Wedding cakes have a rich history as they have endured through many changes along the way to reach us as they are today. Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians would crumble a handful of wedding cake over the bride or over the bride and her groom signifying fertility as well as prosperity. The first cakes were of a salty nature, and then there came the wedding cakes made with sugar and no icing. Somewhere along the way, it is believed that a baker of the wedding cakes decided to put a layer of a mixture of water and sugar between the wedding cakes so they would stay together while in route to the wedding, and thus began the iced wedding cakes. Also at one time, there were individual wedding cakes that ranged in size comparable to cupcakes these were called bride cakes.

One tradition of the past was to string a piece of wedding cake through the wedding ring a number of times, the ninth time being threaded through being the luckiest. Eventually there became a custom to box the cut pieces for a groomsman and bridesmaid to take with them. Sleeping with a piece of wedding cake is supposed to insure dreams of the coming marriage partner of the one who slept with the wedding cake.

It is also traditional for the bride and groom to share the cutting of the first piece of wedding cake, with the groom’s right hand atop the bride’s right hand, then the bride covers his hand with her left hand, this ritual signifies their future to be shared. This first piece of wedding cake is then taken in turn of feeding one another to insure their family should never go hungry. In addition, the wedded couple shall keep the top tier of their wedding cake, preserving it by freezing, to be eaten by them one their first anniversary or to celebrate the christening of their first-born child.

Once the wedding cake has been chosen, the topper for the cake can be chosen. There is a vast assortment of wedding cake toppers from which to choose. Depending on personal tastes and the wedding theme, the cake topper should be a piece of cake to pick out. A good number of brides still chose the traditional cake topper of a bride and groom upon their wedding cake, but they can also choose cake toppers, which are monogrammed to fit the occasion. There is many a musical cake topper as well as toppers of ethnic and multinational themes of choice. Some brides even choose wedding cake toppers with the artistic flair of using glass or porcelain toppers.

Choosing a wedding cake topper is fun, which will add that special decoration needed for the wedding cake that should not be overly stressed over. Some brides have made the choice of using special themes for cake toppers by the use of novelty or a special figurine, some wedding cakes are humorous as well as romantic, the choice is really a personal determination of the bride and her groom.

Yolanda is the owner of Yolandas Wedding Favors. She sells many different types of wedding favors such as, love glass coasters, two peas in a pod salt and pepper shakers and many many more. Yolandas Wedding Favors also carries many different wedding accessories and wedding gifts such as guest books, unity candles, ring pillows, bridesmaid gifts, groomsmen gifts and many many more.

Not as important or as crucial as the bride’s wedding dress or the ideal place for the reception, careful attention should be given to wedding cake stands. The wedding cake always plays one of the most interesting and special parts of the wedding reception. The wedding cake should be placed in a prominent and focal position for all to see as the bride and groom cut the cake which is accepted as a form of bond that heralds the sweet beginning of the new marriage. Therefor, a good and stable wedding cake stand should be used.

Types of Wedding Cake Stands

One of the most popular styles is the three-tiered wedding cake, it will require a stand capable to hold this style of cake, this normally a square or round stand. As most wedding cakes are three-tier, wedding cake stands are often either a) an unraised cake plate; b) a plateau stand (flat or raised uniformly off the table); or c) a pedestal (raised in the center by some sort of pillar) stand. Glass, acrylic, ceramic, china, metal and even single-use Styrofoam cake stands can be used. To accommodate the wide variations of the traditional wedding cake, there are many styles of wedding cake stands available.

Grouped Arrangements of Wedding Cakes

Wedding cake stands come in all sorts and types and are also available for grouped arrangements of wedding cakes. This allows each cake to be displayed individually on its own stand, and the stands are usually staggered in various heights for a beautiful presentation. This type of cake stand allows cakes to be displayed in a variety of ways: in stair-step format, in a rounded appearance (symmetrically with tallest in back and shortest stands in front), in a cascading appearance, or in an asymmetrical grouping. The design options are ample to satisfy all requirements.

