Now that I've got a general direction I want to take the cake in (store bought unless an angel volunteers to make it for us), I've turned my mind to other things - cake toppers! There's such a vast array out there of really unique items to put on the top of the cake. I've seen love birds (that would have been cute for my mom - their last name is Byrd), fish, dolphins, dogs, all sorts of animals, really. Then there's the steam punk style with little robots which I really love, but just didn't go in that direction or pick that as a theme. Oh, and little ones for Halloween weddings like zombies, vampires, and ghosts. Yes, Jerry and I do love Halloween, and I think that having a Halloween wedding is so neat, but some guests would be less than enthusiastic if they were asked to dress up in a costume. It's going to be hard enough to get some people to come at all, but to make them get a costume and wear it is another thing entirely. I think it'd go over as well as emailing out a dance video and requiring all guests to learn it so everyone can do "Thriller" and post it on YouTube. Hey, if you are planning a Halloween wedding, you can use that idea free of charge! Anyway, my last stroll through Wal-Mart took me past the wedding aisle. Honestly, this time I wasn't looking for wedding stuff. I'm on the hunt for 2 large lime green t-shirts to make Marilyn a Gir (from the cartoon "Invader Zim" - look him up if you haven't seen it, he's cute) Halloween costume. It's harder to find lime green t-shirts than you'd imagine. Cutting across the store to the fabric section, Erin and I head down the aisle with all the wedding stuff. She looks up at their selection of cake toppers and sees a dismal selection with 2 separate looks of the bride dragging the groom to the altar, like it's the last place he wants to be. She, in her 12-year-old's wisdom, says, "Why would you put that on your cake? It looks like you were desperate, like he didn't really want to marry you but you are making him." Hey, that's what I thought! If someone doesn't want to be with you, then why the hell do you want to spend the rest of your life with them? I'm no psychologist, but that sounds crazy. Jerry found a picture online of a topper a while back which was a bride wrapped around the groom in a passionate kiss. It is really cute, but there's just one problem - none of these pre-made cake toppers look anything like us. Well, they're Caucasian, but that's about it. I wonder what the odds are of running across something that's mass produced that just happens to look like a woman with crazy red hair and a man who shaves his head, not to mention my pink dress. Looks like it's back to my favorite expensive word - "custom". All that really means this time, though, is I need to get creative. I've got a whole lot of Sculpey here because Erin sometimes like to make things like the world's smallest strawberries or tiny Harry Potter characters that aren't even 2 inches tall. They're very cute, but too tiny for a wedding cake topper. I've been working with this Sculpey for a little while, trying to see what I can do. So far I've made a passable human shaped character. I think a little more practice and I'll be ready to work on the final characters. I've seen the custom made cake toppers where the artist makes little figures that look enough like the bride and groom that you know who it's supposed to be, but starting at around $150, that's a little more than I want to pay. Okay, that's a lot more than I want to pay. I understand it's hours of work and is really cute and is something you can keep forever, but more important than that is I'm cheap! This is a project I can work on during free time little by little without worrying if it's going to dry on me before I finish. That's the good thing about Sculpey; it doesn't harden until you bake it, so you can just start mashing a part of it up if you don't like something and start all over without ruining the whole project. And here's a handy tip you won't find on the back of the box. Try not to drop it on the carpet - it's almost impossible to get the fuzz out! When I get the Jerry and Jessica cake topper done I'll post a picture here, and you can bet it won't be a Jessica dragging a Jerry by the leg as he's kicking and screaming, digging his nails into the cake trying to get away. How romantic!
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