Vendor Spotlight: Sarah Lindsay Cakes

Ever since she began baking sugar cookies with her Grandma for Christmas, Sarah's love of baking only grew. After a semester abroad exploring all things culinary and pastry, she attended Tante Marie’s Professional Culinary Program and stayed on to tackle their infamous Professional Baking and Pastry Program. And it was after stints at Restaurant Lulu and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant, where she honed in on her dessert making skills, that Sarah Lindsay Cakes was born.

About weddings Sarah says, “I enjoy creating whimsical, unusual requests. I have fun exploring ideas with brides and grooms and coming up with sketches. I call it “cakestorming”. I also appreciate the creative aspect of baking; my favorite – carving the cakes.” Her style: elegant and classic cakes, as well as cakes full of imagination.

Her inspiration? “Nature all around me inspires me. I also love reading cake books by such amazing cake artists such as Collette Peters, Debbie Brown, Margaret Braun and Toba Garrett. The zoo and aquariums; and I am an avid snorkeler and aquatic or ocean themed cakes excite me.”

Why Sarah for the cake of your dreams? Besides excellent customer service and attention to detail, Sarah uses only high-quality ingredients: Belgian and Valhrona cocoa, Madagascar vanilla beans, and Swiss fondant. Plus, Sarah will personally bake and design your cake as well as make sure every ounce of butter cream is whipped and smoothed on your cake to perfection.

Contact her at http://www.sarahlindsaycakes.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Cakework, Wedding Cakes

Cakework has been creating unique and stunning custom cakes in the Bay Area for about 25 years. Cecile Gady, a true artist, has a background in clay sculpture. It was after working as a pastry chef at a popular SF restaurant that she realized she could make sculpture-like desserts that the public loved.

From the start of her business she knew she wanted to make wedding cakes: “I wanted to customize them and make them more personal. I knew I could do it. There were no custom wedding cake makers to my knowledge in SF at that time, and I wanted to try out the idea.”

Cecile keeps staff low so each person can concentrate on the entire process as much as possible. Her enjoyment comes from seeing a cake progress from step one to the beautiful end. The highlight? “When the decorated cake is on the table at the reception and the couple is extremely happy."

Extremely client-centered, almost all of what Cecile does is done with her clients’ desires in mind. “I am able to take off and use free reign when I am creating cakes for magazines, shows or for display. I made a beautiful Indian inspired mehndi cake with great colors and beautiful gold flower accents. I also did a great Louis Vuitton bag that came out perfect.”

There's also something else unique about Cakework: her cakes are wrapped and decorated entirely in chocolate. She doesn’t use fondant. And she’s a stickler for refined follow-through. “Every step of the way to making a finished product is important,” she says. “I watch every detail that goes into the whole process. When the cake is ready for decorating, I focus on every little element. I want to see clean lines, good color matches, and an overall look that is beautiful.” Take a bite of that.

To view more of Cakework’s beautiful cakes, visit: http://www.cakework.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Cake Coquette

Gabrielle Feuersinger of Cake Coquette has always been interested in pastry design but it wasn’t until she began designing cakes for Cake Divas in LA that she knew she should be on her own. A native San Franciscan, she brought her talent back three years ago and Cake Coquette was born; the name a nod to her French mother and her love of Marie Antoinette-era design.

One look at her cakes and its evident she adores weddings. She gets just as excited as the couple to see how the cake will turn out, and she explains that often times the cake turns out even better than what she designs in her head and on paper. Though the rumor around town is that she’s known for her buttercream detail piping work, she’s always experimenting with new techniques, her cakes always have that special touch. Tres bonbon!

And check out this awesome Groom's Cake:

To view more of her deliciously beautiful work, visit: http://www.cakecoquette.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Sibby's Cupcakery

Sibby's Cupcakery opened in 2004 with the mission of providing joy and happiness through delicious and beautiful cupcakes. All you need to do is look at her work to get it. Once you taste her cupcakes, you’ll get it even more!

Sibby and her master cupcake elves love contributing to a larger vision and coming up with designs and displays that complement the overall aesthetic of weddings. Wedding planning can be stressful and the last thing that cupcakes should do is cause extra stress. Her goal is to ensure that couples get the wedding cupcakes of their dreams without any hassles.

Customization is Sibby’s specialty. She tells us about an extra fun project, “We recently had a blast doing decorations for a couple who got married on their favorite holiday— Halloween—which happens to be a bakery favorite, as well. We did an assortment of ghosts, skulls and crossbones, jack-o-lanterns and other spooky designs incorporating their monogram and color scheme.” We can only imagine…

So, why do we at Bridebound say yea to Sibby’s Cupcakery for your wedding cupcakes? Well, they use the finest ingredients, everything is baked from scratch each morning, and they have perfected their recipes over the years. Their one-of-a-kind handmade custom decorations enable couples to have an added level of personalization. Sibby’s Cupcakery has intentionally stayed small so that they can focus on quality and customer service. Mostly, we think it’s because they love what they do. Everything they make comes from love.

