Saturday, November 20, 2010

Savannah Wedding at the Mansion on Forsyth

One of my favorite weddings so far was this past Summer.  A wonderful repeat client requested a Wedding Cake that would need to be in Savannah; the local cake shops would not suite her (cuique suum).  After being so flattered and humbled at the same time it was time to 'get down to business.'
Since we are below Atlanta that is a cross-state affair to get the cake there in the middle of Summer.  After looking into flying the cake to the site, I decided that I must take it myself along with my trusted assistant.  And what a wonderful idea!
The site was beautiful!  Built in 1888, the opulent location was the Mansion on Forsyth Park in Savannah Georgia.  A beautiful property with a restaurant on the left and the Hotel on the right.  Even though the bones of the building was very Victorian, it embraces a warm elegant Southern charm.
The Wedding took place in the Marble Garden.   The reception was held in the Kessler Gallerie above the restaurant, called 700 Drayton.  This is the room within the turret where the bride and groom were seated.

 Here's a slight wide-shot of half of the Kessler Gallerie room setup for the intimate reception.  The room is deeper than this picture makes it appear. This is my assistant who also doubles as my brother.  Or is it the other way around?  He is a master at Engineering but is almost done with a degree in History.  He will be heading for Japan in the Spring for a week.

The colors were purples, blues and ivory.  The flowers were Hydrangea, Freesia, Lisianthus, Roses and Dahlias.  Here's a closeup of the table:
 Ok, so the cake....yes yes....I had to set the mood first.  The cake was on a smaller scale due to the number of Wedding party guest.  But that did not mean the detail had to be on a small scale.  I recreated the Wedding Flowers out of sugarpaste in a cascade pattern on the cake.  The bride showed me a contemporary picture that she saw in a brides magazine of the Lisianthus that I incorporated into the mix of flowers (the largest shaped).   I must thank Edna from Designmeacake for the e-mail help in recollecting her rendition.  By the way, she is incredibly sweet and a wonderful source to buy decorator/designer supplies.
Ok, so heres my cake:



 The flowers took an incredible amount of time to make.  For instance one rose can take up to 1 1/2 hours to make.
  I mixed the style of ivory roses creating a couple to have an embossed fabric look to it.  The dahlias were larger than the palm of your hand.  Coming up with a design for those was tough.  No one (at the time) had really good cutters for that type of flower.  I really enjoyed the palette of colors.  The deep blues and purples mixed with the warm ivories.  All colors used were edible and were achieved by using petal and luster dusts.   
CWCakes Designer tip:  The "dusts" are expensive so when purchasing them choose the deepest colors you can get your hands on.  The ones with "royal" in their name are excellent.  If you need lighter colors put a little dust onto a painters palette.  Then mix a little of your dust with corn starch (use a paint brush) until you achieve the shade you are looking for.  It is wise to get more than one shade of deep colors though, especially green.
I had the great idea of putting the cake flavors/fillings inside little silver rhinestoned encrusted frames:
The other frame read, "Orange Grove Cake with White Chocolate Mandarin Filling Enrobed in Chocolate Fondant."


 During the Reception we rested our tired weary souls next door in the Onyx Gallery that sported an enormous solid marble table that was "lit" from underneath.  Our company was the photographer.  This picture is a bit grainy because I think we took it with one of our phones.  We were served the main entree which was a salmon dish that was divine and of course good Southern sweet tea.
I love art.  The room that we shared with the wait staff to bring our things in and out was the Kayton Gallerie.  It was incredible to be surrounded by $30,000 pieces of artwork.


 I love detail and took a quick trip outside the steps from the restaurant 's lobby to grab these pictures (this Lobby is more "quaint" than the heavily marbled main Hotel lobby of the grounds):

Have you been working out?  Sweetheart I know its the middle of Summer but...you look cold.  Let me get you a sweater.  I'll just widdle you one out of marble real quick while the bride and groom get married (made you laugh).


 Incredible architecture:
Forsyth Park itself is literally a work of art. The two main streets flanking it are lined with incredibly old live oaks literally dripping with Spanish moss.  It is so beautiful with its elegant fountains and monuments.  We even made a quick trip to Tybee Island, saw the lighthouse then came back to the river to eat at one of the seafood houses and watched a huge and I mean HUGE cargo ships being tugged on the river  it was surreal.  Would you believe my brother had never been to a beach?!  It was so elatingly (new word- embrace it, love it) funny seeing him experiencing his feet touching beach sand for the first time.  Savannah is a 'must see' place to experience.

1 comment:

  1. Every one of those flowers are ones i love - the cake looks gorgeous and the setting just utter splendor.
    Well done indeed
    M
    http://manywhitebowls.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete