Congratulations to Kimmy (kimmycupcakes) who is today's Knottie of the Day!! I can't believe that your special day is already here. Check out what she has to say below -- especially her advice for other knotties in the planning process!
1. First Name & Fiancé’s First Name
Kimmy & Drew
2. Your Age and Fiancé’s Age
36 & 34
3. What city were you born in?
Monte Rio, CA. It’s a small town in Sonoma County.
4. What city do you live in?
Portland, OR
5. Where did you go to college?
Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa California & Portland State University in Portland Oregon
I got an AS in Administration of Justice and Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences, Liberal Studies and Sociology. I am so not an overachiever….
7. What is your current job?
Child Specific Recruiter. In other words, I find families to adopt children in foster care.
8. What is your dream job?
Something that has nothing to do with social work…. Maybe a party planner. Or a way to combine my two loves of tiki and cupcakes. I’ve had more than one business/person from Maui tell me I should move there and open a cupcake shop because they are in need of one.
9. How did you and your fiancé meet?
Drew and I had many close encounters of being at the same place on the same day for years before we officially met. I had just come out of a three year "I am never getting into another relationship again" hiatus while I concentrated on finishing my bachelor degrees, working part-time and being a full time single mom. About two months before I meet Drew, I had decided it was time to go out and have a little fun, again. I thought the best way to do this was to buy a Barfly Bus Golden ticket to get me out there and meet some new people.
Saint Patrick’s Day 2007 was my second Barfly Bus. A friend of mine, at the time, was hosting one of the buses and I was assisting her with it. While she was helping to check everyone in at the Rialto in downtown Portland, I was up front with her. That’s when I first noticed Drew in line.
Drew and I were doing the "back and forth checking each other out and then pretending that we weren’t" thing. Finally, being as forward as I am, I yelled across the room at him, “Hey! Hey! You!” Drew looked at me and pointed to himself mouthing, “Me?” I yelled back, “Yes, you! Isn’t your name, Drew?” He nodded yes. I yelled back, “Yeah, I know about you.” Weird thing is I didn’t know him, about him or even who he was. I'm not even sure how I knew his name was Drew. I just knew and I knew he was going to be more than just my next boyfriend.
As Drew was checking in to get on the Barfly bus, I found out he was going to be on the same bus as me since he had also been friends with the Barfly bus host. When we got on the bus, our host was giving a speech about how the bus worked and what you can and can’t do. Any time she mentioned anything that happened to be with another person, I would point in Drew’s direction.
Our first stop was at The Speakeasy. I went up to Drew and asked him if he wanted to be my man whore for the night. I know, real classy. But, hey, it worked. Drew asked me what that would entail and I told him lots of making-out. He very quickly and excitedly answered, “OK!” We talked a little bit, but no kissing happened, yet.
Our third stop was the Sandy Hut. I was taking pictures with different friends when Drew came up and said we should take a picture together. I said alright and we took a couple together. You could feel the tension between us while the pictures were being taken and they turned out very awkward. When I saw them I told Drew, “There’s too much tension between us to take these pictures. We need to kiss already and get it over with.” He replied, “Right here, right now?” I replied, “Yes.” He grabbed me and we started kissing right there, right then. Our friend, Bryn still had the camera in his hand and took a picture of our first kiss. We’ve been kissing ever since.
10. When did you get engaged, and how did he do it??
In May 2010, Drew sent me a text message asking if I wanted to get married at Voodoo Doughnuts. Yup, he asked me by text message. The weird thing is that I had actually been reading about Voodoo Doughnut’s weddings earlier that day. I told him if that was a proposal, it wasn’t the best, but since he had asked we would talk about it when I got home.
We spent more than just that night talking about it and came to the conclusion that the next step in our relationship was going to be marriage. We went ring shopping together on October 10th, 2010 at Gilt in NW Portland. I tried on so many rings. In the end, what I thought I would like in an engagement ring was much different than the ones we decided that we liked best. We left that day without a ring, but Drew later called them and made arrangements to purchase me the most beautiful ring of all.
