Destination intimate beach weddings where we could heard the sound of the waves or feel the sun’s warmth on our skin have always been what we both wanted. All whites throughout the venues, big stunning white flowers, white three-layered coconut lemon cake, and free-flowing bars, followed with the reception at night by the ocean with the lights dangling throughout the venue and ended with dancing on the dance floor.
“I want Lucia Keiko to make our wedding cakes,” Raline said to me as she flipped through VOGUE Magazine, which featured Keiko’s work in 2020.
She has been talking about this famous wedding cake maker, Lucia Keiko, for the whole year, since the day she attended one of her co-star weddings in Tokyo — one of the most stunning and delicious cakes she ever tasted.
I couldn’t understand how mind-blowing the cake was because, for me, every cake tastes the same, sort of.
“Should we go to her workshop? They must’ve had the wedding cake tester box.” She excitedly added as she scrolled through Lucia’s website.
The VOGUE magazine she held just minutes ago is now lying on the hotel’s white bedsheet. Her focus shifted to her phone, which was in her hands, instead of the Netflix we were watching. It felt as if the screen and the loud sound from the television didn’t matter anymore.
I’ve been trying to contact Lucia’s workshop via email, but I haven’t received a response. I even tried calling them a few times during my trip to Japan, but no one answered. I couldn’t help but wonder how busy they must be not to have the time to reply to emails or answer phone calls.
I casually mentioned Lucia’s workshop to Kaoru, which led me to tell her I was having trouble contacting her. Then, I found out no one can simply request her to make take wedding cake as she only takes referrals. However, Kaoru knows someone who used Lucia’s services a few years ago and offered to help me.
So here I am on our way to Lucia’s workshop with Kaoru and Kenji, who referred me to Lucia.
“Are you sure she wants to make mine?” I asked Kaoru and Kenji to make sure we won’t waste our time by coming to Lucia’s workshop. They replied with an annoyed look — I’ve been asking them the same thing for the past hours.
We were warmly greeted by Lucia and two of her teams as soon as we arrived at her workshop. The workshop was a small yet inviting space, impeccably clean and well-organized. The walls were decorated with multiple awards and some stunning contemporary paintings. We noticed several meeting rooms at the back of the workshop — each with a unique number attached — lit up with the overhead lights around.
After a few minutes of small talk, Kaoru, Kenji, and two of Lucia’s team left the room as Lucia preferred one-on-one time with her clients.
Rather than asking about the cake or our preferences, she asked us questions about ourselves — how we met, what I like about Raline, or how long we’ve been together — this isn’t a couple counseling session, after all.
I raised my eyebrows in confusion at her unusual approach.
As she reached for the matcha, she sipped it and answered a question I hadn’t even asked yet. “I need to get to know each couple individually to create the perfect wedding cake,” she explained with a light-hearted laugh.
She pointed out that each design would be different based on the couple, and usually, there will be details about that on the wedding cake.
“I haven’t proposed to her yet.” Lucia’s facial expression remains calm — maybe because she used to hear more weird stuff from her clients, and this was nothing compared to those.
“We’ve talked about our dream wedding a couple of years ago.” Three years ago and a few years before that. I guess that’s what every couple went through at some point in their life — talking about marriages.
I felt uncomfortable sharing all the details of my relationship with Raline to her as certain things were too personal to disclose to a stranger I had just met.
After discussing my plans to take the tester box home for Raline, we eventually agreed that it would be shipped once I had the exact proposal date, as Lucia is unavailable for the entire weekend.
“Feel free to contact me as soon as you two are engaged,” said Lucia as I got up from the chair. But her intonation bugged me as if the engagement between Raline and me wouldn’t be happening, or was it simply a misinterpretation on my part?
Then, I felt my phone buzz; it was an email from BVLGARI.
