When I think of Erin Menley Bentley I think of beautiful auburn hair and the green hills of Ireland…
I have always had this facination with auburn hair. In fact, I had my hair colored auburn in high school…let’s just say it wasn’t one of my best decisions but I thought I was quite fetching with my big brown eyes. Call it my “Molly Ringwald Moment”. In the late eighties I had so many different hair colors that Alex Haley could not have found my Roots.
Erin and Ryan were such a fantastic couple to work with and I always looked forward to Erin’s call. She is charming, gifted and quite the catch, I must say. Erin told me from the beginning of our planning process that she wanted tones of ivory, cream and sage green. Understated elegance. Her choice in floral was incredible. Giant clear trumpet vases filled with green and white gourds with green and white high-style flowers shooting out the top. WOW!
Erin and Ryan chose to invest their money in the culinary portion of the evening and not focus on the bar. Their fall menu selection impressed guests and featured a cranberry sorbet intermezzo that was dreamy…guests asked for seconds!
The big suprise of the evening was the Groom’s Cake which Erin and I worked on in secret. She wanted something ultra special for Ryan that incorporated his love of hunting. The first thing I did was go to the hunting department of Bass Pro and buy camouflage burlap. I covered the table with this and used leaves, branches and cattails to enhance the look. And then Patrick brought out the cake! Speechless was the initial reaction when people first saw the Groom’s Cake. The beautiful round cake was iced by hand in camouflage-tone icing. It literally looked like a hunting jacket resting on a huge slab of Missouri granite. From the cake, spun sugar antlers rose into the air and supported a rifle carved out of a giant block of chocolate. The antlers were so realistic, guests thought they were made from real horn. I have never had an entire ballroom full of people get up and march into the Bradshaw Room. The explosion of photos reminded me of the days when I was chased by Paparazzi.
Ryan was overwhelmed and I even got weepy over such an amazing expression of love and thoughtfulness. Erin, you did good and you looked beautiful! And all your bridesmaids looked amazing in that lucious shade of sage green. I will look forward to seeing your wedding photos and hopefully my photo won’t be in anymore tabloids.

Brides and the Paparazzi know where I am.

Rob Schaefer