Wedding Wednesday: Max & Mary

Max & Mary have a history that goes back way beyond when they started dating. The first time the couple met was right after her godfather passed away when she was 13. Max, 15 at the time, played the bagpipes for his memorial service. Max also happens to be one of Mary’s brother’s best friends. Needless to say the two have had many interactions over the years! They both went away to college and did their separate things, keeping in touch sporadically. Eventually they reconnected a few years after college and the rest is history!

Mary is quite the beach bum. Spending many a weekend away with Max in South Carolina enjoying the relaxing waves and beautiful scenery. Knowing how much she loved the beach and what a special place it was for her, Max knew it would be the perfect place to propose. Much to Mary’s surprise, Max dropped to one knee during a beautiful sunset walk down the beach!

Max and Mary were married on their three-year anniversary on May 26^th, 2012 at Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, NC. For their wedding the couple celebrated with a traditional Catholic mass ceremony.  They wanted to focus more on the formal, intimate, and romantic aspects of the day and their ceremony matched perfectly. They wanted to keep things fairly simple with lots of classic white décor and one beautiful pop of color. Lovely lanterns, roses, bouquets, and accessories all in varying shades of fuchsia created a wonderful accent.

Without any debate Max and Mary chose Fresh Strawberry Buttercream as one of the flavors for their wedding cake! Mocha Buttercream and Birthday Cake accompanied for the other two flavors. The fondant petals, buttercream borders, and satin bow were all inspired by an image Mary had found in a magazine that reminded her of a beautiful wedding dress!

Photography - Becki Dickinson 

Reception - Starmount Country Club

Ceremony - Our Lady of Grace

DJ - DJ Joe Bunn

Hair - Bella Hair Co. 

Recipes Full of Memories

You know those certain recipes that never fail to bring back floods of memories? The ones that take you back to childhood road trips, family holidays, or week night dinners? We've all got them, and they're without a doubt some of the most comforting foods you can experience. 

Today we'd love to share two of our favorite recipes with you! These are really great. Pulled lovingly from the memory of Robin's mom, Phyllis Pegg Toney. When sharing the recipe Robin couldn't help but recount memories of her mom making batches of these cookies for family road trips. Packed along side homemade pimiento cheese stuffed in celery sticks, chicken salad sandwiches, and deviled eggs all waiting for a roadside picnic. 

Mom's "Aggression" Cookies: A delicious and true old-fashioned oatmeal cookie. Simple, pure ingredients mixed by hand (hence the name! They're sure to work out any built up frustration you might be feeling). 

Dough:
3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 cups butter
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 Tbl soda
3 cups all purpose flour
6 cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked

Toppings:
Butter 
Sugar

Put everything together in a big bowl and mash, squeeze, and knead until it becomes a well-mixed dough. The more you work it, the better! 

Form dough into 1" balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been buttered and dipped in sugar. (The glass only will need to be buttered a few times, but dip in sugar for EACH cookie!).

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Do not overcook as cookies become crisp as they cool. 

Yield: 15 dozen. Store in airtight container.

Stovetop Hot Chocolate: The perfect companion on a cold snowy morning or a cozy evening with a good book! This recipe is an absolute favorite for children and is perfect topped off with marshmallows and whipped cream. 

½ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa of choice (I often use Hershey’s!)
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk (I use 2%, but skim or whole are fine as well!)
¾ tsp vanilla extract

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan. Stir in hot water to make a paste. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture boils. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk and continue stirring frequently until mixture is steaming…but DO NOT BOIL! Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Yield: 6 servings. 

For those times when you're in need of just your own personal cup, here are the measurements for a single serving! 

2T sugar
2T cocoa 
Dash salt
1/8 cup hot water
1 cup milk 
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Yield: 1 serving. 

Robin shared these recipes a few weeks ago on WFMY NEWS2. In case you missed the video be sure the check it out below!

Wedding Wednesday: Jonathon & Maria

Today’s post is very near and dear to our hearts. Maria is a veterinarian here in town and just so happens to be the one who cares for our favorite bakery pup, Maxine! You might also remember her wonderful sister-in-law (and former Maxie B’s gal!), Katie, from our first Wedding Wednesday post ever.  To top it off, if you happen to drop in the bakery for a slice of cake there’s a good chance her sister, Krystyna, might be the one behind the counter helping you. Basically, they’re a Maxie B’s family to the bone, and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Maria and Jonathon met in November of 2009 on eHarmony. She was living in Charlotte at the time and Jonathon in Greensboro. The couple hit it off and exchanged many emails and phone calls before their first date in January 2010. What was originally supposed to be just lunch turned into dinner and live music as well!

Two years later Jonathon surprised Maria by proposing while the couple was visiting Grand Cayman for a veterinary conference she was attending. Maria jokes that if she had thought through their plans for the night she most likely would have been tipped off. She said she was completely clueless to the whole situation. On Jonathon’s insistence, the couple enjoyed a wonderful candlelit dinner celebrating their first night on the island at a beautiful private table by the water. During dinner Jonathon was determined to capture their photo together and asked the waitress if she would do the honors. Maria was completely preoccupied and confused at Jonathon’s insistence that she stand a specific way that when she finally asked, “Is this good?” and he responded with, “The only thing that would be more perfect is if you’ll marry me.” she was speechless.

The couple married on May 25^th, 2013 at the Lee Chapel at Maria’s alma mater, Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA. Instead of a traditional theme for their wedding the couple focused more on creating a fun environment for friends and family to acknowledge how much they appreciated them celebrating in their marriage. Maria’s favorite flower, Calla lilies, definitely made appearances throughout the event.  To honor her Ukrainian heritage the couple stood on a rushnyk during the ceremony that symbolizes prosperity and hope that the newlywed couple will never stand on barren ground and will always have a floor under their feet.

