get yourself a virgo: Easy {free!} cake topper

Isn't he cute? This was our final product, although it wasn't our original plan.

I spent months rummaging through Google Images for pictures of campfire scenes, s'mores, tents pitched in the wilderness and so forth, gathering inspiration for designing a custom cake topper to represent one of our favorite pastimes: camping. Everything I thought to do seemed so tacky, though. I could only imagine two figures holding tiny branches roasting mallows over a fondant log fire looking too whimsical for our taste. {haha. taste. punny!} It wasn't until after we met with our baker, the awesome Kristine of Babycakes Bakery, that I decided against the camping scene for the cake topper. Gabe and I told Kristine we wanted a mini cake on the top tier of our cupcake tower, so we would have our own special treat for the day as well as something to cut into at the reception for the traditional cutting-of-the-cake-and-smashing-it-in-your-newlywed-spouse's-face moment {read on for more on that moment}. When it came to deciding on the flavor of our mini cake though, there was only one choice on which Gabe and I both agree: lemon meringue. :::Drool::: Kristine suggested covering the entire thing in stiff meringue peaks, something she had never done before, and for us to decide on a simple cake topper to complement {not compete with} the textural mini cake. From a design standpoint, this made total sense to me, and was also the moment I scratched the mental picture of the roasting scene.

At that point I hadn't made any decisions, and in fact I didn't decide on what I was going to top our cake with until a couple of weeks before the big day. Enter: Abby. My dear friend with excellent style volunteered {along with other friends} to help my mom put on my bridal shower, and called dibs on the tablescapes. And best of all, her gift to me was letting me keep all of the goodies from the centerpieces!

Gabe planted the purple flower plants in our front garden and they love us.

I fell in love with the chubby blue birds that held photos of me and Gabe throughout the years, and thought one would be just perfect atop our little cake at the reception. Gabe loved the idea and chose the picture that the birdie would hold--one of his favorites.

When it came time to cut into this beautiful scrumptious looking cake, we realized the restaurant forgot to provide us with a cake knife as promised. Upon realizing this in a half-second, my Virgo problem-solving-mode kicked in to high gear. I turned to our guests, who were all readying their cameras and shifting their weight to get a good view of our sweet moment, and asked {laughing}, "Does anyone have a butter knife we can borrow?" The room burst into laughter and two people came at us quickly with the knives from their place-settings. It was such a great moment, all the way through smearing meringuey goodness in one another's hair.