass ring.

Cake (4) above by Snaffle Sweets

Cake (5) by Delicate Decadence Cake Boutique

Plum Cakes

By the nineteenth century single tiered plum cakes gained popularity replacing the bride’s pie. Sugar coated with white icing, plum cakes were reserved only for the wealthy and graced the tables of the affluent symbolizing the family’s position in social circles. Before the Victorian era, ingredients were difficult, if not impossible to acquire for cake making, particularly those required for icing. White icing required the use of the finest refined sugar. The whiter the cake, the more affluent the family appeared. For the more modest, the bride’s pie remained a mainstay. The plum cake stayed the cake until the late nineteenth century when multitiered cakes began their rise in history.

British royalty were the first to introduce multitiered confections. Upper layers were made from spun sugar with pillars used for reinforcement. To prevent the pillars from sinking into the bottom tiers, the icing was hardened providing the necessary support. From the early twentieth century to modern times, wedding cakes have evolved into sumptuous confections while honoring representation and tradition.

Cake (6) Juniors Bakery

Cake (7) Bakearia

Click here for more about more recent cake traditions, including royal wedding cakes, and much more in the full article by Karen Sturtevant.

Fitness and Nutrition Tips for Preparing for the BIG DAY

Your wedding day is when YOU are the center of attention, so of course you want to look like a knockout for your friends, family, and of course your groom.

1. Your physique is determined by three things: 10% exercise, 10% genetics, and 80% diet.

This might shock some readers because exercise is not a very big percentage. Of course it plays a big role in how you will look, however, if your diet is not the best then you will not have the best physique. If you want to look and feel better, pay attention to what you are putting into your mouth! I recommend lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and lots of water. You also need to keep in mind your portion sizes and calorie intake. So make sure you are choosing nutrient dense foods.

2. Combine weights and cardio and keep your workouts interesting.

It depends on your body type to determine when you will see gains in muscle definition and a reduction of overall body fat. However, a fitness routine combined with a clean diet will help you reach your wedding day body easier.

I personally like shorter workouts, because with a very hectic schedule, not to mention the wedding planning, who has time for an hour and a half workout? (click here for more about exercise)

3. Get plenty of sleep and don’t stress (if possible).

According to WebMD.com, sleep affects certain hormones that will control your appetite and satiety. Studies show that people who get less than 8 hours of sleep have higher levels of body fat than people who get 8 or more hours of sleep a night. Stress increases levels of cortisol in your blood which is a hormone that tends to cause you carry extra body fat in your waist line area. You also have to be careful if you are an emotional eater. Make sure you have healthy coping mechanisms when dealing with your stress and get plenty of sleep.
Bottom line is this: Your wedding day is YOUR day. Try to enjoy every moment of it from the proposal and the planning all the way up to the honeymoon and most importantly the many years to follow spent with your lifetime partner.

Take care of yourself by eating right, getting exercise and a proper amount of sleep. When you are taking care of yourself and feeling good, everything else will fall into place.

Click here for the full article including information about author Toria Cornett's recent recognition award for her work as FoodScience Corporation's Wellness Program Director.

Putting a Personal Touch to Your Wedding Music

Selecting Unique Music for Your Wedding

Whether you’re the tradition lover who must have the Mendelssohn Wedding March for your recessional, or whether you feel that you absolutely must make completely unique choices, your repertoire choices will color the mood of your day as much as your choice of gown, flowers, and location.

First, I’d like to state that the traditional pieces always feel fresh to me because they’re reflecting the new life that each couple brings to them. If you know and love these pieces, you might know right off that they will bring the ambiance you most want. But even some traditionalists may wish to include an especially personal musical choice somewhere in the day, and some couples may want to steer clear of traditional choices completely, and make only choices that truly reflect their preferences in a personal way. Here are thoughts and examples of some choices couples have made that have colored their wedding day in a unique and memorable way.

Click here for the full article by Lisa Carlson, including thoughts on unique processional choices, unique recessional choices, and ways of incorporating personal musical choices in other parts of your day.

Or click here for more information about Lisa Carlson's musical offerings.

Vermont Bride Magazine - Our Summer 2011 Issue

Summer 2011 edition now available throughout Vermont!

Featuring photography and a complete vendor guide to help the bride-to-be and her friends and family to manage and organize a successful wedding.

See the Preview Page about the Summer 2011 issue

Or click here for a PDF version of the entire magazine!

Love Story: Jennifer (Hough) and Tony Duda

...That afternoon, as we floated inside inner tubes together, he reached across to grasp my hand while I laughed. In that moment, we connected...
How they met:

We were two complete strangers; they were two determined match makers, when does that ever go right?
It was the first of July, and we all found ourselves at the Rusty Nail in downtown Stowe, VT. I was there with some friends, and had just received my drink when I saw them approach our table out of the corner of my eye.

