My baby brother Norman got married.
I guess he’s not a baby anymore.
And he married a wonderful woman, Stefanie.
She’s beautiful…
Inside and out.
I love these two.
For the wedding Stefanie’s wish for the favours were wedding cake cookies inspired by this Martha Stewart photo:
Here’s our version:
150 of them (plus ‘in-case’ extras)…
One was put on each place setting at the reception tables.
We also made cupcakes for a cupcake tier.
The top tier originally was supposed to have this super tall cake on top made by Konstadin of Cakes by Konstadin, who is genius at making life like gumpaste roses…
But I’m such a clutz… the cake toppled over (my fault), in transition, and my friend Dianna of Yours to Savour, came to the rescue and whipped up another small cake for me, and I used Konstadin’s rose for the top. Fewf!
A few of my cousins and Aunt, who flew over from Europe for the wedding, helped put all the cupcakes together the day of.
This is how we always dress when putting cupcakes together… Seriously, not really, that was shortly before the ceremony.
Here we are morning of assembling.
Cupcakes flavours were; carrot, vanilla and chocolate. The flowers were from Petra International. (See my flower post on Petra International, here).
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Making Wedding Cookie Cakes
Guess how many cookies we made?
1000.
Yes, that’s right.
One thousand cookies.
150 guests at the wedding, multiplied by 6 cookies per cookie cake, and 100 extra cookies in case of breakage etc. (Especially with a clumsy person like me around!).
Any ideas how much butter?
This much:
Thanks to all the wonderful people on Facebook who helped me out with suggestions on where to buy butter and the favour boxes!
Here’s my recipe if you like. But, I do have to say that these aren’t the kind of cookies which can be made ahead and stored in your freezer.
The 150+ little gumpaste flowers on top were easy to make though. Here’s a video on the same process. All I did differently with these, was spray them with PME pearl lustre spray at the end. I was even able to make them weeks ahead and store in a cool, dry spot. (Sorry about the photographs again – phone pics).
My cousin Silja from Switzerland, my Mom and I made the cookie cakes together.
The cookies for each tier were 2″, 3″ and 3.5″
After baking and cooling 1000 cookies, we stacked them in matching layers of two and adhered them with white royal icing.
Instead of flooding 500 cookies with royal icing (only covered 3 cookies per cookie cake), I decided to use rolled fondant instead.
For that many cookies, it was much faster to roll the fondant out and use circle cutters.
You’ll notice we cut the smallest circles out of the largest circles to save fondant. The largest circle was going to be covered by the next layer of cookies anyways.
A thin layer of clear corn syrup on each piece of fondant…
500 fondant circles on 500 cookies later, then took all the finished stacks and adhered those together with royal icing, and topped each with a sugar flower.
Thank goodness good family friends (family, really), Pia and Alfons, came to help with boxing them.
It took the 5 of us about 3 hours to finish:
- taping the ribbon to the bottom of each box with a clear circle sticker, to help keep it in place
- gently placing cookie cakes in boxes
- tying first a knot, inserting Love is Sweet tag, and finishing off with a bow
Cutting 150 ribbons to the proper length, assembling the boxes, cutting the vellum paper to fit in the bottom so that the cardboard didn’t get greasy, and punching out the Love is Sweet tags, was done ahead (Thanks, Mom and Silja!).
Oh, and the adorable tags were from the Etsy shop Confetti Printables. Easy to customize to the desired colors and Holly was so prompt and lovely to deal with. After I’d purchased the design in the matching wedding colors, I went to a print shop to have them done on cardstock. The corresponding circle punch was from Michael’s. The clear boxes are from The Box Depot. We used the 4″ by 4″ by 4 1/2 ” box.
All in all it was a fun, community effort getting these wedding cookie cakes done. I realized even more how blessed I am to have good family and friends. How amazing was it as well that eleven relatives on our side alone, flew over from all over Europe to come celebrate! Here they are to the left of Stef and Norm.
And Stef and Norman’s wedding day… so special. (There aren’t too many pics of me because I shy away from photos anyways, and the ones I am in… I’m such an emotional person… I was teary-eyed in so many of them).
And not a beautiful, teary-eyed, like Stef walking up the aisle with her Dad. I love this picture! (Here come my happy tears!)
Isn’t she absolutely stunning!
And my lovely mother and brother walking down the aisle. I don’t know why, that’s what started getting me so emotional… my little brother, all grown-up, walking down the aisle with my Mom. I’m so proud of him.
I love these two.
One of my favorite shots of the wedding, just like one of my own fave wedding photos, is this one where the just married couple gets pelted by traditonal Swiss wedding candies… Under each wrapper is a sweet saying for the couple. Let’s just say that the candies aren’t soft though!
Have I mentioned that I love these two?
If you’d like to see the dance that resulted in this photo, you can click here or below to find it on YouTube. Just a warning, the video is 15 mins long, so I’m mainly sharing it here for family or for anyone who is procrastinating from perhaps any of these; a) cleaning the bathroom, b) writing an essay c) doing your taxes d) all of the above. It’s really sweet (the video), and I enjoyed it, but I’m biased of course, and as I mentioned, I love these two.
All the best to you on your life’s journey together, Stef and Norman! I know your humour, sense of adventure, and love for each other will bring you through thick and thin, and if you ever need anything from your sister, just call.
Love is sweet.
xo,
Marian
p.s. Special thanks to Scarlett O’Neill for letting me use many of her beautiful photographs in this post. She has such amazing photography talent!
MissG says
Thanks so much for answering all these questions. Currently working on these for my sister’s wedding this Sunday. Was wondering how you stored the fondant circles? I wanted to store them in a large tupperware separated by parchment paper, but am worried about them sticking together. Thanks for all your help!
Karina says
Hello,
It’s a beautifull work, congrats!. Please tell me your box size 🙂
marian says
Hi Karina,
We used the 4″ by 4″ by 4 1/2 ” box
Make Your Moment says
This one could be the sweetest idea that I’ve ever seen. The cuteness of the packaging of the wedding cookie cake is very heart-melting. I really like the idea. Thanks for this incredible post.
ARJAY WINGROVE says
Hi, Marion! On this blog, you state that these cookies aren’t ones you make and freeze ahead of time. Why is that?
marian says
Hi Arjay,
I do actually freeze my undecorated cookies often, but wouldn’t have room to freeze this many in my freezer. Decorated cookies sometimes bleed which is why I’ve been hesitant to freeze them in the past, but lately have had no issues with it. Hope that helps!