We have another Open House coming up on October 1. This time, we will be at the beautiful Magnolia Grace Ranch in Leonard from 12-4pm.

Magnolia Grace Ranch is a modern farm style venue on 15 acres and features two outdoor ceremony spaces in addition to their reception venue which can be converted to ceremony space during inclement weather. 

The inside of the venue is full of light thanks to floor to ceiling windows surrounding the fireplace. It really is a perfect canvas for any color palette.

Additionally, there are separate areas for the couple and their attendants to get ready for the big day.

You can RSVP to the Fall Vendor Fair on Magnolia Grace Ranch's Event Page on Facebook. Plan to come out to tour the venue, meet some of the venue's favorite vendors, and sample some cake!

Wedding cake toppers are a great way to add a personal touch to your wedding or groom's cake. They can be customized to reflect your personality, interests, and style. There are many different types of wedding cake toppers available, from traditional figurines to modern or whimsical designs. 

Here are some ideas for traditional wedding cake toppers:

Flowers
If you want a romantic and elegant look, you can choose to have flowers as your wedding cake topper Flowers are a classic symbol of love and beauty, and they can add a touch of color and texture to your cake. Flower cake toppers can help tie the cake into the rest of your venue décor because your can ask your florist to provide extra blooms for the cake.

Your initials or last name
If you want a simple and modern look, you can choose a wedding cake topper with your name initials. Initials are a great way to personalize your cake without being too flashy or overwhelming. You can choose from different fonts, sizes, and materials, such as wood, acrylic, or metal.

Traditional couple figurine
The epitome of tradition, the couple figurine, which is usually made from a plastic or porcelain, is a classic topper. With the plastic versions, you can typically find a variety of skin and hair tones that most closely match you and your fiancé.  Porcelain varieties can be painted or left white.

​Pets
If you have pets that are part of your family, you can choose a wedding cake topper the showcases your furry, feathered, or scaly friends. You can also include a custom-made figurine of your pets in wedding attire!

​Hobbies or Careers
If you and your partner share a hobby or interest, or if you love your job, you can choose a wedding cake topper that represents it. There are lots of options including music notes, books, cameras, or sports equipment. You can also have a custom-made figurine of yourselves doing your favorite activity!

​The sky is the limit when it comes to cake toppers, but my favorite has to be:

Anything that helps tells your story
Maybe you accidentally ghosted your fiancé when you first met, have a favorite sports team, met at college, or saw Jurassic Park on your first date. Your wedding or groom's cake is the perfect spot to share your story with your wedding guests. 

If you are ready to start designing your wedding or groom's cake, complete our tasting form and we will be happy to help!

When it comes to planning a wedding, some things are easier to account for than others. For instance, most venues only have one dance floor, so you probably only need one DJ. If you are serving a meal, you would plan on one entrée for every guest that says they are coming to share your special day.
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Desserts however are one of those things that are not so cut and dry. Fortunately for your wedding budget, you do not usually need a slice of cake for every guest though. So how much cake or dessert do you really need? Well, the answer depends on a few factors and involves a little math. 

Right now, the wedding planners I work with tell me that about 80% of the guests on the invite list are coming to the wedding. Once at the wedding, only 80-90% of guests will have dessert if they are responsible for picking it up on their own at the cake table. Not everyone will have dessert because they will be too having too much fun on the dance floor, or they may lose time talking with Uncle Joe who they haven’t seen in years, or they may be on a special diet.

The homeschooling mamma in me feels like we need an example here. So let’s say that you invite 200 people to the wedding. You can estimate that 160 will actually come to your event, and you will only need about 128 – 144 servings of dessert for those wedding guests. 200 invited guests x 0.8 = 160 guests at the wedding. Then 160 x 0.8 = 128 for the low end of the range and 160 x 0.9 = 144 for the high end of the range of the guests at the wedding that will eat dessert.
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If you are having both a wedding and a groom’s cake, there is a little more calculation to do. I recommend a 60/40% split when there is a groom’s cake. Let’s continue using the same example. I like to pick the mid-point of the 128-144 range to give a starting point which is 136. 136 times 60% is 82(ish) servings of wedding cake and 40% is 54(ish) servings of groom’s cake. Now that you have a general idea of how many servings you need, we can look at cake sizes that are close to those numbers. 

