Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake, Part 2...

So, when we last left off, Andrew and I were bummed about our first cake tasting. No one watched Lost (his favorite show), prices were a little high, and we were given the hard sell.

Enter our wedding vendor BFF, WeddingWire.

I love reviews. Before I make any big purchase, I like to be informed and I will read any review I can find. This site is a buffet for my vendor review gluttony. My fabulous groom shares the same enthusiasm, so he took to WW to find us a baker.

One of the top rated bakers was Megan of nutmeg and co. We looked at her website (which she is redoing, so it's nonexistent right now) and fell in love with some of her awesome flavors- chocolate truffle, hazelnut, flavors with oreo buttercream, cakes with espresso in the batter, fruity flavors, a flavor with a toasted marshmallow filling- you get the picture. We were IN LOVE from a taste POV.

I looked at her portfolio, and it only got better.

(From her WW portfolio)

Her work was GOOD! It showed creativity, style, and fun. I was hooked. I immediately emailed her to set up an appointment.

After reading vendor reviews, my second favorite thing to do is facebook stalk people. So, I did it. I could tell this was a small operation, so I fb stalked the poor girl. And I liked what I saw- one of her favorite shows was Lost! I hoped she would be excited about making our cake.

We met with her and she had about 15 flavors of cake to try. We loved them ALL and didn't even get to sample some of the ones we are pretty sure we'll want. How can you narrow down around 45 amazing flavors to a mere five?

I also changed my mind on design. I decided my previous cake-spiration was too boring. I wanted a cake more like the one in the background of this photo.

(The always amazing Bride's Guide)

I love how each tier is different, yet it is still unified. I thought we could still incorporate elements from the invitation design as well as our color to make something more memorable. I showed this picture and the invitation to Megan, and she thought she could work with it. She also LOVED Andrew's idea about his Lost cake and threw in some thoughts of her own.

We left super happy. About two weeks after our meeting, Megan emailed me two possible sketches for my cake and one for Andrew's. He was beyond thrilled with his. As far as mine, it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. I think it is beautiful, but it doesn't have the "wow" I was looking for. (But isn't the sketch idea so fun?)

(Courtesy of Megan. Sorry Blogger doesn't want to center it for me!)

How do you correct a professional? I emailed her and resent her the Bride's Guide inspiration pic. She apologized for overlooking that in her notes and emailed me another sketch that I loved within an hour. There was no looking back. We had found our baker! As an added plus, Andrew is ordering me a birthday cake in my favorite flavor that I tried (chocolate truffle) for my birthday later this month. De-lish!

What led you to your dream vendor? What kinds of alternate research did you do to find them?