it's a blitz!

well, the big day has come! i got my wedding photos in the mail on friday afternoon, but had to race off to connecticut to celebrate someone else's big day; so i'm finally posting them now. i wasn't sure the best way to do this - there are a LOT of pictures, you guys - like, several hundred of them - so i did my best to just edit them down to a reasonable number, where you can get an idea of the night. . . and there are still about a hundred. so i think i'll break this up into two posts - one leading up to the actual ceremony, and one during and after.

i spent most of the morning of the wedding at sam's parents house - the wedding was in their backyard - helping fill balloons, finish off desserts, make signs for food, and all the finishing touches. my great friend veronika put together the cake for me and i put the little topper i'd made of sam and i on top; my old boss (who happens to be eric from top chef just desserts, aka "the nice one" if any of you watched that show!) came in super early to help and was a total rockstar, bruleeing about a hundred creme brulee spoons, making buttercream, and baking cookies. and of course my mom, dad, brother and sisters filled the pinata, blew up balloons, tied ribbons and made the whole thing possible.

i left to head to the hotel in the afternoon, where my sweet friend jess did my hair and makeup (with a little help from my bridesmaids.)

my mom had helped me design a vintage-inspired veil, and sam surprised me by sending a gift along with a friend at the last minute, as i was getting dressed - a vintage pin i'd been eyeing at the jewelry store a couple days before. it matched my dress perfectly.


or, i should say, matched my ORIGINAL dress. i decided a couple weeks before the wedding that i wanted to surprise sam - he'd seen my wedding dress (i am terrible at keeping secrets) so i asked my little sister if i might be able to borrow her dress for the day - a beautiful, simple j crew gown. it fit pretty perfectly (although the girls were rather jumping out of it,) and it actually matched my veil much better. i ordered a rhinestone belt from etsy to spice it up a bit.


but i'm getting ahead of myself! once hair and makeup was done, we raced back to the house (and we were LATE! the first shuttle beat me there, and i wasn't even in my dress yet!) i ran into sam on the way in, and helped him straighten his tie -

before dashing into the bedroom to change into my dress and wait to walk out. meanwhile, kendall, our lovely photographer, snapped some photos of the invitation, food, cake and flowers -

i made the invitations with paper & ribbons from paper source, my sewing machine & typewriter, and handwritten lettering.

the dessert spread -



five different macarons, almond lemon blueberry tarts, blueberry and apple pie pops, rosemary vanilla bean creme brulee spoons, and truffle-goat cheese-stuffed potatoes, all homemade. there were also lobster rolls, mini quiches, malted chocolate chip cookies. . . and barbecue for dinner.

i cannot say enough good about our florist, a friend of sam's family - paula at pentimento floral. i know absolutely nothing about flowers, and kept on referencing pictures i'd seen online, and she absolutely blew me away. my bouquet was a masterpiece (you'll see tomorrow,) and all the centerpieces were ridiculously gorgeous as well.


i dyed the napkins on by one, a green ombre to match the invitations - we didn't really have "wedding colors" as much as every color we could possibly bring into it. i ended up using succulents with little name flags for placecards.

aaand the cake! my friend and former coworker veronika volunteered to make it for me, and at first i resisted - i really wanted to do everything myself - but i'm SO glad i relented in the end. she made a simple vanilla bean genoise, and i made a lightened strawberry pastry cream for between the layers, and a rosewater vanilla buttercream for the outside. i fashioned a little audrey and sam out of fondant the week before the wedding - it's hard to tell, but sam's got a little fish on the end of his fishing pole, haha.

back in the bedroom, kendall snapped a few photos of me as i got dressed and anxiously waited to walk out.


and i'll leave it there for now! shit - i only got through about a third of the photos in this post, so i may need to break it up into three - it feels so obnoxious to post so many photos at once. i promise the ceremony will be up tomorrow!

xo audrey

brown's pond house

(photos courtesy of mr. morgan mirvis and his fancy camera.)

sooo, a couple weekends ago sam and i spent the weekend with 9 friends in a big, beautiful house on brown's pond in upstate new york to celebrate my dear friend jared's birthday. it was absolutely gorgeous - still warm enough to sit outside in nothing but your flannel or a sweater, and all the leaves were at their brightest but still filling the trees. we spent most of the time drinking spiced cider, eating, or playing dorky word games, and it was one of the best weekends i'd had in a while. i brought the cake.




to say that jared is the biggest sally field fan i know isn't really saying much, but it is absolutely true, so i spent a little time at work the day before we left drawing ms. norah walker herself (anyone get that reference? no? you're better for it.) in chocolate on his devil's food cake.



tonight i attempt to deep fry turkey drumsticks. stay tuned.

xo audrey

pop cakes

i have a few email subscriptions that i can't quite bring myself to get rid of, but 99% of the time i delete them without reading; i do the grand majority of my email reading on an iphone, so it's gotta be good to get me to squint at that stupid screen. (i really need new glasses.) but this story on flavorpill caught my eye and i thought it was worth a quick link-up.

pop culture cakes! some really awesome, clever (and some pretty sloppy and uninspired) cakes derived from books, movies, music, tv, and art. a few of my favorites:

the hungry caterpillar & where the wild things are (and, if you follow the link, several very cute others):



andy warhol(another great cake goldmine):


damien hirst:


and a beautiful mondrian:

the fine cakery of anne kim

bonjourno! hope you're having a lovely day. i wanted to do a quick post to share with you the amazing work of a girl i graduated with from the french culinary institute; anne kim, an incredibly talented baker who makes the most adorable cakes i have ever seen. you can get in touch with her, and see more of her work (she makes really cute paper goods too!) here.








until next time,

xo audrey

marie antoinette

she's the one who said let them eat cake, right? after weeks of cake-making, i have to say i don't really want to touch one for years, but here are photos from last night's test.





all the decorations are made from fondant, with some royal icing details.