When most people think about planning a wedding, they think about a theme, a dress, who to invite, and last but not least the wedding cake. A wedding cake is one of those key items of a wedding! It creates the cutest pictures and causes those memorable moments. Some of which a bride and groom can feed each other or my favorite have a mini-food fight with delicious cake to the face! Generally, wedding cakes are beautiful and in most cases delicious! Cakes are one of those versatile aspects of a wedding. They can be specially designed to match your theme and your tastes or they can be decorated in a beautifully classic way. So to help the planning couple, I have a few quick tips and stories to help you pick out the PERFECT wedding cake for YOUR special day!
1) Research
When you’ve gotten to the point of your planning where you are deciding what type of cake you would like and who you would like to bake it, make sure you research! If you have already chosen your photography or venue, ask them who they would recommend! Your vendors whole business is focused around weddings and making them perfect! They know who makes the sweetest cakes or the driest cakes and of course, who makes the best icing. I personally go out and try cakes all the time. I want to be able to help my brides to the best of my capabilities, so every time I go to a new bakery I test try their wedding cakes! This is also one of my secret hobbies! I just love trying new cakes and you never know what you will find! On another hand, I was talking to one of the directors of a venue that I shoot at occasionally and they told me how a couple of the cakes delivered from one bakery had cracked icing and several other mistakes. So don’t be afraid to ask your vendors, they usually know the ups and downs when it comes to weddings and other vendors.
2) Taste, Taste, and TASTE
Everybody prefers a different type of cake. Some people like drier cake while other like cake that is so moist it crumbles as you eat it. I prefer cake with a thin layer of icing while my sister prefers thick creamy icing. Every bride has a unique set of preferences and needs so never simply order a cake without testing their wedding cakes! Make a day of it with your fiancé or even your bridesmaid. Make a list of bakeries who people and vendors have recommended and make appointments to each one. Then go out with your future hubby or your best friend! That way you can both try each of the cakes and really decide which one tastes better or looks better! Plus the fun of having a wedding is in planning the wedding! This means finding and trying on all the wedding dresses and trying all the different kinds of cakes!
3) Wedding Placement
Now that you have done your research, tasted a hundred different samples, and chosen your favorite, it’s time to decide what to do with the cake when it gets to the wedding! This is a step that a lot people actually overlook when they are planning their weddings. Its normal for the cake to arrive on the scene of the reception before you do so that when you and all of your guests walk in, it is already set up to be viewed and eventually devoured! The reason why this is a tip, is because at one summer wedding I shot a couple years back the cake was placed outside and in the heat of summer the icing started to melt. Somehow the vendors fixed the cake and stopped the icing from melting off! I still have no idea how they did it! That is the magic of good vendors! They will spring up in the face of a problem and solve it before it has even become noticeable. So in light of this story, keep in mind where you place the cake. If you are having a summer wedding, it can be inside or even in the shade. Vendors will always know how to help if you need advice so be sure to ask your baker where he or she would put the cake at the wedding. They have dealt with this problem so many times before so they know how to solve it and you will have one less thing to fret about on your day!
4) Have fun!
Last but not least, have fun! Your wedding is YOUR day! Make sure you have fun while you plan it and during it! If you are having a blast, everyone else will too!
