Cake That!: Bob and Ash's Wedding September 11th 2010

I am blessed to have so many brilliant clients who choose cakes that test my creativity and really ignite the passion I have for all things cake. Even more so than this- I get clients who are truly special people- who I will remember always.

Bob and Ash were all the above and more.

From the moment I met with them I felt really honored to be making their cake- they were so warm and friendly- like I had known them forever.

They were willing to trust in me to create a Kombi cake- my first Kombi cake! What fun!

So I had a little thought- after being snowed down earlier this year - and my blog subsequently falling buy the wayside- I had one of my sisters take over the reigns and write on my behalf- then it dawned on me- perhaps some of my super cool clients would also like to share their wedding day too!

Bob and Ash were the first ones I asked to do this for me- and almost without hesitation Ash jumped at the chance. I really appreciate the time and Effort that Ash has put into her story below and I hope you all enjoy reading it.

Congratulations Bob and Ash- you are two of a kind!

Here we go Anne ;P

Bob and i have always owned Volkswagens, and probably always will. We share a passion for these lovable hunks of metal that ooze personality, and that is what brought us together.

The theme of our wedding revolved around Volkswagens. We met at a rainy Valla Volkswagen Spectacular in 2006; a large VW event held every two years that attracts VW lovers and owners from all over Australia. I was living in Perth at the time, and my passion for Volkswagens brought me over east to meet all the VW people I had met on forums. We met on the Saturday night while having drinks around the bar as it was pouring with rain outside.

We kept in contact and did the whole long distance thing for a while until I bit the bullet and moved over here to Brisbane to be with him. Its great having someone you not only share a passion with but who is your soul mate.

We live in a wonderful area of Brisbane surrounded by rainforest, Mt Nebo. Our ceremony on the 11th September was at a gorgeous lookout near our house, Jollys Lookout, and then the reception was held in the "Fern Tree" room at Walkabout Creek, The Gap. VW's and the rainforest are what we love, and our wedding included all those aspects.

Our wedding was perfect. The weather could not have been better considering it was raining on the Friday and then on the Sunday afterwards. Some how we fluked a gorgeous day with not a cloud in the sky!!!

Our celebrant was very special to us, and we knew as soon as we met her the first time, she had to be ours. A few years ago two very special friends of ours from Perth came over to Queensland to get married on the Gold Coast. Their celebrant was a bubbly, fun loving lady by the name of Anne Campbell from Anne Campbell Weddings http://www.annecampbell.com.au/. She is everything you could ask for in a celebrant, and helped us make our ceremony everything we wanted it to be.

A photographer is something many couples stress about, and often finding the perfect photographer doesn’t come easy. This was an easy one for me, as on one of my “Google” adventures I stumbled across her website whilst on a search. Her work was just what we wanted, gorgeous candid moments that would tell the story of our day. The photo’s that looked back at me showed real emotion, not fake posing and awkward moments from people who hate their photo taken (which is both my Mum and Bob) .

Deborah Boots from Boots photography is extraordinary! Her work is so professional, but she really caters for her couples. She is such a fun, groovy person who knows its all about what her couples want, and will do anything to make that happen. I really can’t praise her enough. From the moment we did our engagement shoots which were incredible, we were so happy with the service Deb offers with Boots Photography http://www.bootsphotography.com.au/

I arrived in a very rare and sought after 1954 Splitscreen Kombi named “Dubbo" which is owned by good friends of ours who drove from Mullumbimby for us. Bob and the Groomsmen arrived in "El Concreto", our 1963 Single Cab Kombi Ute and another of our Groomsman drove his 1958 Beetle. The car park was filled with VW's and a gorgeous 356a Porsche also owned by a friend.

Whilst over in Perth from work and also visiting friends and family, my Bridesmaid Emily (my friend who was also married by Anne Campbell) took a trip to the Bridal Expo that was being held that weekend. This is where I found what was to be MY wedding dress. I knew what I wanted in my head, but I just needed to find it. At this stage I had hardly looked at any dresses, just in my mountain of wedding magazines I had accumulated. I couldn’t believe it when I sore it, and needless to say, it took a trip back to Brisbane with me.

My Bridesmaid dresses were purchased on eBay, and they were exactly what I wanted. The seller had sent out swatches of fabric at no charge to make sure I was happy with the colour. Shoes were lovely white Satin heels from from Zu Shoes. Hair and Makeup was done by Kayla Wilson courtesy of My Little Rockabilly http://mylittlerockabilly.com.au/

The boys were relatively easy to get together. They purchased white shirts with a light pinstripe from Myer, Trousers from Target and also very cool tan and white Dunlop Volleys which went perfectly with their outfits and fitted their personalities to a tee. Fun and casual was what we wanted the day to be about, I really think we succeeded in this. Many couples can lose sight with all the stress of planning a wedding on what the day is really about. It should be fun and about you!

