Planning a wedding is an exciting time, but it can also be pretty stressful. If you plan on having a traditional wedding ceremony, you have to plan the venue, the caterer, the florist, the dress, the colors, the theme, and so on until it feels like your world is imploding. (Yes, this observation is based on personal experience.) There's so much that goes into planning a wedding that it can be hard to keep your head above the water. But if you're in the midst of wedding planning, then hearing these newlywed brides reveal how they chose their cake might help you feel better. Like, a lot better. Because, spoiler alert: It's all worth it in the end.
Now, if you're planning a wedding, you've probably heard that the wedding doesn't matter as much as the marriage, and not to stress too much about things you can't control. It's a nice thought, but doesn't really help when you're up to your neck in florist proposals. So, what might help you (and what I've found to be the most helpful while planning my own wedding) is to hear from past brides who have been there and know what it feels like. Without further ado, I present to you, just that.
I looked at tons of cake shops and bakeries in Austin, but ended up going with a home baker I went to culinary school with. Picking flavors was hard because you want to wow guests, but also want something you like.
Our baker did a 3 mini cake tasting, and we ended up blending flavors to create our own. You get to take home the mini cakes, too, so we had extra time to think about it.
— Samantha, 32
My husband and I had our wedding cake included with our reception venue. We were excited because we already knew the bakery and loved their cakes! About three months before the wedding, we visited the bakery and tried six different filling flavors with both vanilla and chocolate cake. We knew we both liked vanilla cake better, and we liked the cookies and cream filling as well as the chantilly cream filling with berries.
Because we were getting married the day before the Fourth of July, we did the berries in cream, so it was red, white, and blue! We also decided the style of the cake, and we knew we really wanted it simple, so we kept it all white with gold beading around each tier. We also had our florist add some greenery to the cake, which fit our Mediterranean theme. We dropped off our cake topper with them and on our wedding day, it was set up beautifully in the corner for us!
- Tina, 26
I could not wrap my brain around spending hundreds of dollars on cake and it was stressing me out so we ended up going with Costco cake because it's cheap and delicious! And we got a cute little cut cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes! It was perfect and everyone raved about how good the cake was!
— Allie
I feel like it was super boring. We tasted a bunch, we were told not to pick red velvet because it will stain a white dress. I don’t like red velvet any way so that was fine.
We ended up going with vanilla for brides cake and chocolate for grooms cake because we are boring but also because we thought those would be easiest for the amount of people we were expecting (we had over 300 at the wedding).
Originally, I really wanted to do like 8 cakes — all different flavors and do like “bride's pick” “groom's pick” “mother of bride pick” and so forth, but that got shut down and I think I was a little bummed.
People thought it was a cool idea but I think realistically the cake people said it would be difficult to plan for the amount of people and how big each cake would be and stuff like that so we decided against it. Ultimately it was like, too many options can cause chaos.
— Priscilla, 29
I spent a lot of time on Pinterest. Looking at cakes and talking about them with my then Fiancé. We worked the board down to a few favorites and went to our chosen baker, Hometown Desserts. She was actually my neighbor growing up and she’s an amazing baker.
When we got to her shop we consulted her on how many layers we need, if we needed to do extra sheet cake for the number of guests, and of course tasted different cakes! Being in Florida she’s known for her Key Lime Cake! It was such a big hit! We ended up with a 3-tier naked cake and a groom’s cake shaped like a beehive. The naked cake was vanilla (really just for looks), the groom’s cake was delicious — a honey spice cake, and we had sheet cakes of the Key Lime cake.
— Sandra, 27
Choosing your wedding cake doesn't have to be stressful or all-consuming, but it's not always a cake-walk, either. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Just try to remember that your wedding day is about you and your partner, and what you both want. That's your priority! Try to relax and enjoy your wedding planning for what it is: A celebration of your love! If choosing a cake is getting to be too much, take a step back and take a day off (or however long you need) of wedding planning. At the end of the day, cake is cake. You can get it anywhere! So do not stress and try to look on the bright side: You're going to party all night with the ones you love the most, your cake will be delicious, and you'll be married to someone amazing. That's what matters most!
