In Good Taste: Unique Wedding Cakes

Now that you've worked out all the details of your wedding ceremony and know where your reception will be held, there's still one more major item you'll want to have in place before the ceremony-the wedding cake. And with all the options available for wedding cakes these days, it won't be hard at all for you to find unique wedding cakes-just another way to make your wedding special and memorable.

The first thing you'll need to decide is who will make the cake. You should take into consideration how large the wedding party will be, and where the reception will be held. Depending on the size of the guest list, you may even opt to have small individual cakes prepared for each guest. If your wedding is fairly small, you could ask a friend or family member with great baking skills to make a cake for you (this will be a lot cheaper, too). If you're holding the reception at a hotel or banquet room, you should check with management to make sure that the cake does not need to be supplied by the hotel. Even if this is the case, you should still be able to add your own creative touches to the cake, such as choosing icing colors and telling the baker any messages you'd like on the cake. You could also hire a caterer or request that a fine local restaurant bake your wedding cake for you. Make sure that the person responsible for your cake share your creative vision for the cake, and that you can see the progress of the cake, as well as a drawing of the finished product of the cake.

Different cultures have different wedding cake traditions, so you can use ideas from other countries to make your wedding cakes unique. For instance, in China, the bride and groom's families are presented with messenger cakes to send to their friends and family, to spread the news of a new engagement. The cakes are given in traditional round, lacquered boxes, inscribed with the Chinese symbol meaning double happiness. People who receive the boxes are expected to give a gift in return, and the more elaborate the box, the more expensive the gift should be.

You can select a variety of colors for the icing of your wedding cake. Most times, the colors are the same as the colors you're using for the rest of the ceremony and reception decoration, but multicolored cakes are a wonderful way to break up the monotony of wedding decorations, or to accent the all-white table that the wedding cake will be on. Unique wedding cake ideas include using flowers as decoration for the cake (both real and edible), and using metallic-colored icing, along with pearls or lace to trim the cake. You can also choose creative toppers for your cake, beside the traditional small figurines of a bride and groom. Large replicas of wedding rings, an object symbolized a hobby of the couple (i.e. if the couple visits the beach often, seashells could top or accent the cake). Don't forget that the taste of a wedding cake can make it unique as well. Usually, wedding cakes are plain white cakes, and sometimes chocolate. However, flavors like buttercream, almond, and icing toppings like marmalade or fresh fruit can make your wedding cake extra special.