For their wedding cake the couple chose wonderful southern favorites of Fresh Strawberry Buttercream and Caramel Pecan. The cake itself was finished with a beautiful whipped texture, cascading hydrangeas, and surrounded by gorgeous fresh roses!

Photography - Kirbi Whitaker of White Wall Photography 

Wedding Wednesday: Wil and Sadie

Wil and Sadie met at a High Point Young Professionals networking event in October of 2011. At the time Wil was working for the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and Sadie was a professor at High Point University. They were both new to town and each decided to attend that evening with friends. Towards the end of the night Wil came over to the table Sadie was sitting at to introduce himself and asked her to attend a show with him in Winston-Salem. Sadie took him up on his offer and the couple has been together ever since!

Wil’s proposal came as quite a surprise. The couple was preparing to travel to Monteagle, Tennessee to spend the Christmas holiday with Wil’s family when at the last minute he insisted that they make one last stop in Greensboro before hitting the road. Oddly, Wil ended up driving them to the airport and out on the tarmac to a private jet. As a Christmas surprise he had arranged for them to fly to Tennessee! Once in the air the pilot closed the door between them and before Sadie realized what was happening Wil was down on one knee to propose. They spent the rest of the flight celebrating with champagne and planning for their upcoming wedding! His family was in on the secret and greeted the couple as they arrived in Monteagle with Sadie’s ring.

Wil and Sadie were married on August 3^rd, 2013 at the High Point Country Club in High Point, NC. It was a beautiful evening ceremony honoring both of their faiths, drawing from both Jewish and Christian traditions. They were married under a beautiful floral chuppa that was later placed over the cake table. 

The theme for their celebration centered around a traditional, sophisticated, and elegant feel. Both the ceremony and reception room were decorated with deep purple flowers, crisp white linens, and gold chiavari chairs. They danced the night away to a wonderful 12-piece band playing Motown and Beach music. They had a beautiful four-tier wedding cake of Birthday Cake and My Favorite Pound (light lemon). The cake was decorated with buttercream prints of paisley, dots, soft shell lines, and lovely scrollwork. Accented with deep purple flowers and topped with an elegant monogram.

Sadie joked that she knew they would be having a Maxie B’s wedding cake before she even knew where they would get married! She called the shop a week after their engagement to book the date and place a deposit. Oh boy, were we flattered! It was such an honor to be a part of such a special day in Wil and Sadie’s life.

Photography – Hooman Bahrani of Vesic Photography in Winston-Salem, NC. 

Florist –  Grassy Knoll in High Point, NC

Reception Music – EnVision from Winston-Salem, NC

Ceremony Musicians –Elegant Ensembles from Winston-Salem, NC

Venue/Caterer – High Point Country Club

National Chocolate Cake Day

In case you didn't know already, today is National Chocolate Cake Day! Not that we ever need an extra reason to enjoy one of our favorite flavors, but any little bit helps. 

Let's be honest though, chocolate is serious business. No matter your preference, we've got a chocolate cake to satisfy any craving. Whether it's our fluffy All American Chocolate, rich Chocolate Sin with almond, gooey German Chocolate packed with coconut and pecan custard, Oreo Buttercream (I may or may not be a closet Oreo addict), or our tried and true favorite Devil's Food.

If we know one truth this chilly Monday morning it's that we're not going to let this holiday go to waste! So bring on the cold glasses of milk, because we're ready. 

We hope to see you today to celebrate with us. View our full menu of chocolate cakes here! 

Wedding Wednesday: Stephen & Stephanie

Today’s wedding is quite a beauty! An Alice in Wonderland themed event with exquisite DIY touches all planned and created by the bride herself.

Stephen and Stephanie met during the summer of 2006 in Asheville, where he was working as a firefighter and she was working as a professional ballroom dancer. Stephanie was out with a girlfriend enjoy the nice weather on a café patio when she caught Stephen’s eye. With a little encouragement from his friends he worked up the nerve to ask her out! She originally turned him down due to prior plans, but finally agreed to a date a few days later.

Stephanie jokes that Stephen’s proposal on Christmas Eve 2007 completely caught her off guard. She was convinced she was getting a new cell phone. Man was she wrong!

Their celebration took place at the Lofts at Union Square in High Point on May 12^th, 2012. The overall theme for their wedding was Alice in Wonderland with beautiful handmade whimsical touches all throughout. Stephanie, along with her family and friends, coordinated and styled the entire event. 

Inspiration for the day was collected from various Lewis Carroll versions of Alice in Wonderland as well as all the different movie versions. Stephanie said she must have visited every Goodwill from here to Virginia collecting wine glasses, vintage china, and antique silverware! A lot of the items from the day were on loan from family members.  One of her sisters created the archway above the alter, another sister made all of the place cards, Stephen’s mom created the bouquets, her cousins arranged flowers purchased the morning of, and her stepfather created the cute sign for their wedding and reception. It really could not have created a more beautiful day filled with all of the personal touches, love, and support from their friends and family. All of which was exactly what Stephen and Stephanie hoped for their special day. Many of the items became so cherished to the couple that they used them to decorate their new home.

For their wedding cake the couple went with our all time favorite: Fresh Strawberry Buttercream! Tinted fondant ruffles created the effect of birch bark along with tiny hand made roses to add the finishing touch. Stephanie said she knew getting her wedding cake from us was meant to be when she dropped by the shop with her mom and we had almost the exact cake she envisioned on display.

We’re so glad that we were able to be a part of such a wonderful day for such a great couple. Oh yeah, and I hope that Stephanie eventually got that new cell phone!

Caterer - The Iron Hen

Photography - Rabiah Khwaja Gohar
Venue - The Lofts at Union Square