7 Tips To Help You Choose Your Wedding Cake

mini slices wedding cake

Sure, planning a wedding can be extremely stressful, but there’s certainly some fun aspects of it as well. For example, wedding cake tasting is definitely one of our favorite parts of wedding planning! You get to taste all these delicious cakes and desserts and decide which one will be the one that you have at your reception when you and the love of your life finally tie the knot. All fun and tastiness aside, choosing your wedding cake can get tricky if you aren’t prepared. Here are seven tips to help you choose your perfect, delicious wedding cake.

1. Choose a style

The wedding cake is one of the oldest wedding traditions in existence, so naturally there are tons of styles and designs to choose from. The traditional wedding cake is usually multi-tiered, frosted, with a cake topper and possibly some fondant flowers or other fun designs on it. If you’re more of a traditionalist, this would be a good design for you. Perhaps you would prefer square tiers instead of round tiers. Maybe you like the idea of mini, individual servings instead of a large cake for everyone. If you want to shy away from tradition, there are many different desserts now being formed into wedding “cakes,” such as cupcakes, donuts, crepes, macarons and even cheese. Once you’ve decided what style of wedding cake you want, you’ll be ready to get started.

chocolate vanilla wedding cake

Photo Credit: Decoration 0

 

2. Think about the design

A popular trend is to match the cake design to the wedding’s overall theme or colors. For example, if you’re having a nautical beachfront wedding, anchors and seastars on your cake would be a fun and playful addition. If you want a more conservative cake, simply having your cake lined with  your wedding’s colors would be a pretty and elegant detail. Your wedding cake is a blank canvas for you and your partner to show your creativity and personalities, so spend some time looking online at websites such as Pinterest and in wedding magazines for inspiration.

nautical wedding cake design

Photo Credit: Bex Bernard

 

3. Give yourself enough time

Typically, three to six months before the wedding is enough time to plan the cake. You’ll want to leave yourself plenty of time to come up with a style and design, and then shop around for bakery options.  If you’re having your wedding during the busy “wedding season” (spring/summer), give yourself a little extra time to find the right bakery because wedding cakes will be in high demand and could be completely booked out for the time frame you are looking for. You definitely won’t want to leave the cake to the last minute and cause unnecessary stress in the weeks leading up to the big day.

tiered gold wedding cake design

Photo Credit: Cake Wallz

 

4. Figure out the size

Depending on the number of guests you will have at your reception, you will need a specific size cake. Keep in mind that although the five-tiered cake is straight out of a fairytale, it would be very out of place at an intimate wedding with only fifty guests. Find a size and style that is suitable for the number of attendees you expect at your wedding.

mini slices wedding cake

Photo Credit: Pinterest

 

5. Decide on a budget

Be realistic about how much you are able to and are willing to spend on a wedding cake. Compare prices amongst various cake vendors and see what a general price is for a cake of your style, size and design. Also ask what they consider to be a typical size for a slice of cake; if their size is much larger than you would cut, then you can save money by ordering a smaller cake. If the type of cake you want is out of your price range, consider what adjustments can be made to it to reduce the price. Do you really need that fifth tier of cake, those handmade sugar roses or that custom-made shade of lavender frosting? Consult the cake vendors and bakeries to get a feel for what is a reasonable cost for your dream cake.

wedding cake sugar flower icing

Photo Credit: Wedding Chicks

 

6. Taste the cake

Now comes the best part – cake tasting! You probably already have an idea of what the cake will look like on the outside, but it’s also important to know what it tastes like on the inside. Choose flavor(s) that you and your partner love for both the cake and the icing. If you’re going to have multiple flavors, taste them all – don’t assume that chocolate cake will be good no matter what.

wedding cake tasting tips

Photo Credit: ACW Philly

 

7. Choose a bakery/vendor

Now that you’ve tasted all the cakes and determined the style, size, design and price range, it’s time to pick a bakery or cake vendor. Ideally during all of the consulting and tasting you did with various vendors you will have met one that suited your needs and seemed like they would work well with you and your other vendors. If not, keep shopping around until you find one that fits your criteria.

wedding cake vendor bakery

Photo Credit: Wedding Window

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