Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by eden

One asian bakery I absolutely love is the one at Cafe Zaiya at 41st St in NYC. They make the best pastry in my opinion. Their strawberry cake is heavenly!!!

And they can make a 40 person cake for 60 or 80 bucks. I think you can get them to make a tiered one for under 200 or 300. Which is considerably cheaper than the american bakeries.

It's also not too sweet and taste amazing!!! :D

*Drool!*

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I second Cafe Zaiya! The cakes there are the best I've ever had. I didn't realize that they can make a wedding cake as well. If I had known I would have gone to them.

I went to Tompkin Square Bakery, which makes beautiful cakes, for about $8/slice. It sounds expensive, but in fact you really need only about 1 slice to feed 2 people (and they'll tell you that), so I ended up getting the smallest at $250, and still had left overs. It's really pretty decent for a wedding cake, looks absolutely gorgeous, and is not too sweet. But of course it's not as good as Cafe Zaiya. The problem is that you can't display the Cafe Zaiya cake on the wedding day -- its whipped cream frosting will just melt.

You can also get the smallest cake you can get away with, and then order a mix of tarts and miniatures sweets. People really love it.

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

I think we should have our own Chinese BBS so we can subdivide all the topics!

Cakes, Chinese tradition, chinese fashion, Difficult MILs, etc.! ;)

I know one of the ladies here would be posting to her heart's content on Difficult MILs. You know who I'm talking about! :D

Anyway, I heard about this asian baker who does chinese and even green tea flavored cakes! Eeeks!

I think even if you go with the reception hall baker you can order a nice flat cake from Cafe Zaiya and serve that instead, and use the other cake for display. :D

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Pieces of Cake
917-767-0062
Up-and-coming Carroll Gardens cake designer Jennifer Chiang specializes in fusing Asian and Western styles. Her confections range from the more traditional Five-Spice Cake, a pungent creation topped with condensed-milk buttercream to the more daring Green Tea Cake with red-bean filling. She is also known for her decorative metallic painting. Prices start at $5 a slice.
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Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

past chinese bride here... we had a western ceremony/reception at the Bourne Mansion that my husband and I planned (ok... that I planned... heehee) and a chinese banquet the following day in chinatown planned by my mom. We were not planning on having the chinese banquet at all... but with my mom's constant nagging... passive agressive mind games... she eventually got her way. heehee.. thank god thats all over!

piping in about chinese banquets...
the per head price really depends on what dishes you choose. I've seen menus ranging from $30 a head to $70. It's for the same amt of dishes but if you choose a menu with all seafood vs one with just a few seafood dishes... the price will definitely reflect it. And then there's the different types of seafood dishes... 1/2 lobster per guest vs 2 lobsters to share amongst 10 guests. Shark fin soup vs seafood/tofu soup... and even shark fin soup has different prices.

My friend had her engagement party at East Manor in Elmhurst for $35 a head, for what she got... I thought it was a bit overpriced. She knew that too but she really wanted it at East Manor so no biggie. Service was ok.

My in laws had their anniversary party at a chinese restaurant in brooklyn, they paid $19 a head. The dishes my in laws had were comparable to those from my friends engagement party.

Our chinese banquet costed much more bc my mom insists on having certain dishes...

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

Here's a photo of my cake courtesy of Erga's Bakery, I'm all about cherry blossom! Yeehaaa! :D

Oh and my wonderfully beautiful centerpiece from my favorite vendor, Designs By Rose, I love it!!!!

Got some better pictures in my photo album. :D

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

cakes...

My friend used Fa Da in Flushing for her engagement cake, she paid $180 for a 3 tiered cake for 60 ppl. It tasted ok... your typical chinese cake with mixed fruit filling and whipped cream outside. She was a bit disappointed with how it looked... I thought it was cute! It was heart shaped with scattered rose petals... I have a picture at home, will post later.

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

The chinese bakers are not known for design. Actually my bro had his cake made by a chinese baker and while they are trying to move it, the cake split in half!

i'm not sure why, maybe they didnt know the right materials to use to hold up the cake?

