When our florist asked us about our wedding theme, we responded with five words: happy, playful, enchanted, magical, dreamy.

We had envisioned a day centered around joy and living in the moment. Our vision board included images from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party scene from Alice in Wonderland and the imaginary food fight scene from Hook. We wanted to infuse our day with a sense of levity but we weren’t quite sure how.

One week out from the wedding, the weather forecast was predictably unpredictable for June in the PNW: Alternating days of sun and rain with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. We didn’t know if we would need umbrellas or extra layers—or both. But on the day of, we lucked out with clear blue skies, full sunshine and a high of 89 degrees. It was the perfect first day of summer.

…But no one had mentioned keeping the cake cold! After tying the knot and celebrating on the trail, we returned from our sunset hike to find the top tier of our cake had melted and slid off. Our photographers were devastated and attempting to distract us from the delicious mess, but to us, it truly was “the icing on the cake.” We couldn’t have planned it better.

Yes, of course we took the bottom cake tiers home for leftovers! We had a great time, and no cake was harmed in the process.