I Feel the Need...

The need for speed!  Who doesn't love Top Gun, right?  Then who doesn't love going to a Top Gun WEDDING?!  And decorating the cake for it, on top of that.  Last weekend, we got to drive to Colorado, yet again this summer, for my dear friend, Lorinda's wedding.  Lorinda and I taught English together in China. We didn't know each other beforehand, and we only lived together for about 4 weeks before I transferred to a different suburb, but we've loved each other ever since. Guess that's what happens when you have to cuddle with each other to stay warm! Yeah, that happened. Cold winter in China.

Anyway, Lorinda is one of those people who had relationships, but didn't really believe in love. She said she'd never get married.

How cool is this invitation?

 



So I was really excited when she called to ask me to make her wedding cake...that is, I was excited after I felt certain that this was a real thing.  She asked for an F-14 Tomcat with a couple sheet cakes on the side. Here's how it came together:

 

I started with 2 9x13 cakes--one for the base shape, and one for cutting.

 

 

I cut two graham crackers to form the tail wings. That's what they're called, right?



 

Oreos for the jets. I have some leftover fireworks from the 4th of July and thought it'd be really cool to stick sparklers in the jets and light them, but I forgot to pack them.

 

I'm happy with the way it turned out, even with slight imperfections. What cake doesn't have some?

 

Keeping with the aviation/Top Gun theme, the wedding ceremony was in Hangar 61, a hangar from the old Stapleton Airport that was converted into a church.

 

There's the hangar. I mean, church.

 

The wedding party walked down the aisle to the Top Gun Anthem, then Lorinda walked down to an orchestrated version of "Take My Breath Away."  Shad asked me if I knew whether she would wearing a regular wedding dress or a jazzed up flight suit. It was a wedding dress.

 

We had Dancy with us (Tom and Katie were at my parents' house), and she was great! She saved up her poo all day (the ceremony was at 2) until during the vows. So it breached the bounds of her diaper and flooded onto her clothes and mine. We spent the rest of the ceremony in the bathroom cleaning up. Luckily, I had a change of clothes in the van. I don't normally go prepared with spare clothes for myself, though I should.

 

The reception was at The Spirit of Flight Center in Erie, CO. That is a really cool little museum dedicated to flight. They had restored airplane engines, bomb parts, German planes, cameras, oxygen tanks, etc.

 

A dismantled airplane outside the museum. Never seen that before. We couldn't help but think, "No disassemble! No disassemble!" Short Circuit, anyone?

 

This plane was in the movie Hot Shots. It was unclear to me whether this is the actual plane, or the same kind of plane used in the movie.

 

Me with Lorinda and David Showe

 

"Oh, wait! We forgot to be Chinese!"

 

How cool is this? David's groomsmen got him these kegs burned with the flight names of characters from Top Gun--Maverick, Goose, Iceman and Hollywood.

 

"Up there with the best of the best."