5 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding Cake

For many couples, the wedding cake is an extremely important element to the wedding and is used as one of the main centrepieces in the reception. The cake is usually on display for everyone to see and is then cut in front of all the guests as part of the wedding breakfast.

Wedding cakes, just like everything else, can be pretty expensive. However, below are a few tips and ideas on how to make your wedding cake more cost effective without losing the wow factor.

1. Dummy Tiers
   Dummy or fake tiers can replace real tiers. If you would like a really big cake but do not have hundreds of guests, fake tiers can be iced and used to increase the size. It is also usually less expensive to have an almost entirely fake cake, perhaps with one real tier to cut in front of the guests, fairly near the bottom. One or more large cutting cakes which are not part of the display can be kept in the kitchen and handed out after the cake has been cut. Cutting cakes can even be made by family members or friends!
2. Fresh Flowers
   Decorate your cake with fresh flowers rather than sugar flowers, as sugar flowers are very labour intensive and can significantly add to the cost of the cake.  Make sure you check with your florist as to which ones are in season and would work well. Also, make sure the flowers are non-toxic!
3. Make Your Own
   By making your own cake you can save a huge amount of money! This isn’t something for everyone, especially if baking and art is completely alien to you, but for many people is it easily achievable with the right design and a bit of help. Keen brides can even take courses in advance on how to make a proper wedding cake. For a stress free run-up to the wedding, opt for a fruit cake which can be made and decorated well in advance.
   A homemade cupcake tower can also work really well. Make the decorations i.e. sugar flowers in advance, so all you have to do is bake the cupcakes and ice them! Ideally cupcakes should only be baked the day before the wedding, so it’s a good idea to get help from friends and family (which can be really fun) if you have a lot to do yourself.
4. Cake Stands
   Cake stands and pedestals add height to the cake and can make it look a real centrepiece. You can hire all kinds of stands from various places if your wedding venue does not provide one.
5. Supermarkets
   Finally, as much as I hate to say it, you can even buy wedding cakes from leading supermarkets! They are mass produced and therefore much less expensive than going to a professional cake designer. While the quality and finish isn’t up to the standard of a cake made by a reputable cake maker, you can jazz it up quite well with the addition of fresh flowers and by placing it on a beautiful stand.

Article by Zoe Clark of The Cake Parlour

Image Courtesy of The Cake Parlour

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