Wedding Cakes Made Simple
I once read that the wedding cake is the second most photographed thing at a wedding (second only to the bride in her beautiful wedding gown) and for most the last memory of anything they tasted at the wedding. It always makes me sad to hear a bride say, “I don’t really care about the wedding cake. I am only having a cake because my mom insists that we have one at my wedding.” My sadness is not because there will be no elaborate expensive cake that I will be making for the bride, but because the cake is a very important part of the wedding reception. So many people that I talk with say the first thing they look for at the reception is the wedding cake. Your guests may not remember how the cake was decorated, but they will remember if it was a good tasting cake or not. What a sad day when the guests say, “The cake was beautiful, but it was dry.” Today some brides are opting for a dessert table with a variety of sweets, but even then a smaller wedding cake is usually on display. The baker you choose for your wedding cake most likely would be able to prepare other desserts for a one-stop-shop.
When thinking about your wedding cake, one of the most important factors to consider is the venue. A very traditional wedding cake will not work at a rustic style venue. The wedding cake must match the venue’s style. The height of the ceiling is the next consideration in my opinion. A three-tiered cake is absolutely lost at the Westin with 24 foot ceilings in the Gold or Poinsett Room. If the cake is displayed in the Mezzanine, a three-tier cake may work. A larger room calls for a larger cake as well. Another factor is the color of the cake. Adding color to a cake help a more traditional style cake blend into a more modern setting such as Zen.
The actual table needs to accommodate the size of the cake as well. If serving a smaller cake, place it on a 36” or 48” table to make it appear larger. A small cake will be “lost” on a 60” round table or a large rectangle table. A smaller cake could also be placed on a high-top table. However, the bride and groom’s height should be taken into consideration if doing this.
Rarely are cakes as white as the white “hotel” type linens and can make the cake look like a much deeper ivory than it actually is. We suggest that the cake linen be ivory or a color that matches the wedding colors. The cake table can be totally different than the other guest tables as long as the colors blend. This is the perfect table for grandmother’s lace tablecloth or a monogrammed overlay if it works with other reception décor.
From our first meeting with the bride watching her face light up as she and I design the cake together to the comments from her mother bringing the cake stand back to us, my calling is confirmed.
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Traditional buttercream cake at Thornblade. . 
Contemporary fondant wedding cake at Zen.
Kathy and Company's Wedding Cake Blog 