Cake tasting: Lido Bakery Manhattan Beach

Lido Bakery
3001 N Sepulveda Blvd
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Neighborhood: Manhattan Beach
(310) 545-8955
www.lidobakery.com

i'm a woman on a mission....... to find a great tasting wedding cake at a super limited budget.................

So I always have SLJ's tripple berry cake for my birthday.... alas for my wedding I can't afford the $7.25/a person wedding cake at SLJ not to mention the potential for super bad customer service.. I was looking through chowhound and saw that lido bakery's cakes taste similar to SLJ.. say what? How come I didn't know about this for the past 7 years....

So i went to Lido Bakery and scheduled a testing, their price is still slightly above my budget but...... their berry & cream is goood... very very similar to SLJ, slight difference in my opinion on the buttercream. Lido's seems to be a little too soft, it could be just that one cake... but everything else is the same, the design is even the same! The berries and cream is at $5.50/person.

I also really liked the German chocolate cake (that has nuts and coconut, chocolate) and the Italian rum (rum, vanilla? buttercream, chocolate). These two cakes are at $4.50/person. Obviously I'm going to do a sheet cake.

The only downside for other brides to be is their delivery charge is $2.75 per mile (or something around that number) and they charge you on ROUND TRIP! Which will be $110 for me.... which is insane... They suggest that I get someone to pick up the cake... but I dont know if I want that risk... sigh decision decision decision

Poop Coffee

While I'm not an avid coffee drinker, I am Indonesian... and I also love exclusive things :) So I always like to promote the poop coffee... Okay yes... so there is this animal called chivet or Luwak in Indonesia. They love to eat coffee beans and the beans will get processed and will come out as poops and the beans are intact. They'll clean up the coffee beans and these coffee are called "Kopi Luwak" aka $75 a cup coffee served in Los Angeles.

More info here

I bought Arthur two bags of this coffee from Indonesia a couple years ago and tried it for the first time. It's really smooth... it's smooth like hot chocolate but instead it's coffee.. hard to describe.

i wanted to serve it at my wedding/ give it as a wedding favor, but since it cost $100 or $200 per pound , it's a lil over budget.... :( Are you guys doing coffee / dessert bar?

My most favorite wedding ever

Granted I never know these couple, I just saw their wedding posted at this awesome famous Indonesian photographer Axioo

Their wedding makes me want to have my Indonesian wedding in Bali instead of Jakarta (but I got veto-ed out by my parents).



















And if you are as in love with this wedding as I do, see more on their wedding video here

Square invitations are more expensive to mail

Say whattt?????

Yess apparently somehow the square invitations can't be run through the machine and need to be hand cancelled and cost more...

Here you go from the USPS website:


Tips and Tools for Measuring


Use these rulers and guide boxes to measure letters and large envelopes.

Once a piece of mail exceeds the maximum length, height, or thickness of one shape, it automatically gets classified as the next largest shape.

Minimum size for Postcards and Letters
5" long x 3-1/2" high

Maximum size for Postcards
6" long x 4-1/4" high

Maximum size for Letters
11-1/2" long x 6-1/8" high

Maximum thickness for Letters
1/4" thick

Maximum thickness for Large Envelopes
3/4" thick

Large Envelopes exceed one of the letter size maximum dimensions.

Unusual Shapes and Sizes
Sometimes a piece of mail requires additional postage because it is a certain shape or size that is difficult to process on mail sorting machines. To make sure you’re paying the correct postage, visit pe.usps.com. These are examples of mail that could require additional postage:
· Square envelopes
· Envelopes on which the address is written parallel to the shorter edge square

Okay I'm going to the regular size invitation... I wanted to have a square invitation... this is bull....

Awesome wedding alert : Gorgeous wedding in Bali

Here from Aaron Delesie

Bali...
Outdoor wedding...
Custom made wedding dress by Monique Lhuillier
Fireworks..

need I say more?

Cheap Letterpress Invitation

Source: Bellafigura Letterpress

So... I was going to find an invitation person in Indonesia that I can use to produce a cheap invitation for my Los Angeles wedding... I found a vendor who quoted me about $3+ for a deboss/embossed wedding invitation and possibly an RSVP card. It's pretty nice, it includes lining on the envelopes, two colors, print on each side of the invitations, prints on the front of the envelopes and the designs.. It's a strong contender... However... I was perusing the weddingbee site and I found this post.


http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/lets-find-the-cheapest-letterpress-invitations

and I'm like... HEERMM.....

Check out Mercurio Brothers

I maybe able to afford this letterpress... It's coming up to be around $520 before tax and shipping for:
- 160 invitations letterpress 2 colors
- 170 regular envelopes
- 160 digitally print information cards

So it'll probably about $4+ /invitation for this

And i'm not doing RSVP card because I've had two weddings recently who are directing people to the RSVP website so I'm following on these footsteps, I'm being green and I'm getting my letterpress invitation :)

The only downside is that I don't really like any of their designs, I've emailed them and have not heard back (BOO....) but I did call them and they seemed fine... and all these people I've reached out to to see if they can custom make an invitation for me will charge $500-$1000.... or there are some options to use ready made invitation and changing things for about $100.. none of the designs I like..

Time to outsource things to Indonesia again.

i also found another cheap/affordable letterpress too, the Aerialist Press.

I'm back.. and my engagement pictures

As you may have read from my previous posts, I was having problems finding the perfect engagement dress for my Chinese Engagement ceremony/party in Indonesia. On my last day before flying to Indonesia, I went to Neiman Marcus and arrived there are 5.45pm (the store closes at 6pm). I was to leave for the airport at 8.30pm. Anyway I went there to return my previous purchases because I had bought 4 dresses (2 style each at size 2 and 4) and I had to return the size 2 of each dresses. I hate Vera Wang Lavender dress sizes, I'm a size 2 damnit, they need to correct those sizes....

Ok back to the story, I finished returning the dresses at 5.50pm and saw that they had some new set of dresses and so quickly peered through them. Find a couple I liked and went on to try the dresses 10 minutes before closing time. Find a long gown I liked and bought it then. Record time for shopping!!! I usually have to ponder about it but ah what the hell..... See the cute flowing dress up there, that's my score for that day.

When I went to Indonesia, I met up with my makeup artist , who will be my wedding day make up artist. She said my Vera Wang and my engagement dress is S-I-M-P-L-E.... say what??? They are not simple.... they are modern and elegant!! Okay maybe simple for a common Indonesian wedding dress, see below , source Axioo



GAH, but anyway so my mom got annoyed AT ME! Because she feels overdressed with her dress and wanted me to buy a new dress say 20 hours before the said engagement party. So we went to a nearby mall and try out 20+ dresses, all of them full with sequins and crystals and bling bling but none I loved. Thank God I stood my ground and still wear my dress. SO that's a mini recap of my trip!