If you are planning on other desserts like cookies or cupcakes, you can of course reduce the amount of cake, but keep in mind that when you have a dessert buffet, people will always take more than one dessert. FOMO is real when tasty treats are involved. You can count on guests taking about 3 mini desserts when you offer items like chocolate chip cookies, macarons, or lemon tarts, or 1 slice of cake plus 1 mini dessert. 

These are general guidelines and there are other factors to consider. For example, if you are having an afternoon reception and are not serving a meal or alcohol, more people will eat dessert as it is the only offering at your party. If you are planning on saving the top tier of the wedding cake for your first anniversary, you will want to account for those servings in the guest portion of the cake too.
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Of course, there is an exception to the “not everyone will have dessert” rule. If you are having a formal diner which is served by waiters who are also serving the dessert to your guests, then you will want a slice of cake for everyone in attendance. 

​Part of your baker’s job is to help guide you to the right size cake or number of desserts, so lean on their expertise to find the sweet spot where every guest that wants something sweet can partake without leaving you a ton of leftovers at the end of the night.

Are you ready to begin planning your wedding cake or dessert table? Complete the Contact Form to get started, and Melisa will be happy to help guide you through your options.

​The Dream Ranch is a new venue in Wolfe City, about 45 minutes north east of McKinney, and they are having an open house on Sunday, March 5, 2023 from 1:00 -5:00 pm. The venue will be open for tours with a variety of vendors set up to answer any questions you have about their services. I’ll be there with cake samples too. 

​The venue sits on 36 acres and features several outdoor spaces including a ceremony site, a barn that has been converted to the reception space, a pond with pavilion, and a three bedroom home with pool.  

​There is a triangular arch at one of the outdoor spaces which is a perfect background for a wedding ceremony. 

​The barn is 9000 square feet, and the horse stalls are a unique feature. They lead to an outdoor area with string lights – a great space for yard games or extra cocktail tables. The stalls would also be a great place for a photo booth, caricature artist, gift table, or even a coloring station for any kids attending the big day. 

​Inside the venue are dressing rooms for the bride and groom as well as plenty of space for your guests. 

​There is no fee to attend the open house, but please register for the event here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/532312750767.

​Venue - The Dream Ranch
​All photos by dreamranchevents.com

River Road Chateau is having an open house on Sunday, February 26, 2023, and I am excited to be a returning vendor! I have partnered with this venue for over 7 years, and they are one of my favorites!

Looking at their gorgeous grounds, it’s easy to tell why I love when couples decide to get married here. First, there is the meadow where outdoor ceremonies take place. It’s a hidden clearing surrounded by mature trees with a stone entrance. The lush canopy gives ceremony an intimate feel. A beautiful wooden arch and chandelier are at the front of the meadow which can be decorated to coordinate with your colors. 

There is a French styled garden between the meadow and the venue, and it is the perfect place for portraits.  

​The reception venue has a stone wall creating a focal point at the back of the space. It is the perfect backdrop for a sweetheart or head table. 

There are bride’s and groom’s dressing rooms in the venue, or you can rent Belle Manor, the house next door. The house offers more room to spread out and you can even rent the home to stay in the night before or after the wedding. One of the features of the bridal suite is a claw foot tub. Photo opportunity!

 The open house will be from 1:00 – 4:00 pm on Sunday, February 26. You can tour all of the venue’s spaces, meet the venue manager, and visit with a variety of wedding vendors including photographers, bartenders, DJs, and caterers. Come say hi – you may even get a slice of cake! 

