The best advice I was given for planning a wedding is to choose to work with talented and nice people. Randy and Diana Hopkins are just those kind of people -- the kind of vendors one wants when planning a wedding. Diana is an absolutely genius in the kitchen. The cake cutting aspect of the wedding held little meaning for me, but I wanted my guests to be fed and fed WELL. I went back and forth with what I wanted, and Diana always responded immediately with a "yes, I can do that" attitude and lots and lots of encouragement. I had a vision of a Laura Ingalls Wilder type of dessert feast table - old fashioned cakes and pies and strudels. Diana was up for it. And she would have nailed it. Eventually, I simplified and chose one size fits all, good old-fashioned All-American apple pie. Since we got married in February, we had a taste test at Thanksgiving with our family. Diana baked TWO kinds of apple pies for us to choose from - both are delightful and the votes were 50/50. For the wedding we went with the more decadent option (the apple pie with the strudel topping). We got LOTS of compliments on the pies at the wedding - LOTS. People devoured them, wanted seconds, etc. I have ultimate trust in this baker. She is an artist. Hire her.