They were arguing about Michael Moore’s newest film, they appeared to be a couple, and I had never seen them, when the female, blonde and about my age, turned to me and said, “What do you think, about the film?” Unbeknownst to me, they were scheming something, and I had just taken the bait. I engaged them in conversation, when a third party approached the table. They introduced him as Tony, he introduced himself as a tennis instructor. This was ironic and unfortunate for him, as I had already been approached by another such “tennis pro” that evening. Consequently, “Tony” did not find me too kind, nor did I find Tony too interesting.

What I did not realize was that Tony’s friends Jennifer and Kevin were on a mission and would stop at nothing. When Jennifer discovered I was a teacher, they knew they’d struck gold. Jennifer worked in the schools as well she said and we should get together. Could she have my phone number?
Four years later...

We parked and padded out on the sand, sandals in hand. We stopped to look at the sunset and Tony, standing behind me with his arms around my waist, said with emotion in his voice: “You know you’re my best friend.” When I turned to him, he went down on one knee… after we established we were now fiancés, we stopped a couple to take a photo; Tony had remembered the camera. When it was discovered our batteries were dead, the two demanded their teenaged daughter hand over hers from her camera. “They need them more,” her father said. We laugh about it still.
Click here for the rest of Jennifer and Tony's Love Story, including memorable moments from their wedding, planning tips, and more.

GO GREEN, and Save Green

Can a “green” wedding save you some green? Absolutely. Environmentally conscious engaged couples sometimes miss the opportunity to bring their socially responsible awareness to their wedding. But when you consider that a green mindset can also save thousands of dollars, the incentives add up.

Marjorie and Matthew wanted an elegant destination wedding in Vermont for a guest list of one hundred. But they were also determined to keep their commitment to being earth friendly as a couple and bring those values to planning their wedding. They brought up the challenge with their wedding coach and officiant.

Rings? Rings, especially. Diamonds, gold, and platinum are notoriously unethically produced. Miners of these raw substances often work in unsafe conditions and mining itself can damage local ecosystems and watersheds, according to sustainable jewelers like Leber Jeweler, GreenKarat, and Sumiche. Add to that the fact that the diamond mining industry exploits child labor and you have one place to really make a statement. Contact those jewelers and explore it for yourselves. The other thing that some couples do is recycle old gold or silver jewelry from previous generations to make their own rings.

Marjorie and Matthew got inspired by the session. As they began to list the ways they actually could make a difference and save money, they got more excited about their wedding. Michelle Kozin’s book encouraged them even more: Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style, and Tradition (New Society Publishers, 2003). Kozin’s related website is www.OrganicWeddings.com.

Click here for more, including a summary of all the ways this couple planned their green wedding.

Click here for more information about wedding officiant and relationship coach Rev. Dr. Michael Caldwell.

Danielle (Waite) & Mead Sturgeon

Although we’d had a few brief conversations while putting together puzzles and playing cards—that’s how we killed time in the waiting rooms — I didn’t get the nerve to ask her out on a date until a couple months had passed.

Her Story:

In August, I began an eight week clinical rotation in Tucson, Arizona. Although I wasn’t looking forward to the time apart, I had planned to fly to New Hampshire for our friends’ Meg and Josh’s wedding on September 12, right in the middle of the rotation.

Meg and Josh’s wedding was a blast…in fact, I may have had a bit of a headache the next morning. Mead went to get some water, and came back and knelt down next to me. My heart was pounding as instead of a glass of water, he came back with a small black box. He asked me to marry him, and (of course) I said yes! (And after spending two hours that morning trying to find someone to jump the car because I had left the lights on all night, he didn’t even ask for the ring back!)

His Story:

I asked…

Last summer Danielle and I embarked on a two week vacation across the country. She needed to go to Tucson, Arizonia for eight weeks for a clinical rotation and I, being a teacher, had the summer off and was willing to go for a drive! We made stops at Rocky Mountain National Park, Arches National Park, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and finally Tucson.
After a couple of days of getting Danielle used to the city and the surrounding area, it was time for me to head back to Vermont. I already knew that I wanted to marry Danielle, and on my flight home I started to develop my plan.

In September, Danielle was flying home for our friends’ wedding…perfect! It took me some time to find the right ring for my girl, but finally I did. I wanted to do the right thing, so I made sure that I had the blessing of Danielle’s parents before I popped the big question (this is what I was most nervous about). It was the morning after our friends’ wedding and she asked me to get her a glass of water. I came back with the water and the ring. Down on one knee, I asked her to spend the rest of her life with me. Thankfully…she said yes!

Click here for the rest of Danielle and Mead's Love Story...
Click here for more about the photographer, Raiden Shine Photography...