Just check out their beautiful, delicious creations and you’ll see what we mean:
http://www.sibbyscupcakery.com/

Vendor Spotlight: Two For Two Cakes

For Alison Okabayashi, owner, baker, and designer of Two For Two Cakes, baking is in the genes: “Baking was a special activity in my family. Every Christmas my grandmother would send us a huge package full of about a dozen different types of cookies. Now my mom and dad take on that role.”

Attending culinary school after college, she decided she loved the creativity and challenges involved in making wedding cakes. And also getting to know her clients and coming up with the perfect cake to balance out everything they're looking for: design, taste and budget. She tells us: “Whenever they leave their first consultation saying ‘That was the most fun we've had throughout the entire wedding planning process!’, I know I've done what I set out to do.”

So what inspires her when it comes to making her gorgeous cakes: “Old-fashioned American baking updated for today.” She adores vintage design, fabrics and Wayne Thiebaud. And she loves cakes that have beautiful details but still maintain grace.

Alison is deeply committed to offering brides and grooms a positive experience from start to finish. This means that when you work with Alison, you can expect quality ingredients, proper follow through, flexibility with meeting times, a transparent business practice when it comes to all aspects of the cake, and total creativity, no matter your budget.

View more of her delicious creations at:
http://www.twofortwocakes.com/

Planner on Patrol: And the Beat Goes On

The music at your wedding will hopefully be the soundtrack to the perfect party of your life, but it can cause some awkward moments as well. Are you trying to figure out the best way to include the racy rap hits your friends want without making your grandma blush? Or how about how many big band tunes you need to please your dad without boring your nieces? Well you're not alone. Get some help here.

Vendor Spotlight: Christina Danner, Cake Designer

Christina Danner, Cake Designer
http://www.ocakes.com/

Christina has been baking from as far back as she remembers, learning her mother and grandmother’s recipes. Seven years ago, she baked a cake for her cousin’s baby shower and received rave reviews– that day she decided she to start her own business, Occasional Cakes, as everyone began demanding and ordering her delicious creations!

Christina thinks of her designs as blank canvases. She strives to make the most unique cakes possible, and enjoys the challenge of replicating designs like bridal gown lace, patterns or even designs from invitations. Sometimes all she’s given is a color theme from the bride; it’s then up to her to create something incredible (and delicious).

From where does Christina draw her inspiration? “Much of it comes from my family, which is full of artists and creative people. My husband provides constructive feedback, whether I ask for it or not, and a lot of times he has changed my idea for decorating a cake.” She also credits local vendors, online research, Julia Child, Martha Stewart, and most recently, getting structural ideas by watching Cake Challenges, Ace of Cakes, and Cake Boss. She loves trying new things and continually adds new flavors to her kitchen. By the time you interview her, you may just be the first to dry a new one. And by the way, her cake tastings are free, which is just one example of her self-described, “extreme customer service.” I’ll lick frosting to that!

Vendor Spotlight: Penelope Jane, Cake Designer

Penelope Jane, Cake Designer
http://www.penelopejane.com/

For Penelope Jane, life is sweet. She has been baking professionally for 13 years, starting her career working at 4-star restaurants and 5-star/5-diamond hotels in New York. She moved back to Napa four years ago and now runs her own company, baking about 60 wedding cakes a year.

Her favorite thing about her job: “When I can make the perfect wedding cake look fabulous- that is my reward. And to hear the thank-yous from the bride and groom is even better.”

Aside from her creating unique wedding cakes, Penelope designs all the elopement cakes for Harvest Inn and Solage at Free Reign. She describes them as “little 6-inch cakes for the day, sometimes they're larger. They pick the flavor and I design whatever I want to on it.”

So what keeps her creativity fresh? “Trying to reach my personal goals inspires me. However, the biggest inspiration to me is my husband (also a chef). He keeps me motivated to try new things and think outside the box. We brainstorm together and, because he is so passionate about his cooking, we often talk food.”

What can you can expect from Penelope?
Dedication: She hand-makes and custom designs each delicious creation, using only high-quality local ingredients.
Professionalism: If she feels she can’t execute what the bride and groom want, she won’t bake the cake.
Originality: Her own wedding cake is proof. Surviving on PB&J sandwiches while baking in New York, she decided to “bake homage” to the famous sandwich and create a delicious Peanut Butter & Jelly Wedding Cake for her and her husband’s special day.

And there’s no reason she can’t do that for you!