Separate wedding cake stands arranged in these types of groupings create a wonderful effect and work well with intricate and individually decorated cakes. Shapes that are non-traditional also work well in this format because they can be displayed individually. Keep in mind if you choose a cake stand of this nature you will need a cake table with ample room to display the cakes.

Other Cake Stand Options

Having selected your wedding décor choices, there is no real right or wrong when it comes to choosing wedding cake stands, other than providing adequate support . It can be as simple or as ornate or as high as you wish. If you have an heirloom cake plate or stand you may wish to use that. Alternately, you may be able to use another display, for example, the cake arranged on upside-down terra-cotta pots for a spring or garden themed wedding. If you’d like a non-traditional option of this nature be sure to discuss it with the bakery first to be sure it is acceptable for holding and displaying your cake. One final point is the picture of the wedding cake, no wedding photo album would be complete without it!

Bob Wright offers interesting articles and advice relating to weddings, you can find more here http://nicewedding.net/

The wedding cake has long been the focus of attention at the reception and for many years now it has been customary to have a three tiered white wedding cake which is elaborately decorated and which includes one of a number of traditional wedding cake toppers such as statue depicting the bride and groom, a pair of doves, a pair of gold rings or a horseshoe.

In medieval times guests would each bring a small piece of cake to a wedding and these would be stacked together to form a tower or pyramid. The newly married couple would then kiss over the top of the cake if they could to bring good luck to their marriage or, more often than not, would end up falling into the stack of cake much to the amusement of everyone present.

Over time the tower or pyramid formed from individual pieces of cake evolved into a single cake and the tiered design is thought to have been based upon the unusual tiered spire of the medieval church of St Bride’s in London.

It was also customary for cakes to be made from fruit which was readily available and to be covered in a layer of fat and sugar to preserve the cake in the days before refrigeration.

Nowadays it is traditional for the bride and groom to cut their wedding cake together and often to feed each other with the first bites of the cake as a symbol of the establishment of their new family unit. A section of the wedding cake (typically the top tier) is then often removed and stored so that it can be used at the christening of the couple’s first child.

While many people today still follow the well established pattern when it comes to planning their wedding, a growing number of couples are choosing to depart from tradition and, in particular, to look for ways in which they can make their wedding day truly unique and memorable for their guests.

As a result it is common today to not only see wedding cakes in a variety of different shapes, sizes, colors and flavors but also for couples to use wedding cake toppers as a central focal point for their cake.

Today wedding cake toppers come in all shapes and sizes and can range from exquisite and unique works of art which are specially commissioned by the bride and groom to statues depicting the couple in various hilarious poses which can be purchased quite cheaply from any one of a large number of suppliers.

As couples strive more and more to make their wedding day stand apart from the crowd we will continue to see attention focused upon the design of wedding cakes and, in particular, upon the development of increasingly unique wedding cake toppers.

For more information on wedding cake toppers visit Talking Weddings today.

While many couples today will choose a traditional wedding, often following in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents, a growing number of couples are electing to depart from tradition and frequently adopting less formal and more “fun” weddings.

Whichever route you choose however one thing that you are sure to want is at least something in your wedding that sets it apart and that will make it truly memorable for your guests. In many cases you’ll find that this is not an easy thing to accomplish in terms of the civil or religious ceremony itself, but your wedding reception and, in particular your wedding cake, will provide the perfect vehicle.

Many couples are already moving away from the traditional white wedding cake and opting for cakes of various flavors, colors and shapes although, in most cases, cakes continue to be tiered to provide the height that is really essential if the cake is to command the centre of attention as far as the reception decorations are concerned. But why have just one cake?

How about individual miniature cakes which will not only impress your guests in terms of the imagination and work that went into making them, but will also make them feel that extra bit special at the thought that you had a cake specially made for them. This option has the added virtue of allowing you to offer a range of different flavors if you wish to provide for the variety of tastes amongst your guests and miniature cakes can still be arranged on stands into a tier to emulate the classical tiered wedding cake.

If you’re feeling really bold, how about dispensing with cake altogether. We’re all familiar with the elaborate displays that we see in the stores, especially around the holidays, with towers of chocolate chips cookies or gingerbread men and, while gingerbread men might not be quite appropriate, with a little imagination it’s not too hard to think of a variety of sweet treats that would make a stunning display at your wedding.

