Whether you realize it or not, your cake ends up being the focal point at every wedding. The cake is strategically placed in the room so that everyone can see it and it usually results in a lot of “ohhhh’s and ahhh’s” as guest gather around it to admire the design. I asked the wonderful Hilary of “Cake Creations by Hilary” to be a guest blogger to talk a little bit about the

Although I don’t have all the cakes she’s made for my clients, all of the cakes you see in this post are creations of Hilary! Not only does your cake serve as a masterpiece but you obviously want it to taste great too! I gotta tell you, I look forward the wedding cake at every wedding and it can really reflect the personalities of the Brides and Grooms……….

Tradition, tradition!

Did you know that when wedding cakes originally came into being they were nothing more than a simple loaf of hard bread?  The tradition was that the groom would break the loaf of bread over the bride’s head to show his dominance over her.  Whew!  I don’t know about you, but I’m sure glad that wedding cakes have changed and evolved over time!

Nowadays, things are different.  No longer do brides need to wear a helmet for the cake cutting portion of the reception (Although occasionally an apron may be called for to protect that amazing dress if the groom’s a cake smasher!).  Brides are not necessarily going along with the traditional wedding cake design.  Now there are Options.  Yes, that’s Options with a capital “O”.

The Times They Are A Changin’

Weddings are quickly becoming less formal and more about the personality of the individual couple.  People are getting married at their favorite destinations.  Bridal parties are dancing down the aisle to a special song.  Brides and their fathers are choreographing dances to wow the reception guests with.  It’s all about having fun being who you really are.  This is, after all, your day to shine, so why not take advantage of it.

Well Cake Lady, you may say, that’s all well and good, but what’s your point already?  My point is, that one of the best ways you can allow your unique personality to shine is to work with a decorator who will help you custom design your wedding cake.  Next to the wedding dress, the cake will be the most important feature of your wedding.  When your guests walk in to the reception and they find themselves anxiously awaiting your arrival, give them something to really ooh and awe over.  Let them be wowed by a gorgeous cake, especially one that they can look at and know without a doubt is yours.

Back to Those Options

Options?  I have options?  Of course you do!  Are you someone with a larger than life personality?  Maybe you need a cake filled with color and whimsy.  Do you scrapbook all of the old family photos and treasure the shawl that Great Grandma Dorothy left you?  Maybe a more traditional, antiqued style of wedding cake is what will tickle your fancy.

But Cake Lady, seriously, my mother will flip if she finds out I want to make my cake in the shape of a fish like we caught when we went on our first date!  Okay, okay, I understand.  Don’t worry, that’s why you work with a professional cake designer.   As a cake designer, I can tell you that it’s my job to help you find your “sweet spot” with your wedding cake.  You know, the place where it all comes together.  The cake is delicious, the design reflects who you are, and nobody’s mother is going to flip over anything.  I take you through the process, step-by-step and show you all of your options.  Maybe we decide that instead of making the wedding cake in the shape of the fish you caught on that first date we’ll have a cake that’s the flavor of the strawberry margarita you shared after you caught the fish.  (We can save the carved fish for the Groom’s Cake!)  Perhaps you have a special dog or cat that you share and you’d like your furry friend to be included on the cake.  We can do a custom designed, one-of-a-kind topper so there’s no mistaking whose cake this is.

Shine On!

There are so many options!  Color, flavor, size, shape, theme – endless possibilities!  When you plan your wedding cake, be sure to sit down with a designer who will talk to you about not just the cake, but who you are.   Help them to get an idea of your personality.  When you come for your consultation and tasting, bring pictures and swatches.  Write down or sketch out your ideas.  Most importantly, remember that your cake reflects who you are.  Have fun with it and enjoy your incredible day, knowing that you really did put your heart and soul into it.

Are you getting married and still looking for someone to design your cake? Below is Hilary’s contact information….when you call, tell her Jen says hi!

