Whenever we throw a party, guest-ertainment is always at the top of our list. Getting your guests involved can be the thing that takes your party from ho-hum hoedown to an all out throw-down… so when we started working on the Kick Ass Cake Bash, Hunter, Leslie, Earl, Beth and I immediately started hatching plans for fun.
The event space looked amazing, thanks to Beth Helmstetter’s hardworking team. One of my favorite details was these Origami Cranes hanging from the rafters.
Origami cranes by Michelle Chang.
The Dollhouse Hair & Makeup team was on hand to do glittery and bedazzled bad-ass cupcake tattoos, or chopstick accessorizing for the ladies’ hair.
I kinda love it. PS: my dress cost all of $12 thanks to a sale at Tulle!
They also dolled up our Alfred Angelo wedding gown models from NTA Talent – and those ladies were looking super lovely!
The models loved their Alfred Angelo gowns!
We love photo booths, but wanted something unexpected and quirky to match the kitschy Japanese inspired theme… and Oh, Snap! Studios was the perfect find! They brought in a freaking adorable Japanese tea house setup and some of the craziest props I’ve ever seen! The silly poses people came up with kept me laughing every time I walked past their station. I loved it! Check out more of our funny photos on the Oh, Snap! website gallery!
I love the hamburger helper hands!
As a couple of serious foodies, we know there’s nothing worse than being at a party and leaving hungry, so we had food and drink coming out the wazoo, yo. Not only were there sweets enough to send a nation into diabetic shock from Fantasy Frostings stunningly gorgeous dessert display, but delicious savory bites from The Food Matters, yummy and healthy cocktails from O.N.E. beverages, and a Pinkberry yogurt bar on the way out the door at the end of the night. If that wasn’t enough, we sent home Kick Ass Cake Bash cookies from Weddingish in the gift bags, along with issues of The Bride & Bloom magazine, lipgloss tins from e.l.f. cosmetics, and a few other goodies. Yeah, we like our guests fat and happy. And who could resist the adorable “maids” of Royal/T Cafe?
The waitresses at Royal/T Cafe dress in these adorable outfits!
Speaking of the dessert display, Leslie had a stroke of brilliance when she invited her girlfriends from The Bachelor to create inspiration boards from which she then designed the cakes and displays. DeAnna Pappas, Amanda Rantuccio, Holly Durst, and one of our intrepid photographers, Holly Steen from Cakes and Kisses Photography created diverse and dreamy inspirations that we hung next to the confections so our guests would understand that each cake in the Fantasy Frostings’ Broke-Ass Cake Collection is custom designed with the bride and groom with the same full-service attention that their celebrity clients love so much.
Holly's was pink, feminine and romantic.
....And her cake was just as girlie and delicate as she is.
DeAnna’s was my favorite, and they designed the whole dessert table after hers – all pink lemonade-y and refreshing.
A mouthwatering feast for the senses.
A flavor party in your mouth!
Holly Flora’s work was a huge influence on our wedding flowers, so when Beth suggested having her create a work of floral art for the event, I was so hyped! The floral mural she created was unbelievably luscious and exquisite. The guys from Aspect Lighting came in and made this mural absolutely glow in an ethereal warmth. It was stunning! They made the party spaces so much warmer and sexier, and projected some ultra trippy and cool effect onto the dance floor.
I just wanted to lay on it and roll around.
As broke-asses, we’re suckers for free swag, and we definitely wanted to give our partying buddies something to remember the night by, so having Family Industries on hand to do on-demand custom screen printing of Broke-Ass T-shirts was ridiculously awesome. The guys who run Family Industries are straight up rad dudes, the kind you want to grab a beer with, and so creative and nice. They brought 4 screens and let guests choose which artwork they wanted and where to place it. Most popular style? Strategically placed boobie cupcakes. They also printed a cuppie onto Hunter’s tie so he was the most stylin’ (and sweet) hubby in the room. I smell a new wedding trend… how dope would it be to go to a friend’s wedding and get a cool tie or t-shirt as a favor?
Guerilla fashion.
Gives new meaning to the nickname "sweet tits"
Then of course, we had the amazing, the radical badical, the ever-jamtastic Flashdance DJ spinning beats all night. I can’t count how many compliments we got on the DJ that night, and it just proved once again, that Michael is the only DJ for us. As Hunter so eloquently put it during our (spastic and ineloquent thank you’s) when recalling the time I sprained my ankle dancing my face off at our wedding – “Michael is the only man who ever hurt my wife, and I thanked him for it”. Not only a totally genius musical ninja, but a good friend that I love partying with whether its over beers at a neighborhood haunt, or in a room with 400 caked-up revelers.
Spinning beats like a freak!
And my favorite entertainment moment of the evening, when after our thank you’s, Hunter and our friend K.U. performed a rap they had composed especially for the occasion, surprising everyone in attendance and showing off their mad skillz. There are few things sexier than a husband who writes raps for his wife, I’ll tell ya…. I love to watch him perform!
