There are a few things I know for certain, but I know I love cake. LOVE it. The Mister’s nickname for me is…Cakes. I’m not messin’ around when it comes to cake and icing. So, when The Mister and I were planning our wedding I knew the cake would be an important decision. This is us at our reception with the winning cake.
Photography by Krista Lee
We met with three wedding cake vendors. They were all popular and considered higher end baking/cake vendors for the Nashville area. One was suggested by two friends and did catering too. (I was all about two birds with one stone.) Two is known for their embellishments. (I’d eat anything a figurine made out of icing.) Then, there was Three. Three was Maples Wedding Cakes. I had seen Maples in my research and one of the wedding coordinators I interviewed bragged, gushed talked about being friends with the owner, Jay. I didn’t use the coordinator for a few reasons but I had to meet with Jay.
I did my best to temper expectations when meeting with vendors, you’re never sure what you may walk into. So, The Mister and I had a little pep talk/cool down before we went into Maples. We walked into the shop and Jay was very friendly and warm. He asked us to sit and I noticed The Mister was staring at all the cake samples on the wall. If I could have taken a picture, I would have. (The Mister has an uncanny ability to look like a precious lil’ boy.) I shared my inspirational photos and we discussed what I was thinking. Jay immediately recognized the size I was trying to explain with hand gestures. I remember I said I wanted the layers to have “plateaus” and he got it. Then, to prove that he understood he showed one of the sample cakes and he was exactly right. I wanted large flowers as the focus of the cake. He suggested that they be a hybrid type of flower as I wasn’t tied to any one type. With any other vendor I would have asked for an example but I trusted him. He got up from the couch to get something and The Mister looked at me and said, “You’re crazy about him.” I kinda was. I wanted to grab Jay’s hand and say “Want to have lunch?” Instead, I played it calm. I was convinced that Jay had plenty of friends and remembered the wedding coordinator that I had judged for bragging being friends with him. She probably wasn’t as big of friends as she wanted me to believe but she adored him and I understood.
Our cake (Photography by Krista Lee)
I never saw Jay again. There was no need to. Additionally, Murfreesboro is out-of-the-way for me and it’d be creepy to just start hanging around. However, I now get to see him every Monday at 9/8 Central on TLC’s Next Great Baker. Jay is the star of the show. I know it should be Buddy, as he’s the host and has Cake Boss on TLC, but its Jay. I’ve never seen Cake Boss and I would not watch Next Great Baker if it wasn’t for Jay, but I promise to not just bragging on my cake crush.
He’s precious, right?
You can read his information on their site here.
P.S. He won the wedding cake challenge last week. This is his second win in a row.
My wedding cake baker is better than yours.
Tomorrow, my take on last night’s 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