On Saturday, February 26th, Drew officially proposed. We were at one of our favorite tiki bars in West Hollywood, Tiki Ti, dressed in vintage Hawaiian clothing and having a great time when Mike, the owner and head bartender of Tiki Ti, told us that we were like the last of the motikians, a dying breed of true tiki culture. Drew then pulled something out of his pocket, opened up a little box and asked, "Will you marry me? We could be the last of the motikians together." Inside the box was a vintage 1940s ring. Of course, I said yes! He then told me he'd been carrying the ring around for days waiting for the right moment to ask me and couldn't think of a better time to ask then at one of our favorite places having a great time together.
11. When is the Wedding Day?
07.07.12, our 5 year anniversary of being a couple.
12. Where is the ceremony and reception?
Mama’s Fish House on the island of Maui.
13. What are your wedding colors?
Tropical red & aquamarine
14. Where are you honeymooning?
On the islands of Hawaii (Big Island) and Oahu. We will also be having a weddingmoon for a few days after the wedding on Maui in Hana and Kihei.
15. Favorite wedding vendor so far?
We barely have any vendors. Mostly everything has been done through Mama’s Fish House. We’ve loved working with them. They’ve made all of it so easy. We love their pastry chef, Leslie, who will be making our cake. We also love our flower vendor, Ha’awina Farms, who Mama’s Introduced us to since they do all of their flowers and leis. And we love our photographer, Sara Sanger. She took our engagement photos and will be taking pictures the whole week on Maui for us.
16. Biggest wedding splurge?
Our reception food. Being two foodies, that was always something we knew we’d splurge on.
17. What is something you wish you could have at the wedding but don't?
I can’t think of anything.
18. Another Knottie whose wedding you'd like to attend?
Oh, that’s a hard one! It’s been so much fun watching all of you plan your weddings and all of the DIY projects everyone’s done. I know all of the weddings are going to be amazing! Can I go to all of them? I would love to attend the weddings of everyone I feel like I've become friends with while planning together. Ladies, where are my invitations?!Honestly, I would have loved to have gone to Lindsay’s wedding so I could have smashed cake in her monster-in-law’s face.
19. Favorite book?
Moloka’I by Alan Brennert & I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
20. Favorite movie?
Heathers & True Romance
21. Favorite tv show?
Mad Men
22. Favorite wedding dress designer?
Maggie Sottero
23. Any advice you can give to other Knotties whose big day is coming up?
Get as much done as early as you can. The time passes so quickly and before you know it, your wedding day will almost be here. Also, plan time for just you and your fiancé when you get to your destination before you meet up with all of your guests.
24. Is there anything you wish you could change about your wedding?
I wish my girlfriend, Honey, and her family could attend. Cancer sucks!
25. Tell us your Knottie name and how you came up with it.
Kimmy Kupcakes. It’s a name my friends gave me years ago and it stuck. Wouldn’t Kimmy’s Tiki Kupcakes be a great name for a cupcake shop on Maui?
26. Tell us about yourself!
I'm a retro modern wahine with a mad love for the Hawaiian Islands, mid-century modern, cupcakes, kitch, pin-up fashion and vintage Hawaiiana. I lived on Maui, Kauai and Oahu when I was younger and it has always stuck with me. I was a teenage mother who put myself through college and became the first woman in my family to earn her bachelor degree. I relocated to Portland OR from Sonoma County CA with my daughter almost 12 years ago. Drew and I own a fabulous ranch home, Knotty Cakes Ranch, together which we are currently restoring to its original splendor and filing with as much mid-century modern delights we can find on a budget while building a vintage Hawaiiana bar in our basement. We share our incredible home with my 17 yr old daughter, Amanda and our fur babies, ChiChi the Wonder Dog and Cupcake the big huge ginger cat. We just lost our sweet little cat,Radish. (Yes, we name everything after food.) All of this while planning our dream wedding in paradise on the island of Maui. Oh, and I HATE bananas!