"Rock your Broke-Ass"
I really have to give it up to Beth Helmstetter, without who’s planning prowess and flawless execution of the evening, we’d have been utterly lost. She brought some amazing ideas to the table, and made our vision for the evening come to life in unexpected and wonderful ways. I can’t imagine doing it without her, she was a lifesaver of awesomeness.
We also want to give major props to our sponsors The Bride & Bloom magazine and NTA Talent. Without their support and generosity, none of this would have been possible. We are so proud to have had them be such a major part of the evening – and loved getting to celebrate all together!
All in all, it was a totally memorable and unique event, and so nice to get to host all our friends with fun and interactive elements, lots of delicious food and drink, and all the broke-ass love in our hearts.
I’ve been trying to find words to tell you about the Kick Ass Cake Bash event (celebrating the launch of our Fantasy Frostings’ Broke-Ass Cake Collection), and describe the way it felt – but distilling it into words feels impossible this soon afterward. I’m deep in recovery mode after a whirlwind month of prep, and these photos speak far more eloquently than my tired ass can right now! So. I’ll be back with plenty more detail later, but for now, let’s hear what they have to say, I’mma head back to bed.
Unbelievably Luscious Floral Mural by Holly Flora
A Wonderland of Decadent Desserts
A Disco Dusted Mosaic Feast
O.N.E Drinks provided the healthy cocktails
Models rocking gorgeous Alfred Angelo Gowns
Cupcakes Nearly Too Cute To Eat
Me and our Partner Leslie Maynor of Fantasy Frostings! But where is her main man, Earl?
Oh THERE he is! Hm, do those girls look familiar? Oh snap , its DeAnna Pappas and Holly Durst!
The Flashdance, yo! We don't know how to party without him.
Weddingbee Love! Glitter, Moonbeam, Me, Sprinkle and Poodle!
A surprise rap performance by K.U. and.....
...The Fresh Hubby! Performing a broke-ass rap they wrote together! Get Broke!
Broke-Ass Headquarters has been all a flurry prepping for the Kick Ass Cake Bash, the launch party for our exclusive Broke-Ass Cake Collection. When launching a cake line with partners like Fantasy Frostings you have to party at full throttle. I mean c’mon, they made J. Lo’s cake, and Jenny from the block knows how to PAARTAY!
We’ve teamed up with some of our favorite and most inspiring colleagues, The Bride and Bloom (one of the best wedding magazines in the world), NTA Talent Agency (representing the top models and talent in L.A. and…moi.) and Beth Helmstetter Events (So you know this party is gonna rock AND look good doing it)
This Tuesday, Beth Helmstetter Events, will be taking our party mojo to the next level, as we dance all night with the hottest DJ in town (the man responsible for Dana spraining her ankle at our wedding) The Flashdance, getting our drink, our groove, and our cake on. With many many maaaany more surprises (ooooh I can’t wait to tell you about the one I’ve been working on).
Here’s how excited one of the hardest working members of our team is:
While we wish we could invite all our readers to Kick some Ass at our kicking Cake Bash, we don’t want the fire warden to shut us down (and he is sure to show up ,’cause the roof is gonna be ON FIRE!!!). You guys are our favorites, and it is important to us to pull back that velvet rope and have you walk the red carpet. So we are giving away 10 tickets! 5 Pairs of 2.
How do I enter?
Dana and I love T-shirts. So if you were making a t-shirt for either The Kick Ass Cake Bash, The Broke-Ass Bride or Fantasy Frostings what would it say?
1) Tweet your funniest, witty or matter- of-fact T-shirt phrases with the hashtag #KickAssCakeBash
2) email us your funniest, witty or matter of fact T-shirt phrases to info@brokeassbride.com
You can submit one entry a day via email, but on Twitter as long as each entry is original, you can enter as many times as you want. So bring the funny and get ready to bring the party. ‘Cause we’re gonna have FUUUUN!!!
Contest ends at 5pm Monday! Winners will be notified shortly after.
P.S. If you are already coming, we still want to see your brilliant T-shirt sayings
Have you ever been left lightheaded, and the only thing that you can manage to get out of your dangling mouth is, “……… ………. wow!”? Well that is exactly what happened to me, Dana and our friend Johnny when we went to see Cirque du Soleil’s KA in a little place called Las Vegas.
Cirque shows are a great alternative bachelor/bachelorette party idea. I went to Vegas for a close friend’s bachelor party early last year. On the first night we were giddy gents and went to see the obligatory burlesque show, which was fun, naturally. The second night we went to Cirque’s Love. The first night I clapped and chuckled. The second night I found myself teary-eyed, saying “It’s so beautiful. It’s just so friggin’ beautiful.” Now imagine learning that at a bachelor party: Seeing half naked ladies is fun but something truly beautiful and awe inspiring is a thing called Love.