And why stop there? Once you’ve created your spire of eye catching desserts why not mix in other sweets or even fruit and provide your guests with a variety of dipping bowls alongside the display so that they can coat their chosen sweet of piece of fruit in bitter dark, smooth milk or even white chocolate for that perfect after dinner treat.

These ideas in themselves can provide you with a memorable and quite unique “wedding cake” but, for that final touch how about a unique wedding cake topper?

Toppers come in all shapes and sized these days and are not only designed to crown your cake but also to give you the opportunity to make a very personal statement and to provide a talking point for your guests. There is a huge range of wedding cake toppers available today in just about every price range, from mass produced plastic toppers to exquisite and unique wedding cake toppers that can be hand crafted from a range of materials including crystal and semi-precious stones. What better way can there be to express your love for each other and to display that love to your assembled guests than by symbolizing that love in a unique wedding cake topper.

For more on unique wedding cake toppers please visit Talking Weddings today.

You’ve done it! You’re married and it’s time to let your hair down and for you, your family and friends to really enjoy your special moment at the reception. As your guests come into the reception room one of the first things that they will see will be your fabulous wedding cake and what better way can there be to kick things off than to have one of the numerous funny wedding cake toppers available to raise a laugh and get your guests talking.

For many years the traditional wedding cake has been a round three tiered white cake decorated with white or pastel colored flowers and often topped with a model representing the bride and groom, or perhaps with a pair of doves or horseshoes. But things are changing.

Nowadays it’s perfectly acceptable to depart from the customary wedding cake and to choose just about anything you like, so let your imagination go and create the cake that you want – after all it is your special day.

If you fancy a chocolate cake then why not have a chocolate cake? Similarly if your real passion is a pecan cake then that’s fine too. The only thing you really have to remember is that you will be serving your cake to your guests and so you will need to be keep it to something that everybody is going to like and need to aware of some of the more common dietary problems that we see today. A pecan cake, for example, might not be quite such a good idea bearing in mind the number of people who suffer from nut allergies these days!

How about a triangular cake, a square cake or even an octagonal cake? Wedding cakes nowadays do not have to be round and they don’t have to have three tiers either so you can pick any shape that takes your fancy. You should remember though that the cake will be a focal point of the reception and you will almost certainly want to retain the tradition of cutting the cake in front of your guests, so giving the cake some height so that it can be seen easily from all corners of the reception room is a good idea.

And what about color? Here again you can let your imagination run riot and choose just about any color under the rainbow. Granted a black cake is probably not going to look too attractive, but stunning effects can be produced in a wide range of colors. I’ve even seen one magnificent cake in purple which is a color that I would never have thought of for a cake!

Whatever you choose by way of flavor, color and shape for your cake one central feature of the cake will be its decoration and, in particular, the decoration on the top of the cake on which all eyes will focus.

Nowadays a whole industry has grown up producing nothing but wedding cake toppers and they come in all shapes and sizes and range from cheap plastic models to quite exquisite works of art often created in crystal or using semi-precious and precious stones. Toppers can also be purchased, or made, to fit with any theme you can imagine and one great idea is to look at your own personality and lifestyle and then to depict yourselves in a hilarious pose. Funny wedding cake toppers will certainly get your guests talking and can easily be chosen to make your cake not simply a work of art but a very personal statement.

For further information on wedding cake toppers please visit Talking Weddings today.

The days of the old-fashioned wedding cake topper with the standing figures of the bride in a long white wedding dress, complete with veil, and the groom in black morning dress are fading fast and today we see a growing range of often quite unusual wedding cake toppers.

Cake toppers tend to fall into two categories - those which we might class as traditional, in the sense that they are serious in nature, and those that we might class as humorous or comical wedding cake toppers.

Traditional toppers will include figures of the bride and groom but, while some will still have them standing in the customary white wedding dress and black tail coat, nowadays these will often show the bride and groom either in the actual clothes being worn for the wedding or in more casual attire. A good example of this might be military wedding cake toppers which can not only show the bride or groom in their correct military uniform, but can even show them with the correct medals and decorations.

