While we've already made some decisions about the food, those don't have to be finalized for a few months. I think wedding cakes need a bit more lead time, and Amanda has a strange hatred for dessert tables, so let's talk sweets.
Cupcakes are pretty awesome, if a touch trendy. The manager at Mrs. Murphy's mentioned a tower of cupcakes on the grand piano, which sounds intriguing and logistically difficult.
Cupcake virtues: The many different flavors prevent people like me from pouting about the strawberry cake. Cupcakes don't require any special service from the restaurant, so no cutting fee. They're easy to take home and more likely to be enjoyed later than wedding cake, which I usually leave sitting in the fridge. (I may be alone here.)
We also live down the street from a
great bakery that's kept us supplied in cupcakes for years. We'd love to bring them the business.
Mrs. Murphy's has some great desserts that could be served with the other dishes. Their
cranberry-apple crisp is really good; the just-as-good bread pudding might be too heavy for a July wedding. Really, anything on the dessert menu would be great. I don't know if even the best dessert obviates the need for cake, though.
I like
cake. Who doesn't like cake? Only when you get married, instead of your grandma's delicious mayonaise cake or some scrumptious punkin' bars you get pink skyscrapers covered in barely-edible frosting. No one should eat anything that shiny.
The bakery down the street can do wedding cakes as well. There are examples on his site and in the shop, many of which are not awful. There are probably a dozen bakeries that could make a good cake within easy walking distance, including
Dinkel's on Lincoln.
In addition to Karin's (good) cake, Dinkel's baked hams into loaves of rye bread for my grandparents' wedding. I guess that was a thing back then. My grandmother also told me there were like 500 people at the wedding because my grandfather was a beat cop and people were rotating through all day. She may have been exaggerating. More on this later, hopefully.
So Dinkel's might be nice just for the family connection, and I'm sure the cake would be good. We also know a young baker who could take a fun stab at a wedding cake. I just find it hard to get into the idea of wedding cake shopping. I probably just need to man up and enjoy the tastings. Mmmm, whipped cream.