Cake Creations by Hillary
Hillary Empfield
cakecreationsbyhillary@gmail.com
www.cakecreationsbyhillary.com

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I’m working on a few commercial projects over the past several months and I can’t help but share this image I shot earlier this week for Gatti Pharmacy in Indiana, PA! They are undergoing a complete overhaul on their website and I can’t wait to see some of my images on their site! In the mean time, I HAD to share this image…it just makes my heart sing! Don’t you wish you knew what the card said….I know!! neener neener neener!!

I hope my best friend and I continue to laugh like this in the card aisle for years and years!!! LOVE IT!!

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I’m honored to have been one of the first ones to test out this sweet lens! Do YOU even KNOW how hard it was to not share??!! Since Lensbaby finally launched their brand spankin new lens on Valentine’s day…I guess I can finally share the love. Pun intended!!

I took it along with me on my recent trip to Seattle and shot a few shots. I’m taking it with me to Vegas and I CAN’T wait to see what I bring back! What is the Edge 80?…..Edge 80 gives photographers yet another extraordinary way to control depth of field. Point straight ahead using any Lensbaby lens body for a classic image with edge-to-edge sharpness. When tilting with Edge 80 using any bending Lensbaby lens body, you get a razor sharp slice of focus through your image surrounded by beautiful blur. This lens would be perfect for portraits and beyond…I tend to LOVE it for travel images!

Objects in both the foreground and the background can be in focus within that slice. You can control the size of the slice of focus by changing the aperture. So in otherwords, f/2.8 will produce a thin slice of focus with abundant blur. F/22 will produce a very wide slice of focus with just a small amount of blur. The Edge 80 allows for a quick and seemless change from f/2.8 through f/22-no aperture discs..WOOT, simply by rotating the dial on the front of the optic. It’s a great portrait lens, but can also be used to great effect in any situation that lends itself to selective focus – from food photography to giving landscapes a “miniature” appearance…like I said, I’m loving mine for travel! Want to learn more on how tilt, aperture, and focus affect an Edge 80 image, visit the Edge 80 Optic simulator.

I’m in LOOOOVE!!!!

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Aric and I officially met at the [b] school party during WPPI in Vegas in 2009. I remember it very vividly because we had literally just sat down when he and his friend came over, put out their hands and said hello. He was so quiet and hardly talked the whole time while the rest of us talked a mile a minute…but I found out later it was because he was loosing his voice and COULDN’T talk. I do believe it’s where I introduced Greg as my “baby daddy”…..and now it’s an ongoing joke with us all.

Coincidentally, Aric and his wife, Angie live in the Seattle area so when I told them I was flying out, they offered to pick me up at the airport and show me around a bit….which lead to a few photo ops and sight seeing! I can’t WAIT to show him around Pittsburgh one of these days!!

We checked out Pike’s Peak, the original Starbucks, Post Alley with all the gooey gum….and we stopped at a few spots for a few portraits of the two of them. I know first hand how hard it is as a photographer to have photos of yourself when you’re the one always behind the camera. So we shot a few of them for the launch of their new website!

ohhh and if you’re in the Seattle area and you are getting married this coming year, you may want to check out their blog for a fun contest they’re having. You can check it out *here*!

PS: do you know how stressful it is shooting for another photographer??!! just sayin!

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Just a reminder, I’ll be out of the office until Friday, February 24th attending the big bad WPPI Photography Conference in VEGAS- so please be patient with my response time in getting back with you….I have several pre-scheduled blogs that will be posting while I’m away so be sure to check back now and again. Ohhh and I even put together a short little message for ya! DORK ALERT!!

PS: Yes I did say “tootles!!!” hahaha! I think I had to many energy drinks! haha!

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I love traveling! I mean LOOOOOVE traveling! I got bit by the travel bug when I was in college….and it’s in my bones now! In the next three weeks I will have been in Seattle, Las Vegas and then Chicago for  shoots….WOOT!