A little while back, when we were attending The BlogWorld expo in Vegas, the delightful people of Cirque du Soleil gifted us tickets to KA while we were in town. If you’ve ever seen a Cirque show, you know that there was only one thing to say: ” uh… Yes Yes Please!”
If you haven’t seen a Cirque show you HAVE to. As an artist it fills me with pride and wonder, and as an eternal kid it fills me with excitement and joy. With every show, Cirque always takes the human body’s ability and the mind’s imagination, and pushes them to the limit. The touring shows put a fantastically deluxe spin on the classic big tent circus, but when in Vegas (with the luxury of a permanent venue), they create an experience unlike anything you can imagine.
The creatures that greet you the moment you walk into the theatre make KA fun before it has even begun. Then you nestle into your (very cozy and oversized) seats, each equipped with speakers in the headrest so every spectator can enjoy the sounds, music and ambiance in surround sound.
Shortly into the show a floating stage, covered in sand appears. Out of the sand a human-sized crab and turtle popped out and start dancing and playing. Its just one of many fun moments that leave you completely taken off guard and wondering what comes next. Once the scene comes to a close, the stage starts to tilt forward. I thought “Wow, it totally looks like that sand could fall ri… holy crap all that sand is falling off!” The entire stage went completely vertical! A couple of actors came out and made the most beautiful and remarkable shadow puppets, which projected onto the now vertical stage; but apparently the scary creature that suddenly appeared in the aisle next to me hates shadow puppets, because he and his entire posse started shooting arrows at the couple, which lodged into the vertical platform. Then a huge chase began and people started scrambling straight up the platform, using the arrows as climbing pegs. But as if things weren’t crazy enough, the platform started spinning. A thrilling and chilling chase/battle ensued with people and creatures flying hundreds of feet off of the spinning platform that treats its victims like pinballs.
We jumped out of our seats more times than I can count, and cried, laughed, ooohed and ahhhed sometimes simultaneously! It was an amazing experience. One that any artist dreams he could take credit for, and every spectator wishes they had the skills to star in.
To envelop an audience in an unearthly experience, exciting them each step of the way, is a gift that only the highest form of art can create. So if you’re in Sin City and in the mood to experience more than just sin (there is merit to that, too) but want to see the beauty of life and art, check out a KA at the MGM Grand, and say, “….. …… wow.”
♥ I celebrated my birthday yesterday with great friends, food, music and drinks in Brooklyn. Got reunited with an old bestie from High School and picked up right where we left off. Danced my face off, as usual…
Partying like rockstar with our groomslady Genny.
♥ I had a totally inspiring and fun brunch today with the lovely gals from Brooklyn Bride, BridalEase, Aisle Dash (coming soon), Perfect Bound, Merriment Events and Merci NYC. It was so great to finally meet them in person, and get gabaliscious about all things weddings and blogs, and beyond!
♥ Walked through Times Square. Touristy, I know. But all that theatre energy and the flashy marquees make my wee actor’s heart sing with nostalgia and hope and happiness. Every time.
♥ We saw Race on Broadway. Getting to see James Spader absolutely KILL it onstage? Awesome. Mamet’s writing and directing? Less awesome. The girl in the play? Dreadful. But being within breathing distance of Steff* and his enormous talent made it alllllll worth it. *Pretty in Pink, anyone? Hell yes.
♥ We celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday over margaritas and a delicious meal at Maya. Her birthday is the day after mine – ain’t that sweet?
Still to come? More meetings (including some with big idols of mine), fun cocktail soirees, and of course the event of the trip, The Eco-Beautiful Launch Party! This trip is a great addendum to my eye-opening experience at the #MTH2010 workshop last week. We’re laying the groundwork here for some very exciting developments to come in our Broke-Ass world, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
To keep things exciting while we’re kicking it NYC-style, I’ve lined up a couple great friends to come in and guest blog the next couple of days. So make sure to stop by and show them the love, yo!
Yesterday, I crossed a big happy intention off my “new years intentions list”, when Hunter and I spent the day with the wonderful, wonderful Lara Casey, her inspiring friends Jeff Holt, Jory Cordy and Jose Villa, and a whole bunch of bad-ass business ladies that all share one goal – the desire to make things happen for our lives, companies and futures.
I’ll be writing more about the experience, but last night I got home so amped up that I plopped down on the kitchen floor and recorded this. I’m a little hella shy about posting it, but I can’t let that fear hold me back.
You can read more about Lara here, about the Making Things Happen Intensive here.
I’m so grateful to have such a supportive community, including all of you bad-ass readers, around me and cheering me on as I run heartfirst in direction of my dreams. The Broke-Ass Bride is making things happen! This is going to be fun, y’all!
Feel free to share some of your own goals and the fears that hold you back in the comments. We can do this together!