Traditional toppers will also include such things as floral wedding cake toppers and a variety of different styles of topper displaying the initials of the bride and groom. There are also toppers that depict scenes from nature, including such things as quite beautifully crafted glass models of dolphins, which can make an ideal focal point at your reception for nature lovers and conservationists.

When it comes to funny wedding cake toppers however the choice today is simply amazing and it is relatively easy now to focus in on some aspect of the bride’s or groom’s character, or perhaps a favorite hobby or pastime, and find a humorous wedding cake topper that will really attract your guests’ attention to the cake and raise at least a smile if not a laugh or two.

For the fisherman, for example, there are toppers of the bride catching and reeling in her groom (or vice versa). It is also possible nowadays to get numerous examples of the bride catching her groom as he tries to escape, or dragging him by the collar to the altar.

Today there are wedding cake toppers to suit just about every taste and budget and the list of the different types available includes, amongst others, African American, Hispanic, gay, lesbian, beach, dove, Cinderella and fire fighter wedding cake toppers.

Your wedding reception is a happy and joyous occasion so why not stamp your personalities on the event by choosing an unusual wedding cake topper.

TalkingWeddings.com provides information on all aspects of your wedding including choosing unusual wedding cake toppers so why not pop over and have a look at the huge range including unique, custom and vintage wedding cake toppers and much more.

One of the great things about weddings today is that, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to follow the age old traditions of the white wedding that was almost certainly the custom for your parents and grandparents. Today you can do just about anything that you want on your special day and one increasingly seen practice is that of selecting a theme for your wedding.

Now you don’t of course have to go the whole hog if you don’t want to, or feel that by doing so you would upset some of your family and friends, who you naturally want to enjoy the day. So, if you choose, you can always “mix and match” with a very much traditional religious or civil ceremony, followed by an anything but traditional reception.

That said, there is probably one tradition that you will want to have at your reception and that is the wedding cake as very much a focal point of the decoration for your wedding party. You will also probably want to hold on to the custom of cutting the cake together in the presence of your guests and of sharing it with them. But how do you retain this tradition and not end up with a reception that is neither one thing nor the other?

Simple, all you have to do is to create a wedding cake that fits the theme of your reception and, possibly, even adapt the ceremony of cutting the cake so that also follows your chosen theme.

So, let’s say you’re both avid fans of the good old Western movies and decide that you want your guests to dress up as cowboys and to hold your reception in a Wild West saloon. Clearly you can hire costumes from your local fancy dress store, choose a suitable location for your reception and decorate it accordingly to fit your theme. But what about that cake?

Well, just let your imagination run riot. How about a cake in the shape of a totem pole, or a wigwam? Or what about a fort or a beautiful old southern plantation house? The possibilities are endless and, whatever you choose, your guests are sure to be talking about it long after the party is over.

And don’t forget to crown your cake with a suitable Western wedding cake topper. How about models of the bride and groom dressed as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara? Again you are limited only by your imagination and you will find that there are numerous Western wedding cake toppers to choose from as a whole industry is growing rapidly around supplying nothing but cake toppers these days.

Whether or not you choose to depart from tradition for your marriage ceremony, there is no reason at all nowadays why you shouldn’t have a reception of your own choosing, that fits your personalities and lifestyle and gives you the opportunity to really celebrate your marriage as you would wish to.

More information on Western wedding cake toppers can be found at Talking Weddings

For many couples one of the great things about getting married today is the fact that they are no longer bound by the customs and traditions that ruled the arrangements for their parents’ wedding, but are able to plan a wedding that very much suits their own personalities and lifestyles. But what about those couples who are planning a military wedding?

The basis of a military wedding is of course no different to any traditional white wedding in terms of the format of the wedding and the following reception, with a addition of some traditions that are peculiar to military weddings in general and to weddings from within individual corps or units in particular. This can make it somewhat more difficult to stamp your own personality on your wedding, but there are areas of the wedding, such as your wedding cake, where you can still be more than a little creative.