We chose to put our rings in cute Velvet VW Beetle Ring boxes i had found whilst on one of my many online shopping adventures, eBay was my biggest friend while planning our wedding. Volkswagen/VW probably had the most searches ever on eBay and Google while preparing our wedding :)

My beautiful Flowers were created by Winnie Kwon from feelsogood flowers http://www.feelsogoodflower.com.au/. I absolutely love Orchids and chose a flowing bouquet of Pink Orchids and Fresh green leaves. My bridesmaid had White Orchid wrist corsages, my flower girl had a lovely pink and white orchid display woven in the basket, and the boys all received Orchid buttons holes in white with Bobs matching my pink flower. Her creativity with flowers is just amazing.

To say our cake was just perfect is an understatement, a big caramel mud cake in the shape of a kombi hand crafter by the gorgeous Sarah Jane at Cake That. It was the highlight and centrepiece that everyone commented on. Accompanying our perfect Cake was Custom made Bobble heads created by Wowminime in Hong Kong. These things are seriously cool. All created from full body and face photo’s, front and side. They looked just like us and we had them wearing the clothes we wore when we met at Valla = )

Gifts for the guests were gorgeous kombi candle holders which I had also sourced off eBay from a lovely guy in Thailand who I had bought funky VW things from before. He was even kind enough to send us a Wedding gift of Pink Beetle Salt and Pepper shakers as he knew our colours were green and pink. We filled these with lollies and a lovely smelling tea light candle. Ryan Warb from esigns http://www.esigns.com.au created the wedding date stickers for the side of our kombi’s which came up a treat.

The reception at Walkabout Creek was just what we wanted, casual and fun. We opted for a Cocktail option rather than a sit down buffet. Everyone loved this, the food was fantastic, and it gave everyone that chance to mingle. As we had friend and family coming from as far as Perth, everyone got the chance to meet and spend some time enjoying the night. We had so many comments from our guest on how fun, lovely and relaxing the night was and that the food was delicious, everyone loved the Fish and Chip Cones!

Deb from Boots Photography set up a photo booth with props in the corner of our reception room. As the night went on, and everyone started to let their hair down, they had the chance to get in front of the camera all dressed up and give us some hilarious photos. She went above and beyond to make our day what we wanted, and her hard work has given us what we wanted.

A few years ago at a VW show up the Sunshine Coast, Bob had bought the front face clip of a Splitscreen Kombi with the intentions of doing “something” with it one day. Instead of the standard guest book, we used that front clip of the Splitscreen kombi and everyone signed it, Bob had even set it up so the headlights lit up and flashed. We will now clear coat it and hang it on our wall in our home.

I found some awesome metallic kombi confetti off a store called Dubmonkeys World in the UK that has some very cool Merchandise for VW lovers. We sprinkled those on the tables, but with many of the guests being VW enthusiasts also, I have my suspicions that some confetti may have made it into handbags, pockets, and even washing machines at home.

Everything was VW related, right down to our choice of Wine called "The Farm" which has a kombi on the label, both the red and white are a lovely drop.

A special mention has to go out to our wonderful friend Raquel Taylor, who without her creative mind those special touches wouldn’t have been there. She made a fantastic wedding planner, created our “oh so cool” rustic Bob & Ash wedding signs, our “Morrow” sign for the Bridal Table, other flower arrangements, helped put together the wedding gifts, the ceremony and the list goes on…

What better way to spend the next day after partying hard at your own wedding than attending VW Action Day at Wynnum, we couldn’t keep away from the shows!

It took me a while to write this blog as Bob and I have finally come back from our U.S Honeymoon. We flew into L.A and picked up our fully self contained R.V which we affectionately called “haRVey”. It is our tradition to name everything! We headed up to Vegas. While in Vegas we experienced two VW shows. After Vegas we headed over to San Francisco and down the Coast line back to L.A for the Pomona Swap meet which has a huge amount of gorgeous cars and parts for sale, we were in heaven!!! We picked up many VW related souvenirs on our journey! We met at a VW show, so what better way to spend a honeymoon than at a VW show ; )

Our day reflected everything that makes us who we are, and what we share a passion about. Never lose sight of what it is you want, never lose sight of what your wedding day is about, and overall, ensure you can enjoy every moment of your special day. You don’t have to spend a crazy amount to have the perfect day, and more often than not, unless you tell them, your guests don’t know. Have fun, get creative, and enjoy!