This past week, for those of you who know, I flew out to Seattle to be part of an online workshop called Creative LIVE, that is broadcast live over the web. Although,I flew out there alone, I met up with my good photographer friend Aric Becker and his awe-some-sauce wife. They picked me up at the airport…I felt kinda famous, I won’t lie! I was like  (with a hair toss)”ohhh look, there’s my people!” I should have told him to hold a sign! haha!

Anywho, it was my first time in Seattle….or the west coast for that matter. I’ve traveled all over the world but for some reason missed the west coast of my own country! LOL So Aric showed me around Pikes Place, Post Alley with the Gum Wall and the birthplace of Starbucks just to name a few. I shot a lot of Instagram photos that I thought I would share with you here! I wish I had more time to explore….but I’m thinking that will be for my next trip out!

Just some random iphone photos (and a few camera photos)…enjoy pure and utter randomness!

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I know you’ve already seen the last two posts about my adventures at Creative Live in Seattle, but here are some more behind the scene photos of our shenanigans. In between “getting our learn on”, we had MANY MANY laughs! I’m going to miss this whole crew! They are in no particular order and they were mostly taken with my iphone and others are from the fabulous Kenna, one of the hosts …so it’s just a smorgasbord of CreativeLIVE’ness! (I think I just made up a word!!)

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For me, it was kind of like the first day of college-at least the way I remember it feeling. I remember very vividly laying in my twin sized dorm room bed the night before my very first freshman class. My roommate was already sleeping and I could hear the sounds of students staying out late in the courtyard below my window. As I laid there I couldn’t help but think to myself…WOW, I REALLY MADE IT! Coming from a family where I would be the very first person to GO to college, I worked VERY hard not only on my grades but on side jobs in order just pay my way. And yes for any of you who are wondering, I paid my own way thru college-it’s something I’m very proud of! So as I laid in the bed before the first day of CreativeLIVE I couldn’t help but feel like that young girl: scared, nervous, excited, eager…but more importantly, proud for putting myself out there. I laid there in the dark, I started thinking about the journey I have made in my photography career, you know from the very first time I got my camera to all the classes I’ve taken, to the countless hours spent in front of the computer AND more importantly-to all the risks I’ve taken and how much they have paid off.

I won’t lie, the day before, I hardly got any sleep-I was too nervous. Now that I’m home and hind sight is 20/20, I feel silly for being so nervous. The CreativeLIVE crew is absolutely amazing, warm, welcoming and FUN. I was given a rare opportunity to learn from Christa Meola, one of the best boudoir photographers in the industry….in person and surrounded by some of the most awesome people whom I can now call my friends! (hey sexy six pack!). It’s really hard to explain the difference between being there in person from watching it at home on your computer, but it’s amazing. Afterwards, we bonded over drinks and conversations about our own businesses and where we see ourselves going over the next year(s). I’ve taken away so much valuable information from the 3 days of CreativeLIVE and so much about myself as a photographer. Can I just say, that it is incredibly surreal to stand up in front of-not only Christa Meola, but students, camera guys, a production crew AND hundreds of thousands of people and shoot knowing that people are critiquing your every move…..ch-yeah, it’s a bit surreal. But I really wouldn’t trade it for the world and I’m so incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to grow which sometimes means-getting ourselves out of our comfort zone. This whole weekend was all about that for me!

Thanks to Christa, I have recognized several weak spots that I need to work on and I have a to-do list a mile long but I’m so excited to get started!

Below are a few of the images that I shot while attending CreativeLIVE. Some of them I’m proud of and some of them I see lots of room for improvement, but hey, cut a sister a break! Stay tuned for some more behind the scene photos on tomorrows blog!

