The wedding cake is the first thing your guests notice when
they walk into the Reception hall. The cake sets the tone of
the wedding as formal or informal. In ancient times
weddings took place after the harvest and cakes were
considered a symbol of good luck. Wedding cakes gave
good luck to the newlyweds, and passing out pieces of
cake was a way of sharing that luck with friends and
neighbors.

The traditional wedding cake of three or more round
stacked layers, is what comes to mind when most people
think ¡°wedding cake¡± However, your wedding cake can be
any shape or style you wish. I have seen all kinds of cakes
used for wedding cakes, from multi-tiered heart shaped
cakes with several smaller hearts on pedestals attached to
the main tower by cascading ribbons, and plastic bridges.
It was really beautiful. I also know a couple who met at a
hockey game. Their wedding cake was a sheet cake
decorated to look like a hockey arena. Obviously it was a
very informal wedding, and a second marriage for both. A
sheet cake can be decorated with elegance, for an
informal wedding. It is your wedding, you can have any
kind of cake you want.

Most brides show up for the first meeting with a cake
designer/decorator, with an image in her head of the
perfect wedding cake, that she may have dreamed about
since childhood. The designer will do everything in her
power to bring that image into reality. Go to the meeting
the approximate number of guests, your color scheme, a
sketch however primitive of what you want your cake to
look like and possibly a picture from a magazine that is
close to what you want the cake to look like. The designer
will also want to know what flavor you want the cake and
icing to be. They may even have samples for you to taste.

If you want a formal wedding but still want to add a touch of
whimsy have fun with the grooms cake. The wedding cake
can be as elegant as you want, but have the groom¡¯s cake
reflect something about the groom, his hobbies, job etc.
Does he like Nascar have a race car, the options are
endless. If another special family occasion is the same
day as your wedding, try to recognize it some way. A friend
of mine got married on her father-in-law¡¯s birthday, so she
had the top layer of her wedding cake decorated as a
birthday cake for him. He was so delighted. All of these
kinds of things need to be discussed with the cake
designer, well in advance of the big day. You can get
wedding cakes at most bakeries, but I¡¯d suggest looking for
one whose specialty is wedding cakes. You don¡¯t have to
limit yourself to the traditional cake. I knew a bride whose
wedding cake consisyed of hundreds of filled cupcakes,
artfully arranged to resemble the traditional wedding cake,
each of the five layers had a different type of filling. It was
amazing!