The Villages edition of STYLE, March 2014

recipes, and I love gathering and hoarding antique lace, silver, and china. So when my last child was in high school, I decided my life would be for me now, but I couldn’t figure out what to do. I eventually settled on opening Cotillion because it blended my family history, my china, and my love for baking and cooking all together.”

The Cotillion recently celebrated its sixth birthday, but Kathi just began making custom-ordered wedding cakes. “I started getting requests, and whenever I do one for a wedding, I get at least a few orders from people who say, ‘I want the same kind,’” she says.

Lately, Kathi says she has noticed the vintage, country-inspired look is in full swing.

“I just recently catered my son’s wedding and it was definitely more nostalgic. It had that real afterchurch-for-supper feel,” she says. “People are really moving away from anything formal. They want casual with a touch of Southern elegance. Some of the key features of the cakes I’ve been making have been swirl marks I make with the frosting, sticks, vintage brooches, and jewelry.”

On the day I visited Cotillion, Kathi had whipped up four amazing cakes to show me (rather than tell me) what local brides are requesting to have at their nuptials.

Kathi’s most requested cake is the Southern salted caramel fudge cake. Garlanded with thin twigs, twine, and faux blue-hued birds, the rustic-looking cake has a thin layer of frosting that allows the splendidly dark cake to peak through, reminding me of an old, painted wooden fence fading under the harsh Florida sun.

Though simplistic with its all-white decorative rosette design, her pink velvet cake will become a fast favorite, too. My two favorites, however, were the white chocolate raspberry cake, which had a filling of fresh raspberry jam and was decorated with beautiful pink blush and Florida cracker roses and a blue satin ribbon, and the coconut cake, which had a cooked coconut filling and was embellished with antique roses.

Ultimately, Kathi said cake choices always boil down to what couples are looking for to fit their theme. For example, red velvet cakes are hot sellers for Christmas and Valentine’s Day and for those looking for something more homespun, nontraditional cakes like carrot cake and hummingbird cake are requested.

“Some couples come in with an idea and some just entrust me to make something delicious and fabulous,” she says.