Tying the Knot Between Cakes and Jewelry

I figured with all the talk about cakes in the comments earlier, it might as well be my next topic. I think the cake is strangely one of the areas where Sam and I disagree on what we want. I want something simple and fairly traditional, and I don't really mind if it's not personalized. I think Sam wants something much more personal, though he hasn't been able to say any particular ideas he has on the matter...

I really only want something with flowers on it. There are a lot of elaborate cakes out there with varying themes and cute ideas. Sam and I had discussed a sledding theme (because we met while sledding... though the theme is inappropriate for our Spring wedding), Winnie the Pooh, Japanese elements... I'd love a cake decorated with cherry blossoms, like this:

Isn't that pretty, with all the little cherry blossoms climbing the sides of the cake? I even like the cake topper bride and groom in traditional wedding kimonos. So cute! Or I could use the cranes, like I had mentioned before. I could make two cranes and stick them at the top of the cake...

But I don't think it's fair to have so much in the wedding about what I want and about my interests, when Sam should have some of his own elements in there too. But when I ask him about interests he'd like to include, he's stumped for ideas. I also suggested we get a groom's cake (which is a smaller cake, usually of a different flavor, that shows off something the groom likes), but he didn't seem too keen on the idea. I thought it might be cool to have a groom's cake in the shape of a Star Trek badge, or something. Then have it be a chocolate cake with mint frosting. ^^ Of course, only big nerds like us would get why the flavor of the cake is so funny, but I think it'd be cool that way.

So, anyway, we're debating cake toppers. Traditional bride and groom, two cranes, flowers somewhere in there too... I've been considering making myself some "cake jewelry" which are these jeweled ornaments that you stick into the cake to make it look all swanky. You can buy them online too. This one is from AdvantageBridal.com:

It's made out of Swarovski crystals and sterling silver wire, I believe. This place also makes cake jewelry monograms and crystal bouquets. Don't they look familiar, though? That's cuz they're just beaded flowers. Basically the same as the rose I made for about $2, only these are smaller and using crystals. Sure, crystals are expensive, but I could probably make the exact same thing for around $30. They're charging nearly $140! I won't even start on their crystal bouquets. I should consider selling them myself.

I'm not sure if I really want them on our cake, though. I think I'm enamored of the fact that I can make something just as beautiful for so much less. But I just thought of another neat cake topper we could have, and I think it would be cute with flowers or flower petals around them. Since Sam and I are both aspiring writers, I could make two chocolate books - one white chocolate one and one dark chocolate one (like bride and groom books). Then I could write or paint titles on them in opposite colors (dark on white and vice versa). I was thinking we could even take the titles of stories we wrote ourselves. So it'd be like "Whatever" by Kristine C___ on the white one and "Whatever Whatever" by Sam N___ on the dark one. (I'm blanking on story titles here...) Sam might like that. I'll have to ask him. I'd have to figure out how to make chocolate books, though. And how to write in chocolate. Dang.

There are a lot of highly rated bakeries in the area, so it'll be hard to choose one. They're rated mostly on their ability to decorate the cakes, but a lot of the higher end bakeries' sample cakes look basically the same to me. I've heard rave reviews about the Bread Basket, which is located right by me. But I've also heard people say they're overrated and arrogant. On the cheaper end of the spectrum, I also read 2 brides absolutely gushing about how tasty the cakes they got from Plusko's Bakery in Thousand Oaks was. I used to get birthday cakes from there when I was younger, but I don't remember much about what they tasted like. I'm sure they've changed a little since then... I also remember that they did a lot of that frilly stuff with the icing, and I don't like that. I wonder if they can do a more matte finish to the icing? I think it'd be prettier and there'd be less icing to boot. (Too much icing = yucky.) It's definitely worth a look, though. The 2 brides I heard this from had fed about 150+ people, and the cake cost less than $200. Wow!

Yeesh, all this talk about cake is making me really hungry. Time for lunch. But here's another picture of a cake I like (I'm tried to post more, but Photobucket's acting up...):