Wedding Tips: Choosing the Cake

I previously posted Birthday party tips in my blog Traipsey Turvey Birthday Party Tips, so I'm not going to post it here. As I stressed out, my birthday party tips would be applicable to any party. This time, I would like to share tips on choosing the Wedding cake.
The Wedding Cake is probably the most awaited and talked about wedding essential. It is supposedly the star of reception and is the "icing on the cake" of the wedding, so to speak. While we were planing our wedding, I Googled a lot about anything wedding. This is really important because it helped me get a lot of ideas and tips along the way; I modified some to my liking just to make them, well, us. With all the surfing, I was bound to find a lot of wacky ideas for the wedding, and I did. In fact, our wedding cake was anything but traditional.

• First of, when you're thinking about your wedding cake, you must decide your wedding theme (if you want a themed wedding) and your wedding colors. This is important because it gives you an idea of what to look for. It also helps you imagine what cake design would be fit with your wedding colors. Of course, you can opt to have a different colored cake than your wedding colors to make it stand out even more. The detail of the design must be thought out with care because I believe that the wedding cake is the star of the reception (aside from the bride and groom, of course!).
• Next, pick out all the cake designs that you like. Show them to future hubby (fiancée) and let him pick out the design that he would like. I know, this would become a pain because some guys just don't do the wedding planning thing but just ask him for his opinion since it's his wedding, too.
• When you have narrowed down your cake designs to at most 3, it's time to check the bakers. This is pretty hard when you live in a small town or city because there may be a shortage of good bakers. Fortunately, Dumaguete (our hometown) is pretty up-to-date when it comes to bakers and there are a bunch of bakers that would work with you. Moving on, you must check out bakers for price and their ability to copy the design. More and more bakers are already flexible when it comes to this and will work with you. Don't be afraid to bargain and to tell the baker your preferences and suggestions. Things to bring when you meet with the bakers: printouts of your top 3 cake designs, swatches of your wedding colors (or preferred colors for the cake), pen and paper.
• When you have picked your baker, it's time to decide on fondant or buttercream. Buttercream has been used as a substitute for fondant since fondant is not that yummy to eat. However, fondant would really make you cake beautiful since it is versatile and doesn't melt. A fondant cake finish would make your cake the star. Buttercream is a good substitute because it looks like fondant but it is edible and cheaper, too. Our cake was in buttercream.
  
  
  
  
• Finally, you must think about how to showcase your wedding cake. Popular nowadays is letting the cake float. Ask your baker for that option since there are certain sizes and height that you must maintain for the cake to really float. I opted to have my cake hung. I thought about letting it float but that idea was already overused and I wanted something different. Boss also thought it was a neat idea; hanging the cake. My wedding stylist did the work for me and I am really grateful that she actually loved my idea of hanging the cake.
  
  
  
  

Well, that's about it. I might add a few tips regarding cakes later if I can think of something to add. Visit Our Wedding Essentials for more pics.

Photography: Jim Ubalde
Baker: Chantilly
Ideas: the knot
Google: wedding cakes