the wedding post. part one.

alright, friends. I survived the wedding madness (although I'm still equally overwhelmed by school at the moment), and now I'm ready to share my insanity with you in a couple installments.

I have so many pictures to show you that I don't even know where to start. Which is kind of how I felt about this project:



Yep, folks, those are mini pies. I had this terrible awesome idea back in August. Come October, I was beginning to think I needed to be committed for even considering baking 120 homemade pies.



Certifiable, alright. Although we used store-bought fillings (except for the Pumpkins)...



...I made the dough from scratch. FORTY BATCHES. Let me say that one more time. FORTY. Want the recipe? I've got it memorized (see below).



Ridiculous. And ridiculously delicious.



this picture isn't about us. It's about the pies. Look at all of those beautiful pies. And, since we're talking about desserts, I may as well talk cake. mmm, cake.





I made a similar cake for Mrs. Jessica Fuchs' bridal shower back in June, and loved it so much that I decided to whip up a taller one for our wedding day! This cake is super duper simple (believe me, if I can make this, anyone can). Find the tutorial here. If I were to make this cake again, I would add more of the heavy cream to my icing (it seemed to crack a little as I piped in on the sides).

A side note about the frosting: It is basically powdered sugar and shortening. Uck. I hate super sweet frosting (I'm partial to the kind that tastes more like cool whip), but boy did it look pretty. The upside: It hardened and kept the cake inside suuuuper moist and delicious. For that, I can eat around the nasty frosting.



I just have to throw in a closeup of our cake topper. love. love. love. could look at it all day.

Our desserts sat on three tables in a "U" shape, with a banner in front that looked a little like this...



This banner was another one of my favorite parts of the wedding. Who am I kidding, it was all my favorite.

So now that I've made you hungry for pie (a dessert that I never want to look at again), I hope you have a wonderful evening! Next up, The Favor Disaster Gone Right.

Flaky Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening, chilled
3 tablespoons ice water

Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle the ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling (I made mine the night before). Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate (or 120 mini pie pans). Fill with desired filling. Then cut tedious mini strips and create lattice work on top of every. single. pie. have fun with that. :)