My name is Mrs B, and a few years ago, I got married. I love baking, I love weddings, and I love crafty DIY-ness. Despite all of this – I absolutely hated planning my wedding. This is my story, my journey, and if I can make the experience any less stressful for you by sharing some hints and tips along the wedding way, then at least I would’ve helped someone! Otherwise, just sit back, and enjoy the lols that come from this crazy story...
I’ve always loved films. It’s my thing – I like to know the storylines and background of every film I’ve ever watched inside out. I remember being about 4 years old and watching Father of the Bride for the first time. When it finished, I knelt in front of the TV and watched intently as the credits rolled – who played that actor? What was the song she walked down the aisle to? Then I pressed rewind, and I watched it again. And again. And again. I still have that video to this day, and the sequel. And then came the dawn of DVD, and I have both copies of those, too. It’s my most favourite film ever, and it made me officially hooked on weddings.
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| (Photo courtesy of Touchstone Pictures - I do not own this photo) |
After writing off my childhood career choices (“I want to be a teacher... No! I want to open a cake café; I’ll call it ‘Cakes by Kirsten!’”) I began working part-time in retail, and went on to study Media Production at University to follow my passion for films and writing. But I had fallen in love – hard – by the time application deadlines came, and with my love of my home city and my love for J, I stayed in Plymouth. As the years at Uni went by, our relationship grew stronger as we grew up together – but I soon came to realise that if I was going to make it big in Media, I had to leave my beloved city. I was fine staying put, as my dream job was to be a journalist for the local paper. I could write in the city I loved, with the boy I loved. Then I thought I landed the big (small) time – I got a work experience placement at said newspaper! And it was god-awful. I was devastated, and knew that my journalistic dreams were shattered.
But no, I thought to myself – pick yourself up and finish this degree, you’ll figure it out. I graduated in 2011 with a 2:1 degree – I was more than happy with that! And along the way I developed a new hobby – remember that childhood dream I had of opening a cake café? Well, it nearly became a reality...
In the summer of 2010, J’s distant cousins were coming to visit – one of them was 16 and newly engaged. (My mind was in overdrive: “16?! I’m 20, we’ve been together for 4 years and I don’t have a ring yet!!” Anyway, this was one of the many times my brain was bubbling over in engagement-wedding frustration.) J and I used to nip to the shops on the weekend and pick up silly kiddie cupcake kits and bake for our families. It grew into a bit of an obsession on my part, as I always had the baking bug from a young age. My dad was the one that taught me how to fold flour into mixes, he’s amazing at cooking. I got better and better, and then J’s auntie asked me to bake an engagement cake for his cousin. Sure, why not? YouTube was rife with cake decorating videos, and I slowly began to teach my self the art of creating beautiful and bespoke cakes. Now, this was my first ever cake (I had dabbled in cake decoration before with my mum – but everything was shop-bought and ready-made.) and I had the in-laws to impress. It didn’t turn out half bad! But I was hooked. One cake turned into many, many orders. I still have a list of every cake I’ve ever made since that first one 5 years ago, and bear in mind I finished a university degree with great grades and maintained a steady 30-hour working week in retail, the list had well topped into the hundreds…
You know how it goes, though. Life happens – no! Life gets in the way. I’ve constantly berated myself for not having a back-bone, and the more people asked me for cakes, the more I couldn’t say no. Cake decorating was hugely popular in our city, and if I didn’t say yes to one person, they could easily turn to someone more popular, more skilled, more talented… And I hated that. So I said yes over and over again. It drove me to the brink of a nervous breakdown, I swear. One year – on the week of Christmas – I had three Christmas cakes, two birthday cakes and a wedding cake to bake. Plus I had done absolutely bugger-all Christmas shopping what with all the baking, so I spent Christmas Eve racing around all the shops picking up what scraps were left on the shelves. I was so unbelievably ill that Christmas, and it’s stuck in my mind since then as the turning point for me and cakes. I was on the edge of becoming a fully-fledged self-employed cake connoisseur, and for one reason (and all the others); it came crashing down to Earth with a massive thud. I hung up the apron for good.*
KEB x
KEB x
*No I didn’t, I’m lying. I still couldn’t say no. I’ve “quit” four or five times since that original resignation. Planning our wedding has been the final nail in the coffin on the current cake hiatus I’m on right now, but we’ll get to that later.
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