It was kinda funny. Anyway, I think the perfect cake would be one that's asian tasting inside and american designed outside. :D

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by eden
--------------------
Pieces of Cake
917-767-0062
Up-and-coming Carroll Gardens cake designer Jennifer Chiang specializes in fusing Asian and Western styles. Her confections range from the more traditional Five-Spice Cake, a pungent creation topped with condensed-milk buttercream to the more daring Green Tea Cake with red-bean filling. She is also known for her decorative metallic painting. Prices start at $5 a slice.
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I talked to her. She has a $300 minimum. (But take a look at her website. I first went hmmm, and then huh? Very...'unusual' looking cakes)

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by kittymannering

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Posted by eden
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Pieces of Cake
917-767-0062
Up-and-coming Carroll Gardens cake designer Jennifer Chiang specializes in fusing Asian and Western styles. Her confections range from the more traditional Five-Spice Cake, a pungent creation topped with condensed-milk buttercream to the more daring Green Tea Cake with red-bean filling. She is also known for her decorative metallic painting. Prices start at $5 a slice.
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I talked to her. She has a $300 minimum. (But take a look at her website. I first went hmmm, and then huh? Very...'unusual' looking cakes)

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Oh my!!! That cake looks scary!

For a second, I thought that was YOUR wedding cake. haha

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

the brown frostings don't look appetizing...

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

ewlll, um, that's a rather original cake.... bleh, sorry does anyone think the brown stuff look like dog poo?

hey it's all about the taste, right? ewllll! NOT! Sorry, this gives me an idea, let's start an ugly cake thread! that would be the first one on the list! :D

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by eden

Here's a photo of my cake courtesy of Erga's Bakery, I'm all about cherry blossom! Yeehaaa! :D

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I love your cake. It's the prettiest I've seen, hands down.

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

Thanks! You got good 'taste'! I love my cake too :D

These are my inspirations, love the double happiness sign.





I LOVE your favors! i would steal it if I had known about the idea! :D

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

Just so let you know that I check out Per Se for the wedding. It's extremely expensive.. hehehe...

40,000 for 85 people - Lunch but they seve 5- 9 courses

70,000 for 85 people - dinner

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by hlc200

Just so let you know that I check out Per Se for the wedding. It's extremely expensive.. hehehe...

40,000 for 85 people - Lunch but they seve 5- 9 courses

70,000 for 85 people - dinner

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What in the world is Per Se???

70,000 for 85 people = $824 per person!!!!

The most expensive place I visited was St. Regis. After gratuity, it would have been $450 per person.

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

Per Se is at Columbus Circle, it overlooks Central Park South on the West side.

I have been there and it's overrated. Extremely expensive even by NYC standard. I am not surprised they charge so much for a wedding but that that price I expect them to pay for all my wedding cost, not just a few courses.

Sorry you have to draw the line somewhere! We brides may have money to spend but we don't have a kings wallet! :P

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

Per Se .. is one of the most expensive restaurants in NYC. It is supposedly quite delicious. $175 per person - something like that.

This Feb. I am heading over to Shanghai to do the final preparations, etc...and choose a Chinese dress.

I am having 2 weddings and very excited!!

I am not sure when I have to do the makeup, etc. I think I am going to go to an Asian to do it all...but not sure yet.

:)

Complete Chinese Restaurant List

holy moly, i walk away for a week and the thread has grown by 4 pages! how awesome!!

well, for all you gals who are hunting for chinese restaurants, i updated a previous post but here is a complete list:

Complete Chinese Restaurant List

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

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Posted by eden

I think we should have our own Chinese BBS so we can subdivide all the topics!

Cakes, Chinese tradition, chinese fashion, Difficult MILs, etc.! ;)

I know one of the ladies here would be posting to her heart's content on Difficult MILs. You know who I'm talking about! :D

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working on that~~~ if anyone is technically inclined and can help out, FM me!!!!

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

count me in! i'm hooked on this site! :D

oh I also emailed Ron about seeing if he can set us up with a chinese board. :D

Hope he comes through! We should definitely have our own board! :D

Re: ***~OFFICIAL Chinese Brides Thread!~*** updated w/ centerpiece ideas

ooooooh, u r SO cool gal~ btw, i like the MIL vent part too b/c chinese fmil's can be SUCH a pain~ but.... hope Ron comes thru!!!! i'm on fall break this week so won't be on the computer as much but i'll definitely be checking in to make see how things go!!! i'm going to pick up my chinese wedding pics today from eternal! if they give me digital copies, i'll post some up for u gals!