by Charlene Russell, Terre et Lune Cake Design
Photo: Zaki Charles Photography
Well actually, you don’t.
You didn’t expect that did you? Call this counter-intuitive coming from a wedding cake designer, but your wedding won’t be a failure without a wedding cake, but neither will it be lacking if you don’t have huge light up letters, neon signs or fireworks. The flowers will fade, the outfit will be worn once and the cake will get eaten.
If we’re honest, none of the wedding niceties are necessary but then again, neither is a full wardrobe of clothes or twenty pairs of shoes but we indulge ourselves because it’s what we want and frankly, life is too hard and short not to spoil ourselves if the budget allows, especially on our own special day!
Having said all that however, it would be remiss of me not to state my case for having a professional wedding cake as part of your nuptial celebrations, so here goes! My 5 reasons to have a wedding cake designer help you on your wedding day.
Photos: Poppy Carter Portraits and MT Studio Weddings
When I got married seven years ago, I made the error of making my own wedding cake. Whilst I had just started to make cakes professionally and was comfortable with the technicalities, I did end up regretting it. I started making it three days before the wedding and while that’s enough time, it’s not enough time when you have the last-minute wedding arrangements to think about too! I rushed it and it wasn’t really the cake I envisioned. I also had to set it up at the venue on the day before; yet another task I shouldn’t have needed to worry about!
The same also goes for asking a friend or family member to make your cake. As happy as they may seem to be contributing to your wedding, it’s an unnecessary stress to place on them, not least the pressure of it tasting good, looking good and being engineered to survive delivery and the risk of summer heatwaves!
Many of my couples choose to have a wedding cake because they simply love and appreciate cake. Often, they bake for themselves or baked with parents or grandparents and cake is a nostalgic part of their lives, so when it comes to their wedding, it’s a significant part of their day. It’s important to them that the taste is as good as the design and entrusting that to a professional who has curated, tried and tested recipes gives them peace of mind.
Furthermore, a wedding cake is likely to be the only time when you will commission a multi-tiered cake, designed and made especially for you and not to mention, it’s also a really enjoyable part of the wedding planning; you get to forget about seating plans and RSVPs and focus on the fun part of tasting cake and getting involved in the creative design process!
Maya Kemp Photography and Suzy Elizabeth Photography
Now we’re not talking about wedding traditions (I’m last person to advocate doing something just because of tradition if it’s not important to you), it’s more about creating memorable moments throughout your wedding day for you and your guests.
The cutting of the cake generally signals the start of the evening celebrations and as such, it’s one of the only key parts of the day that your ‘evening only’ guests will see and be able to capture. Having been an evening guest in the past, I’m not sure about you but it felt a little disconcerting for us to arrive whilst the wedding was already in full flow but gathering all your guests for the cake cut brings everyone together and makes you feel part of the celebration.
No doubt you will have put a lot of thought into your wedding day styling; the flowers, centrepieces, stationery, colour scheme etc. and a wedding cake is an extension of that. It’s an opportunity to showcase a work of edible art that will wow your guests AND they get to eat it.
It’s also a chance to inject your personality into the design. I have often created wedding cakes that include reference to a couple’s pets, nicknames, a memorable place and heritage to name a few. It’s important to me as a bespoke wedding cake designer that your wedding cake reflects you as a couple and including details within the cake design can be a fun way to do that.
Photos: Jamie Dunn Photography
Ultimately, only you as a couple can decide where you place value on what you want to include in your wedding day and where you wish to allocate your budget. Don’t forget however that when you engage a professional wedding supplier, you’re not only purchasing a specific purchase or product, but you’re also hiring someone to take on the task of producing something for a wedding, which is often loaded with stress, pressure, high expectations and with only the one opportunity to get it right!
When it comes to your wedding cake, with such a delicate product, the variables that could affect the outcome are very changeable (namely the weather and delivery) so I would highly recommend entrusting a professional to deliver all that for you. After all, we do this ALL the time and can guarantee that we’ve seen and experienced it all!
Charlene Russell, the face behind Terre et Lune Cake Design, creates luxury bespoke wedding cakes for the creatively adventurous.
Located on the leafy Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border, Charlene is passionate about the art of cake and delivering on exceptional flavour. Her speciality lies in hand-painted watercolour cakes and hand-crafted wafer paper flowers, combining cake artistry with thoughtful design to produce distinctive and elegant centrepieces that are uniquely made for you.
enquiries@terreetlunecakedesign.co.uk
07518 800529
www.terreetlunecakedesign.co.uk
Instagram & Pinterest: @terreetlunecakedesign
At Big Green Space we highly recommend using a professional to make your cake. But we also understand that Great Aunt Hilda would love to make you a top tier fruit cake to be reused at the Christening. We can help you naviage through this with our wedding planning services.
Find out about Big Green Space wedding planning services here