I also found the prices quite high for Safeway.  Although the cake prices seemed ok, they weren’t all the much cheaper than one of my favorite bakeries in downtown Seattle known for their wedding cakes.  The flowers were also way overpriced.  The option for a boutonniere was $50?!  To be fair, the option for a bridal bouquet (usually fairly expensive) also started at $50.  If the boutonnieres truly are that expensive you’re better off going to a florist.  I also wish the floral area showed you the type and quantity of flowers that you get at each price level so you could see the value for your money rather than randomly marking what you want to spend on each bouquet.  I have the same complaint about the wines.  The site takes the headache out of calculating the number of bottles per guest at each event: cocktail hour, reception, rehearsal dinner and even bachelorette party!  However, if you choose $10, $20 or $70 wine per bottle it doesn’t give you and example of what you get in return.  It could be Chianti in a basket or Brunello and you wouldn’t have an idea of the quality.  I’m assuming all of those answers are solved by taking your budgeting results to the store.  

Bottomline: Do-It-Yourself brides are still better off doing the research themselves for quality and prices as Safeway doesn’t shed too much light on prices for their flowers and wine.  I recommend comparing a couple of different supermarkets if that’s all your budget allows.  But, if you need help with a budgeting tool give it a whirl.

For more information on Seattle Wedding Flowers visit: www.AvantBride.com

A friend of mine sent me a link to Valerie Heggenes’ Wedding Cake Toppers website last week.  I immediately knew I had to write about these incredible sculptures!  As with many businesses in the wedding industry, Valerie started by using her talents as a sculptor to create a wedding cake topper for her sister’s wedding, and it has grown from there.

She creates one of a kind wedding cake toppers out of polymer clay such as Sculpey or Fimo.  They are between 5 and 8 inches in height and 4 inches in diameter.  She can make them as fun or formal as the client wishes, but stresses that they’re not exact replicas but meant to be more “whimsical” as caricatures of the bride and groom.  One of my favorites is the sculpture below with the bride and groom in REI garb.  Looking at the photographs of the couples on her website side by side with the sculptures that she made of them, you can tell that she has a knack for understanding her clients.  Her sculptures seem to bring out the best features that make the bride and groom who they are.  I think it would be fun to see one at a friend’s wedding!

It also occurred to me that a benefit to having a personalized mini bride and groom commissioned is that you have a wonderful keepsake.  Once the big day is over there are few things that last and I think this would be such a fun reminder of the day.  It would make a great wedding gift as well, for a friend or family member.

For those on a budget or uninterested in a sugary tower

Time to find the obligatory wedding cake! After a couple of trips to some wonderful bakers my fiancé and I were surprised by how apathetic we were towards the cakes we saw and tasted.  Classic or contemporary nothing seemed to interest us or make us excited about cake.  We thought to ourselves, why have a cake we’re not excited about and why pay so much for cake stacked on cake?  Luckily about that time there was a family birthday and a beautiful cake was purchased from a local bakery (with a French baker) that was elegant and delicious.  It was a simple, round cake.  The light bulb went off and so did I to the little neighborhood bakery who’d been baking my fiancés birthday cakes for 15 years, unbeknownst to me.  The result was 5 simple, but elegant round cakes on tiered pedestals and 2 sheet cakes in the back!  It fit our casual attitude towards cake and we were able to focus on other areas of the wedding that we were excited about like finding an energetic flamenco guitarist!  An added benefit to having sheet cakes (pre-cut and plated) was that once we cut the cake the caterers were able to serve our guests right away - then everyone got back to dancing.

The info on our cakes: