So first let’s understand why we have a wedding cake as this seems to have been part of the ceremony since the ancient Greeks. As part of the wedding nuptials the groom would break bread or a scone style cake over his bride’s head that symbolised her submission, the end of her purity and to represent good luck and fertility. Obviously, this has moved on over the years and that has turned into the most incredible wedding cakes.
However, they have also become really quite costly and it is noticed with many couples, over the last year alone, that they are turning away from the traditional wedding cake and those that did have a wedding cake, only a few of them had a cake cutting built within their day. So is it really just a big expense to have something on show?
So firstly, let’s see what alternatives there are for you, should you want something different if you are not worried about a cake cutting ceremony
- Cookies & Biscuits, they can be decorated in your wedding theme colours and even personalised. Although usually used more as a favour, but I have seen this laid out beautifully in a box.
- Cupcakes – a bit hit with many; they can be decorated within theme. You can still opt for a large cupcake on the top to cut like the one below. This was a wedding from October and the couple had an autumnal theme, they looked incredible. (below design by Roo Cakes)
Autumnal Cup Cake Tower
- Cheese Cakes & Cheese Boards are becoming increasingly popular for weddings as you can serve this as or with your evening food service
- Dessert Tables for weddings are great, and even better when you can get family and friends involved. You can even write little tags on them what they are, and who made them.
The wedding below was a lovely woodland wedding and they were happy to indulge in ideas to cut the cake with an axe to suit the environment, it was fabulous
- Macroon Towers – who does not love a wedding macaroon tower?
- Wedding Candy Cart/Sweet Table (although many have this just as an additional too)
- A Doughnut Wall or Tower. A firm favourite for a rustic marquee wedding
- A brownie Stack. Brownies are always a popular sweet treat and this one below we had at a wedding this last year and my Brides daughter made these beautiful brownies. A real feast for our eyes and were devoured entirely.
Picture by Sasha Alexander Photography
- Finally, you could opt for a Profiteroles Stack or even a Croquembouche, which is a French version of a wedding cake
A couple recently asked to have built for them a champagne tower and once it was set up and filled up most of the tower, all they had to do was pour in the last bottle of fizz into the glasses, everyone watched and cheered and they got some great photos, in fact,it was way more exciting than a cake cutting. Not to mention you get a nice glass of bubbles at the end
Of course, if you want the cake for show but don’t want the attention of a cake cutting, it is recommended you have a staged shot during your couple shots with your photographer so you get the shot you want without the gazillion eyeballs on you.
The things that went down the best with many couples this year, outside of the general three-tier wedding cake:
- Cupcake towers – With the right supplier it can look incredible, it is less messy and you can also avoid any cake cutting costs by your venue or caterer. Plus you are pretty much guaranteed they will all get eaten as they are easily taken away at the end of the night too.
- Champagne tower – every time for me now, that was awesome to watch.
- Macaroon Tower – looks so good and who does not love a Macaroon , so you can pretty much guarantee it will ALL be eaten and looks great!
So there are just a few alternatives to consider. Although it is unlikely, we will ever lose the traditional wedding cake and cutting and I hope that we don’t, it has its place at any wedding, but for those that like to move away from the “cookie cutter” wedding, these are some ideas for the alternative.
The only last thing to say on cake is when you book your venue check in with them if they charge a cake cutting fee. I had one wedding last year which the venue charged a staggering £6.00 per slice, which would have turned a £600 cake into a £1200 cake. So my client opted for a fake cake with a little cupcakes from sponge, they looked fabulous.
This post was written by Sian Belton of BusyBrides
