PAINTED HUNTING WEDDING

It all started with an email enquiry, of course . . . Angela (the bride-to-be) mentioned in her comments: ‘If possible, art comprising deer and ducks as my partner is a huge fan of hunting.’ I absolutely love that the groom was being included in the design for the cake—though I will admit that initially I was like ‘how the fuck am I going to incorporate hunting into the design?’ It’s not your classic or typical vibe for a wedding cake, right? But I also absolutely love a challenge.

Angela and I had a few back-and-forth emails so that I could find out a bit more about her and her fiancé Douglas and also get a feel for the wedding planning, colour scheme, venue, florals, etc. Here’s the info Angela sent through:

Things that inspire . . .

• Venue: the venue is an old restored woolshed, with a very rustic country vibe
• Florals: whites and greenery
• Colour schemes: bridesmaids will be in navy, will be doing basic navy/gold
• Likes and dislikes of the couple: dislike bright pinks, bride loves Disney and baking, partner loves hunting (duck and deer)
• Stationery: very minimal, invites are black with gold
• Theme: classic, white and gold, moody, rustic, country

From the list of inspos the points that really jumped out to trigger my creativity were Disney and hunting—this immediately made me think of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, of course; it’s my all-time favourite Disney movie (if you know, you know). I had this image in my head of Gaston shooting some ducks and a depiction of a forest landscape painting. I didn’t want to make it exact, of course—more of an ode to a hunting scene. Not focused on hunting and not focused on Gaston specifically, but just using those points as inspiration.

Here is my initial design and concept:

• 2 tiers, both round, 8 inches and 6 inches
• Approx. 40 dessert serves or 80 coffee serves

Ivory white chocolate ganache over both tiers with raw-textured edges around the top. Hand-painted design around bottom tier in navy blue lines and watercolour look, depicting a forest landscape scene with a hint at hunting—nothing too obvious, perhaps just the outline of a man with a gun and some ducks flying in the distance (Angela—think Gaston hehe). The art will be vague, only a sketch of lines overlaying watercolour and touches of gold leaf. The top tier will mostly be left simple and white with touches of gold leaf. Topped with fresh greenery to match the wedding florals.

There were a few emails back and forth after this, but in the end we settled on the original concept; the final things to lock in were the delivery info and the cake flavours. Angela and Douglas went with lemon cake with lemon curd and white chocolate ganache for one tier, and raspberry and white chocolate ganache for the other tier.

I like to give an idea of design but not be constrained by it. When I actually have the cake in front of me that is when the creativity really flows. You can see, going from written design to sketch to the finished product, how much an idea can grow and take on a life of its own. Embrace the process and be inspired.