When planning a wedding, what's truly the most important part? Well, a couple that plan on spending the rest of their life together is probably a pretty good place to start. But with that out of the way, what comes to the minds of most people when someone says "wedding"? You might say, the bride's dress. Or Patrick Dempsey (that might just be me though, I really like Maid of Honor). Or you might even just start humming the wedding march. But what gets the glossy pictures right after that giant, beautiful dress that cost a small (or large) fortune? The cake. Now when you get 300 people together and give them one choice for cake, is everyone going to like it? Is everyone going to be able to eat it? Chances are no. So how do you solve this? Cupcakes, of course! 

This week I'm working in the Office of Celebrations and Events and the biggest part of that office is weddings. During the summer, Saint Cupcake can do 7-8 weddings per weekend. Last August, they did 44 weddings total. Here's where I get out my handy dandy iPhone calculator out. That means 11 a week, 1.5 (about) weddings per day. How many cupcakes? A lot.

The Saint Cupcake wedding process starts with initial contact, somebody (usually the bride) emailing or calling Jennifer or Jessica (Office of celebrations employees. They do eeeeeverything.), and extends to the happy couple's 1 year anniversary when Saint Cupcake mails them a coupon for 2 free full size cupcakes as a congratulations. But the most important part? The tasting. 

Unlike most bakeries, Saint Cupcake does tastings for free. Somebody from the wedding, be it the bride alone, or with her mother, or the rare instances when the groom is alone, comes in and is led up to the tasting room...

They're initial view of the room:

Look at those beautiful cupcake stands! But then there's the cupcakes. At each tasting, a plate with a dot in each flavor for that day is prepared just in time to awe the potential customer.

Then let the tasting begin.

Yesterday I sat in on a tasting where only the groom was able to come in. His excitement was nearly palpable! We got the full lowdown on his wedding, how they were spending money on getting awesome food rather than things like music (they're having a friend dj) and venues (the service is being held in the Mt. Tabor amphitheater). They're trying to show of Portland, a condensed version, to everyone who's coming (most of their guests aren't local). And now, that means delicious and adorable Saint Cupcakes cupcakes!

After the tasting, the client goes home with any leftovers, and 12 additional cupcakes to share with friends. Cupcakes to share, and then everyone wants them. Muahahaha! Ahem. Anyway.

Since my last update I've managed to try the chocolate vegan with vegan vanilla frosting, the vanilla vegan with vegan chocolate frosting (pictured below), and the chocolate with vanilla buttercream. I will admit to being hesitant when it comes to vegan baked goods. I'd never had one that tasted good, that is until this cupcake changed everything! Delicious might be an understatement. The vanilla buttercream isn't my favorite, good of course, but it gets overshadowed by the cream cheese frosting and chocolate buttercream.

Up next, in which I make spreadsheets and find out how many cupcakes Nike has ordered in the last 3 years.