Venue - River Road Chateau
​Open House Planner - Fawn Hollow Events

Dessert tables have become very popular in recent years, allowing wedding guests a choice in their dessert on your big day.

​A dessert table is any offering other than the wedding and groom’s cake, and can range from a variety of cupcakes to a smorgasbord of treats. Popular goodies include, cookies, tarts, brownies, macarons, and cereal treats.

​Well, the desserts are small, so a dessert table will cost less than a wedding cake, right? Not necessarily.

When at a buffet, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) sets in and you want to try it all. The same thing happens with a dessert table. A greater variety of desserts can lead to guests only taking a bite or two of more items than they would typically select.

​Can't you hear it? "Of course I'm going to get a mini cupcake, but I can't pass up on a chocolate chip cookie. Is that a chocolate covered Oreo? Oh, lemon tarts!" 

​So how many desserts do you really need? If you are offering a full size dessert like a cupcake or a full size brownie, count on 1-2 per guest. With smaller desserts like cookies, macarons, bite size brownies, or mini tarts you can count on each guest taking 3 items from the various options. 

​Right now, people are ready to get out and party after missing all the events that were cancelled during the Covid pandemic. The event planners I work with tell me that about 80% of the guest list are coming to the wedding. Not everyone will have dessert though, and your wedding cake servings factor into the mix as well. If you invite 100 people to the wedding, you won’t need 100 servings of cake and 300 mini desserts – unless you like leftovers.

Ready for some math?
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So for your 100 invited guests, let’s say 80 come to the wedding. Only 80-90% of those guests will have dessert, regardless of what you offer. It will be closer to the 90% with a dessert table (again, FOMO), so you need desserts for about 72 people. The smallest three tier cake I make is 56 servings, and if we remove the cake servings, we only need mini desserts for 16 people. At three desserts each, that’s only four dozen mini desserts.

​If you want the look of that three tier cake, but want more dessert options for your guests, you can always incorporate a false tier into the wedding cake. The same size cake in the above calculation will look exactly the same but would only serve 24 if you replace the bottom tier with a fake one. Then you would need twelve dozen mini desserts to reach enough servings for those 72 people, which gives your dessert table a much fuller look. 

​The false tier is decorated in buttercream or fondant like the rest of the cake, so your guests won’t even be able to tell the difference. The only design a false tier will not work with is a naked or semi-iced cake. Can you pick out the false tier in this cake?

There are lots of options when it comes to dessert tables, and I’m always happy to walk through the details with my clients. If you would like to talk about a dessert table or wedding cake just fill out the contact form and we can get started.

A white wedding is classic. White dress, white flowers, white linens. It is a beautiful color choice for an elegant affair. 

​But color can bring a bit of your personality to the party. Pun totally intended there. You can highlight the season or your favorite colors. You could even incorporate a favorite sports team. For example, my husband went to A&M, and maroon was GOING to be at our wedding. Since we were married in October, it fit in with the season too. We decided on maroon, oranges, and ivories with a little gold – perfect for fall.

​Pantone is a company that regulated color for print in the 1960’s. They created a standard color system so companies could have consistent branding. Every year they have color of the year as well as seasonal colors which brands use to bring life to their products. 

What does this have to do with cake? The Pantone colors are highlighted at Fashion Week and in seasonal home furnishings. Both those influence wedding design – think bridesmaids’ dresses and décor rental. Those details also make their way onto the cake.
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The Pantone 2022 color of the year is Very Peri, which is a beautiful shade of blue. Several color palettes include this color. I have seen these particular shades at several weddings this year.

​Recently, Pantone released New York and London’s Fashion Week trend reports for spring and summer 2023. They both feature the bright, vibrant colors you would expect for seasons of growth and a Core Classics grouping of more neutral tones. 

​I would put together Peach Pink, Blue Perennial, Summer Song, and a light ivory. Would you use any of these colors for your wedding?