Hot Topics by Emma Lowe - Professional Wedding Photographer

How many Wedding Cakes can you remember? Should you splash the cash?

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How many Wedding Cakes can you remember? Should you splash the cash?

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Weddings are expensive. This is a given. Sure, there’s the option to head to the registry office and keep things relatively cheap and cheerful. But the vast majority opt for larger occasions where family, friends, coworkers and countless others can attend to celebrate the bride and groom tying the knot. Now, when planning a wedding, there’s a good chance you have a set amount laid out on the table and are going to spend a fair amount of time budgeting this figure to ensure that all aspects of the big day are covered. A key question on the lips of anyone planning a wedding is where should you be willing to splash the cash and where might you want to be a little more reserved. There are many memorable and significant parts of the day that will have a pretty big impact on how the day pans out and what memories are formed – the venue, the dress, the videography and wedding photography. It’s completely understandable to attribute a more generous portion of the budget to these things. But for the smaller details, you may want to hold back and save a bit. But what about the cake? This is a traditional part of the day, yet one that very few will actually take much notice of or remember. So, is it worth splashing the cash here?[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Origins of the Traditional Wedding Cake

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator align=”align_left” el_width=”50″][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]A wedding cake is inarguably a traditional element of a wedding. But how has a cake come to be a part of wedding rituals over the years? Well, back in the 16th and 17th centuries, weddings had “bride pies” rather than cakes. This would include a list of ingredients that would raise eyebrows today, such as cock sparrow brains (which supposedly had aphrodisiac properties) mixed with sweet potatoes. Some pies were more elaborate, with a 1685 recipe detailing a large tart containing several distinct pies including egg and dried fruit; prawns, cockles and oysters; cocks’ combs and lambs’ testicles; and artichokes and stuffed larks. A final compartment contained live birds or a snake. Rather fortunately, times changed and bride cakes became more common. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, plum cakes or “fruit cakes” with icing sugar became more popular, more elaborate and more decorative, paving the way for the tiered and iced wedding cakes that are most common today.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

How Much Do Wedding Cakes Cost?

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator align=”align_left” el_width=”50″][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]Of course, asking how much a wedding cake costs is like asking the length of a piece of string. The price will be dependent on various factors, such as the size of the cake, the complexity of the design, the ingredients used and the demand for the specific cake maker or decorator you’re interested in. Nowadays, the average spend on a wedding cake is roughly £300. This figure is also on the rise, with couples wanting larger or more elaborate cakes to serve as a centrepiece at the reception.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Is It Worth It?

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator align=”align_left” el_width=”50″][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]There’s no right or wrong when it comes to how much to spend on any area of your wedding. It’s your day and you can prioritise things as you please. However, if you’re looking for practical advice and want to cut back on your wedding spending, many professionals suggest that the cake is a good place to minimise funds. At roughly £300, the cake is, by far, not going to rival any of your big ticket items when it comes to spending. But £300 on just one cake is pretty steep – chances are you’d never spend that much on a cake for any other occasion. While it’s recommended that you do use a professional baker for your cake, rather than opting for a DIY job or relying on a friend or family member to do it, you don’t necessarily have to go with anything too elaborate. Many people report that few guests actually even take a slice of the cake and, instead, head straight to the dancefloor or bar when the cake has been sliced. If you’d like an elaborate looking cake, but don’t want to have to pay quite as much, you can always request that only one layer of the cake is real (most likely the largest bottom tier) and that the upper tiers are crafted from cardboard decorated with icing.

Sure, most weddings will have a cake. But you only need to fork out for the costs if this is something that matters to you and that you see as an integral part of the day. Otherwise, you can easily keep costs more reasonable and have a larger proportion of the budget to spend on aspects of the day that you deem more important!

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