Whether it’s a military wedding or not, there’s nothing to say that you have to have a traditional circular white wedding cake. Nowadays cakes come in all flavors, shapes, sizes and colors and there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t have your own military cake.

If the kids can have birthday cakes shaped like dinosaurs, then why shouldn’t you have a wedding cake in the shape of an aircraft carrier or a Hercules? The problem of course is that your wedding cake needs to be very much a focal point of your reception and this means that it needs to have height – hence the tradition of building cakes into tiers. Your aircraft carrier may well be big enough to feed your assembled guests (and of course to put the bridge away in the freezer for the christening of your first child) but it will not have the dramatic effect that can only really be found by giving a cake height.

In most cases the answer is to choose a cake that you like in terms of flavor and color, but to stick with a fairly conventional shape (round, square, octagonal etc.) and to tier the cake in several layers to give you the required height. Then you can add the final personalization by finishing the cake off with one of the many military wedding cake toppers available today.

Here you could of course have your aircraft carrier or Hercules, but perhaps a safer, but no less personal, choice would be to have representations of yourselves complete with your chosen wedding dress and dress uniform.

The days of the cheap plastic replicas of the bride and groom are long gone and you can now have extremely realistic figures crafted which will match the bride’s dress and bouquet, and even her hair, as well as dressing you in the correct uniform complete with badges of rank and medal ribbons. Military wedding cake toppers today have become quite an art.

For more information about wedding cake toppers please visit Talking Weddings today.

Even if you’re new to cake decorating or an engaged couple on a budget, all you need are some basic cake decorating skills or a little time to shop online. You’ll soon have a cake that has everyone wanting to take a picture!

The quickest way to gather ideas for creating a cake topper or to find the perfect one to purchase is to window shop the Internet. Search with phrases such as “funny wedding cake topper,” “wedding anniversary cake topper,” etc. If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few examples:

· Hand-blown and spun glass cake toppers. Gold highlighted and sparkly or smooth and sleek, many of these are incredibly beautiful. A cake topper depicting a bride and groom ice-skating on top of a snowflake wedding cake is one of our favorites!

· Silver, gold or Swarovski crystal monograms (and numbers for birthdays and anniversaries)

· Sporty cake toppers can depict a bride and groom aboard a sailboat, riding horseback, roaring away in his and her race cars, and… well you get the picture.

· Humorous cake toppers include figures made in cartoonish likenesses of the betrothed and the popular resin figurines with bride and groom in formal wear acting out titles such as “The Tiff” and “Now I Have You.”

· Vintage cake toppers can be quite lovely - and interesting! Check out the reviews of Penny Henderson’s book, “Vintage Cake Toppers” at Amazon.com to get an idea of the possibilities.

· Character cake toppers are big hits with young children and brides and grooms. Mickey and Minnie at the altar, Winnie the Pooh and Friends on a child’s honey pot, sculpted birthday cake are a couple of examples.

· Fresh fruit (grapes, kumquats, etc.) or sugar-crystallized fruit arranged in an extravagant display can make a pretty picture! (Use whole fruit so there’s no danger of juice running into your icing).

· Castles – the sky’s the limit here! Your castle cake topper can be the top of a sculpted castle cake or a glass, fairy castle. Castle cake toppers are often requested for wedding and birthday cakes, as well as special theme cakes such as renaissance.

· Here’s a real attention grabber - a topsy-turvy cake with a cake topper that teeters over the edge. For example, a teapot with dormouse on a Mad Hatter cake or two figurines depicting mountain climbing bride and groom.

· Miniature toys. Here’s another simple way to make an amazing cake topper. One idea is to place a rotating doll stand on top of a tiered or stacked birthday cake. Then add a cute toy train, such as Thomas, or a carousel with pretty white horses in pink halters, and your cake will be a big hit

· Polymer clay cake toppers can add a great deal of meaning, fun or both to a cake. You can find companies online that create them in realistic likenesses of the bride and groom sharing an activity (ballroom dancing, golfing, you name it!) You can also find generic but adorable ones, such as the hula bride and groom at in Rebecca Russell’s “Round Head” collection at
http://www.rebeccarusselltoppers.com/brides_and_groom.htm

· Flowers - place a bouquet of white lilies, beautifully molded with gum paste or a bouquet of real orchids on top of the cake and then add a few around the cake (using flower spikes), some pretty borders, and you’ll have an amazingly beautiful cake.

