Customize Your Wedding Cake

You want your wedding cake to reflect your personality as a couple. Here are 8 ways to add personal flair to your wedding cake!
Try a Cake Topper!
Cake toppers come in all shapes, sizes and styles. Some are whimsical; some even play a little tune! Although cake toppers are a more traditional type of wedding cake decoration, they can still be placed on cakes that have a more ‘modern’ style. Look around for a topper that makes you laugh, smile, or calls you back to a romantic moment from your past. Some couples are choosing a cake topper that can later serve as a sentimental curio piece, even going so far as to commission an artist to mimic their faces on those of the plastic bride and groom. Make sure to check with your chef or decorator, but in the end the choice to use a topper is all yours.
How About a Groom’s Cake?
A popular wedding tradition, especially down South, the groom’s cake is a perfect way to accessorize and allow your spouse to choose their own cake flavor and icing! A groom’s cake is usually darker, richer, and designed to be a little more understated than the “bride’s cake” (the traditional wedding cake). Made from chocolate cake or mousse more often than not, the groom’s cake is typically sliced up and sent home with guests as a gift in decorative boxes. If you believe the old wives’ tale, an unmarried woman sleeping with a piece of the groom’s cake under her pillow for one night will find her love within the year. But even if superstition isn’t your style, everyone loves more cake!
Will the Real Cake Please Stand Up?
One attractive alternative to the typical and traditional wedding cake that is arranged in tiers or layers is using an attractive and eye-catching cake stand. Most bakeries will be able to offer you a decent selection of stands they have in stock, but just about anything can be used as a cake stand. Brides and cake designers often make trips to flea markets, estate sales and thrift stores searching for the perfect match to a cake. Before you decide to go shopping on your own for a cake stand, make sure you check in with your designer to see how large your cake is and how much each piece weighs so you can buy the right kind of item to use as a stand. If you decide to use several smaller cakes rather than one large one, you can look for cake stands of different heights to add interest.
Put it on a Pedestal!
Timeless and old-fashioned in a traditional sense, an heirloom or antique cake pedestal can complement any style of wedding cake. A cake pedestal with feet and made from crystal, glass, china, or silver-plating can be the difference between an average cake and one that makes memories. Pick up one of these classic pieces at a local antique shop or borrow one from a family member for an extra personal touch!
Try a Cake Plate One For Size
No matter if it’s made of silver, granite, crystal or glass, a cake plate can easily become yet another one-of-a-kind accessory to flaunt your dream confection. Designed with a smooth edge that is rounded out for easy serving, cake plates are relatively inexpensive ways to bring a personal touch to your cake. Look for them in flea markets, antique shops, and your grandmother’s china cabinet.
Deck the Halls, or at least the Cake Table
Your wedding cake is one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen, so it’s obvious that no ordinary card table will do for showcasing this important part of your big day. This is one time it’s okay to go a little crazy; decorate your cake table with gorgeous, sumptuous fabrics, candles, and seasonal flowers and greenery. For a personal touch, why not add photographs of each of your parents cutting the cake at their own weddings? Who knows, you just might start a tradition that will last for generations.
Say it With Crystal!
A good pair of champagne flutes, whether they came from your wedding registry or your mother’s good crystal, can always be counted on to add that extra sparkle and shine to your cake table. Twist ribbons, artificial flowers, or any other embellishment that catches your eye around the stem of each glass to make them even more beautiful. Or you could begin a family tradition by having your initials and wedding date monogrammed into the top of a set of glasses. With a little luck, the tradition will continue and one day you’ll be able to read your great grandchildren’s names and dates off of the glasses!
Serve it Up Right!
Quite a few couples these days are choosing decorative serving sets that are engraved with floral designs or their initials and wedding date. Consider wrapping a ribbon complete with flowers or other greens to your knife and lifter set before you place them on the table in close proximity to your cake. These pieces have great potential to become family heirlooms for your children, so make sure you choose a set that will stand the test of time.