Traditional Weddings

When you are in the process of planning your dream wedding, cutting the cake is a very important feature of the day. In most cultures a wedding cake represents fruitfulness and fertility and is said to bring good luck to all that eat it; this is why the guests unable to attend the wedding are sent a small slice.

Superstition has, for many years, dictated that wedding cakes should consist of a number of tiers. This is reflected in the familiar design said to be based on the unusual shape of the spire of St Brides Church in the city of London. Cakes are all made to order, so you can choose rich fruitcake, Madeira, Chocolate, Coffee, lemon or a combination of different cakes. The luxury of having the cake made just for you is that you really can have exactly what you would like.

When choosing your design it is important to take into account any ideas you may wish to include. ‘Cakes By Appointment’ are happy to give guidance as to styles that will work best for your wedding day. When choosing the style of cake, maybe consider features of the day such as the theme of the wedding, colour schemes, venue, the wedding dress and the flowers of the bride’s bouquet.

When discussing the number of people to be catered for, a consideration is if the top tier of the wedding cake is to be kept for the Christening of the first child, or the first anniversary.

If you are having a particularly lavish wedding, with a large number of people to feed, additional cutting cake may be required; this can be baked and iced at the same time, then kept in the background for serving with the main cake. Alternatively if you are having a more exclusive reception, and do not require a surplus of cake, it is possible to decorate
dummy cakes to make up the desired size.

Many of the decorations on the wedding cake have their own symbolism for instance doves bring harmony, bells drive away evil spirits, cupids bring love, orange blossom brings luck and symbolises purity and is also a traditional ingredient for love potions. While white roses symbolise virginity, and horseshoes are for fertility and good luck.

When arranging the reception, ensure there will a sturdy and stable table on which to display the cake, which, depending on size, can be a considerable weight, suitable lighting, and that there is an appropriate background as many a good photograph has been spoilt by a intrusive red fire extinguisher or the like in the background.

Traditionally the bride must cut the first slice with the help of her husband or she will remain childless. Cutting the wedding cake is usually one of the last formalities of the wedding and the first task that a couple will share. The right hand of the groom goes over the right hand of the bride and they then cut the cake together. The cake is then usually taken away to be cut up and served, but in years gone by it was tradition for the first slice to be fed by the groom to his bride, after which the bride serves her husband.

It is said the unmarried guests who place a piece of wedding cake under their pillow before sleeping will increase their prospects of finding a partner, and bridesmaids who do likewise will dream of their future husbands and therefore continue with many of these wonderful traditions.