A lot of people are planning weddings this time of year.  Actually it’s a year-round thing because when our daughter got married, we started planning over a year in advance.  Crazy, isn’t it?!!  Anyway, I just wanted to share this picture of a groom’s cake where the groom, who is an avid fan of …hmmm…I wonder what  , had his ideal groom’s cake complete with a puzzle he put together himself.   Pretty creative!  Just put the cake on a pretty silver tray surrounded with greenery and baby’s breathe, and it looks elegant!

We attended an outside wedding located in the garden area of a bed and breakfast.  It was beautiful, like in a storybook.  However, it started to mist at the beginning of the wedding.  Mist was tolerable, and everyone got out their umbrellas.  But just when it was time for the bride to walk down the aisle, it started to rain hard.  Everyone had to head inside at the bed and breakfast, where the reception was to be held, until the rain subsided.  Soon, it did, and the gathering of people went back to their seats outside, armed with towels to dry them off first.  The wedding began again with the bride coming down the aisle.

If you are planning an outside wedding, be sure to have a back-up plan so the guests will have a place to wait until it stops raining, or if it doesn’t stop raining, a place to perform the wedding.

For those of you who are or have been looking at tuxedos, FormalTux.com has a great selection and also has a line of discounted tuxedo jackets and pants.  Whether a tuxedo is needed for a wedding, formal event, or concert, it is great to own a tuxedo for whatever event requires formal attire.  My husband owns his own tux because he plays in an orchestra, and it is definitely worth the investment.

I have been to several weddings that took place during the winter, but I don’t remember ever receiving wedding invitations that looked like a winter invitation. The one pictured with the snowflake is an example of a beautiful winter wedding invitation. Invitation Consultants has many beautiful invitations from which to choose for any time of year plus a good selection for themed weddings.

Are you thinking about engagement rings or maybe anniversary rings? Seems like a lot of people are right now.

Our son-in-law is so creative (I guess that’s the graphic design artist in him) when it comes to giving our daughter rings.  When he proposed at their favorite coffee shop several years ago, he had previously been there and bought one of their chocolate candy eggs, taken it home and carefully opened it so he could place an engagement ring inside, and then closed it up so that it looked like new.  Our daughter, knowing nothing about this, opened the candy egg at the coffee shop thinking that our s-i-l had just purchased the candy.  When she saw the ring, he got down on one knee and proposed to her.  So sweet!

Well, recently they celebrated their five year anniversary, and so our s-i-l being the creative person that he is, bought a book and cut out a section in the middle of it so that he could place an anniversary ring inside of it.  You can imagine our daughter’s complete surprise when she opened the book!

I don’t think I need to tell you what a great s-i-l we have!!

We went to an outside wedding this past Saturday evening and guess what happened!  You’re right, it rained.  Just as the bride was coming down the aisle, it started raining harder and all the guests had to go inside and squeeze inside this old, charming, beautiful two story home that had been turned into a bed and breakfast.  When the rain let up, everyone went back outside and the wedding ceremony proceeded in the outdoor wedding chapel.

It’s definitely the time of year to be thinking of weddings and diamond rings.  Hopefully, for those who have planned outside weddings, the weather will be beautiful and clear!

These individual cheesecakes would be nice to serve at a wedding shower if you wanted something different from traditional cake. They are simple to make with the following ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough
  
• 2 8-oz pkgs. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 can Nestle Carnation Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 21-oz can of cherry pie filling (optional)

PREHEAT oven to 325 degrees.

LINE 24 muffin cups with paper liners and place one piece of cookie dough in each muffin cup.

BAKE for 10-12 minutes until cookie has spread to edge of cup.

BEAT cream cheese, canned milk, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

POUR about 3 tablespoons cream cheese mixture over each cookie in the muffin cups. BAKE an additional 15-18 minutes until the cheese mixture is set. Cool completely. REFRIGERATE for at least one hour. Remove paper liners before serving.

TOP with a teaspoonful of cherries. (Or if red cherries do not go with your color scheme, then you could top with fresh fruit to color coordinate such as kiwi for green, blueberries for blue, etc., or for something neutral you could use shaved chocolate. That’s just my idea.)