Here’s a tip for using flowers as a cake topper. Take into consideration the size of the cake. Tiny flowers can be used on a large cake, but if used on their own, they’ll be lost. Conversely, large flowers like bird-of-paradise will dwarf a smaller cake. Also, as with any cake topper, consider the style and formality of the event. Daisies are more casual than roses, while stephanotis can swing either way.

Here are a few ideas for flower cake toppers:

· With a bouquet of flowers on top of the cake, arrange a few clusters of flowers here and there on the lower tiers as if a few blossoms have gracefully fallen from the bouquet.

· A gum paste plumeria or orchid lei encircling bride and groom figurines.

· Adorn your cake only with edible (non-poisonous) flowers, being sure that the flowers are also pesticide-free.

Many of these cake topper tips come from “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Here’s what one reader said about our Video Books:

“I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys baking, decorating and the feeling of accomplishment when everyone crowds around your cakes for a closer look.”

Joanne Robitaille, Windsor, Ontario, Canad

If you’ve enjoyed learning about the visual and symbolic effects of cake toppers, check out our article on Decorated Cakes!

And here’s one more cake topper tip: Be sure that your cake topper is positioned well on the cake. Use an ornament base or a plate underneath a cake topper so it won’t sink into the cake. Attach small decorations to the cake or plate with royal icing and/or flower spikes.

For more great cake decorating tips, along with free step by step videos (from the “Cake Decorating Made Easy!” Video Books), sign up for our free newsletter at http://www.CakeAnswers.com today!

Wedding cake serving sets usually come with a cake knife and a cake server. The blades of both of these items are usually made from stainless steel, but some models can be silver or pewter plated for added visual effect. The handles of a cake serving set is where most of the stylizing is done. Handles come is crystal, silver, pewter, composite materials, plastic, and glass.

The cost of the average wedding cake serving set will be somewhere around $30 to $50. The actual price that you pay will depend on the materials that the cake knife and cake server are made from, the handle design that you select, as well as what vendor you buy it from. If you want to maximize the value of your cake serving set then you may want to consider registering for your serving set when you register for your wedding china. By doing this you will be selecting a cake serving set that will match your wedding china, which in turn will allow you to use it more than once.

In addition to matching cake serving sets to wedding china you also have the option to match the set’s design to the theme of your wedding. There are many different styles of themed wedding cake serving sets that you can choose from. A few of the more popular serving set themes include beach themes, contemporary themes, Baroque themes, and antique themes. To find a serving set that will match your wedding’s design, look for a handle design that elegantly reflects one element of your wedding’s design such as a color, a pattern, or an icon that relates to the theme of your wedding. For example if you have a beach theme for your wedding then you may want to look for a wedding cake serving set that has starfish on the handles.

If you prefer a more elegant style for your wedding cake serving set then you can always opt to buy a silver cake knife and cake server set. These sets will tend to cost more than the average wedding cake serving set, but their elegance, beauty, and heirloom quality make then well worth the added cost. Another advantage of buying a silver wedding cake serving set is that you can have it engraved with the names, initials, and the anticipated wedding date for the engaged couple. Engraved cake servers make a great bridal shower gift, and a great memento from the couple’s wedding.

After the wedding is over many couple’s don’t know what they should do with their serving sets. If they have matched their wedding cake serving set to their wedding china then they can store the wedding cake serving set as another piece of their silver and china set. On the other hand if they have a novelty or engraved wedding cake serving set that they don’t want to use again, then they may want to create a shadowbox display that includes the wedding cake serving set, their wedding cake accessories, and other small decorations from their wedding. This shadowbox display will allow the newlyweds to proudly display memorabilia from the best day of their lives.

Planning a wedding, bridal shower or reception? Visit the bridal resource center for tips of wedding decorations, bridal gowns and accessories, shower favors, bridal lingerie and honeymoon planning.