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Hello from behind the scenes….. *snap snap*

Soooo, I’m not going to blog everything JUST YET, but I wanted to hop on and tell you how much information has been packed into this (tiny) brain of mine! ha! The CreativeLIVE crew have been A-MAZINGLY welcoming and FUN to hang out with and Christa is FULL of so much information that it makes my hands hurt….because I’ve been taking so many notes! I also wanted to say “HAYYYYYY!!!” to all of you who have been leaving really encouraging comments on my fan page! You have no idea how intimidating it is to get up in front of someone you admire and “perform” …especially when there are cameras everywhere while being critiqued by thousands of you at home!!  So thank you for being so kind!

Christa is a force to be reckoned with…she KNOWS her stuff and I’m enjoying my time not only learning all of her techniques, tricks and tips but also just hanging out with her and the “Sexy 6 Pack” as she called us after hours and getting to know her as a person. SOOOOOO, until I actually do my big blog post with all the official things we shot, here are some iPhone photos from “behind the scenes”.

Seriously guys…..you.have.no.idea. how much goes on behind the scenes. WORD to the whole crew for being so incredibly kind and working their BEHINDS off to make everything run smoothly.  And I have a feeling that I will be leaving Seattle with a few more friends in the industry…..<3 you guys!

I am just incredibly grateful to have been giving this experience! Now onto some iPhone “behind the scenes photos”…

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Hayyyyyyy!!!!!  I am preparing to head out to Seattle, Washington for a few days which means I may not have access to my computer/email as much as I usually do from Thursday, February 9th-Monday, February 13th. I’ll be checking in periodically but I really just want to take these few days and really soak everything in.

I’m so exited…can you feel it oozing thru all of the exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!

I’m in the process of packing for Seattle for CreativeLIVE to learn from the oh-so-talented boudoir photographer Christa Meola…in person….live…in the studio! Eeeek!! For those of you who may be reading this who are NOT photographers, and may not get why I’m so excited:
#1  I was chosen to be a part of this.
#2  It’s CreatieLIVE! They provide the best creative education on the web for photographers – for FREE – and is broadcast LIVE, available for anyone around the world to watch in realtime. Isn’t that crazy awesome? Yes even YOU can watch from your own home.
#3  It’s Christa Meola..duh!! She is on a mission to empower women to adore their bodies and will be showing us all of the tricks and trends for shooting boudoir with our own clients. AND I LOOOOOVE her laugh!! just sayin!
#4  I’ve been given the chance to learn all kinds of goodness to bring back for all of you small town girls who still want the big city glamorous experience!
#5  I get to meet some awesome other photographers and spend 3 whole days with them! WOOT!
#6  My friend Aric Becker and fellow photographer (yo Aric!) lives out in the Seattle area and I get to hang out with him and his wife the day before. WHAT WHAT. They are going to show me around. I haven’t gotten to hang out since last year at WPPI when we tried to take a bunch of embarrassing photos of each other with our cell phones inconspicuously. I do believe I won!
#7  I have never been to Seattle and I love to travel so why not!  I’m going to be a tourist..and I may or may not take touristy photos. Don’t hate!
#8  It’s a change of scenery…sometimes creatively, you just need rejuvenated!
#9  Mallory is excited to see Mommy on the computer.
#10 I’m just a small town girl who is living her dream of being a photographer and so many opportunities have opened up since I stopped making excuses and decided to just “do it”.

So can you blame a girl for doing the “happy dance” all around the room with a messy high pony tail,  in her sweat pants and fuzzy socks!?

I’m not sure if I’ll have time to blog while I’m out on the West Cost (I was trying to sound fancy) but I will certainly be updating my Instagram the entire time. If you don’t have an Iphone but you still want to check out some of the “touristy” photos I’ll be snapping along the way, you can now view them on my fan page! Just look under my profile photo for the Instagram Icon. They will be streaming right there as well!

Are you interested in seeing the workshop LIVE-for free? Go sign up at CreativeLIVE. Just click on the “enroll” button in the middle of the page. You can chat live during the workshop and ask questions as well. For those of you who will be watching from home….send me lots of positive thoughts so I don’t say or do something stupid!  ohhh, and will someone tweet me to let me know if I have anything in my teeth? tee he he

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