Winter Wedding Reception

This January 2006 wedding reception included what has become the choice of several brides - Terry's Classic Wedding Cake (white cake flavored with almond, lemon, and coconut flavorings and frosted with coconut milk buttercream) :A buffet with veggies, fruits, and light appetizers:
A team of dedicated workers bring all aspects of the wedding reception together:

Staci's Wedding Reception

When my friend Sandy's daughter Staci got married in March 2004, I worked with a group of Sandy's friends who put on a wedding reception for 200 guests, serving an appetizer and dessert buffet. I was recovering from a hip replacement a month earlier so I got off lightly and only made the wedding cake, a Heavenly Lime Cake decorated with lime buttercream.

Jilly's Victorian Wedding Picnic

My daughter Jillian was married in Nauvoo, Illinois on May 17, 2007. Following the ceremony, we had an intimate Victorian picnic for about 40 people in the garden of the historic Ellis Sanders House. My dear friend BJ Medler and I spent several weeks before the wedding preparing the food, and we trekked out to Nauvoo from Chicago on the morning before the wedding to transform the beautiful garden into the perfect spot for an afternoon gala.

The menu was much like a high tea with savories and sweets: tea sandwiches, crab and chicken strudels, mini muffins, scones, cream pastries, fruit tartlets, delicate cookies, petite fours, strawberry cake, sparkling cranberry-grape spritzers and pink lemonade.

Jilly's Wedding Luncheon Cake

My daughter Jillian was married in Nauvoo, Illinois on May 17, 2007. Following the ceremony, we had an intimate afternoon tea for about 40 people in the garden of the historic Ellis Sanders House. Jillian's all-time favorite cake is Fresh Strawberry Cake, which perfectly fit her pink-and-brown-themed wedding. We dressed up this particular strawberry cake with coconut and pecans. The two cakes (three 9" layers and three 6" layers) provided more than enough for our guests.

Jilly's Wedding Cake

When my daughter Shelah got married in 1997, I made her dress. When my daughter Jillian got married in 2007, I decided that making food (especially cakes) was a lot more fun than making dresses. So we bought Jilly's wedding dress and I enlisted a whole crew of talented and willing workers to put on a buffet dinner reception for about 250 guests in Naperville, Illinois.

One of the buffet tables at Jilly's reception:
Although my grandson Isaac and goddaughter Beth are both cute, focus your attention on the wedding cake on the left side of the photo:
A close-up of the top of the cake:
Cake details: chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate curls, filled with a coconut layer. I filled up an entire shopping cart with chocolate at Houston's Central Market, and used most of it on this cake. There were three layers (insert sizes here). The cake and the accompanying sheet cakes served (insert number here).