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September, 2004: When Neil and I first started planning our wedding, we knew we wanted to walk down the aisle to the prelude and chorale from the opera "Hansel and Gretel". We also knew there had to be some form of gingerbread at the wedding... then we thought, why not make a replica of our newly purchased house? Then we thought, what, are we insane?? As it turned out, Sandy did do most of the work assembling the house (unlike the Sarasota Opera Gingerbread House, which was a serious team effort), not only because she had the time (other things were done and she was pretty much waiting for others to get back to her with numbers, RSVPs, etc) but also because Neil was off in Grant Park making the money to pay for the REAL house... and the wedding.... and the new car... but I digress. So, here is a quick tour of our Gingerbread House, which now resides in our basement (hopefully it will make an appearance for the holidays). I think the house took at least 2 weeks to make... can't remember though. Also keep in mind that EVERTHING used in the making of the house was edible (Cardinal Rule Numero Uno when making a Gingerbread House!), except for the gold-covered board upon which the board sat.
Well, after careful planning and drawing and cutting of blueprints (the paper was actually purple, but never mind), mixing and rolling and shaping dough (don't ask how much), baking and decorating, here I am putting up the back side of the house. Special thanks to our upstairs neighbor Christine, whose kitchen we used to assemble the house.
Here are two sides up! Decorations all went on when the sides were horizontal (much easier that way). The "siding" was Juicy Fruit Gum, all the white piped stuff is royal icing (egg whites and powdered sugar).Windows are finished (Neil's job), but not yet installed. And no, the cats did not go hungry while their cans of cat food held the house sides in place.
A day or two later, here are all four sides AND the porch, vertical and holding. The porch was a bitch, but all the pieces fit together, after some "sanding" and shaping and filling in with royal icing (the gingerbread always manages to expand or contract while baking - even a little can throw off the way the joints line up). The floor of the porch was supported underneath by two squares of gingerbread, and a lot of royal icing. The windows are installed, we used gelatin sheets (yes they are edible!) for those.
Here is a close-up of the side of the porch, doing that corner piping was fun! Not the cleanest job ever, but hey. It held. The front stripe of icing on the board is where the stairs will go (they were a bitch too!). Notice somebody failed to take into account the dimensions of the stairs when buying the piece of wood upon which the house was assembled. DOH!!!! I ended up buying a circle of styrofoam, cutting it in half, and making an extension that was popped on at the last minute (by Neil and Sarah, as Sandy was getting dressed) at the dessert buffet at the Hilton.
Here is the porch, finished! Nilla Wafers for the roof, red licorice laces for the stair and porch balusters.
Here are the "bushes"... we actually have a huge white hydrangea bush out front of our real house, which inspired this concoction. The flowers are actually pre-made roses (usually used for wedding cakes and the like) that I had bought ages ago but never used. The "leaves" are corn flakes, marshmellows (basically rice krispie treats with corn flakes! licking THAT bowl was fun), and a lot of green food coloring .
Here are our house numbers - piped with red royal icing on parchment, then transferred to the porch and affixed with - you guessed it - royal icing! The swing is gingerbread, the couple is pre-made (they were table favors from our first shower) - but edible, of course - and the swing "rope" are brown licorace laces, fed through the porch roof and cemented with icing before the Nilla Wafers were installed. The porch floor and steps were covered in red crystal sugar. And that's the house! Can't believe it made it to Wisconsin and back... but it did. Here's the front of the real house (artistic liberties were taken with the Gingerbread, but I think we did a fine job) to compare:
And the gingerbread house at our wedding reception, next to a photo of the "original" gingerbread house of the Sarasota Opera House that Neil and I made during the 2001 season in Florida:
One other thing I wanted to do for the wedding was make gingerbread to EAT, for each table. Here is KC and I "plating" the hearts in my mom's kitchen a few days before the wedding (photo slightly staged in case you couldn't tell). In case you missed the wedding (or misplaced the card from the reception), Sandy's Gingerbread Recipe can be found here!
And now, on to the Dessert Buffet! |
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