A few weeks ago, I invited Julie Blunier with J. Blu Design to guest blog all about wedding florals! The response was outstanding, so I’ve decided to keep up this series by asking area wedding vendors to educate brides on different aspects of their businesses. My Wedding Wednesday posts are all about helping you plan your wedding, using my experience as a wedding photographer to help you with things you may not think about when planning your wedding day. Because, let’s face it, this is probably your first time doing this, while I’ve been behind the scenes at dozens of weddings.

Inviting some of my favorite vendors to share about their expertise will hopefully add value and a different perspective for you and be helpful as you plan that part of your day. It is also a way for local brides to learn about some of the best vendors in our area!

Today on the blog, I’ve invited my friend and fellow wedding vendor, Katie Regan, to share all about choose your wedding cake/sweets. Katie owns the adorable Two Whisks Bakery, a full-service, friendly bakery located in downtown Manteno, Illinois. She has a lot of insight and useful tips for brides when it comes to the process of choosing a wedding cake.

“Hellllooooo fellow cake connosisseurs!

Congratultions — you are engaged and have made all your big decisions (venue, photographer, DJ) and now it’s time for the sweet stuff!! So exciting! I own a small bakery in Manteno, Illinois. It truly is small town, USA in Manteno and I am in love with it; it just feels so wholesome and homey here. What a great place to visit while planning the beginning of your lives together.

Wedding tastings are one of my favorite parts of my job. I get to meet the couple, pamper them for a while and get to know them on the *sweetest* level. I feel you really connect with people when they are four cupcakes deep, but maybe that’s just me.

I put together a short list of things that I think are helpful to know in the wedding cake department. I made it short and sweet (no pun intended that time) so you can breeze right through it. Most importantly, I want you to realize that you are only engaged for such a short amount of time — and out of all of the overwhelming and stressful decisions you have to make in the process, this should not be one of them. Take your time, let yourself enjoy the cake and have fun with it. Bring your mom, bring your mother-in-law and just relish in your bride-hood for a while. I give you permission, because sometimes you just need someone to give you permission to sit and take it all in.

Okay, here it goes.

1. Cost-cutting tip: Get a smaller cake! Many couples are choosing to go the cupcake route. {Love it} In addition to the cupcakes, most couples would still like a traditional-looking cake to cut into for the ceremonial ‘cutting of the cake’, but likely have spent a majority of their budget on the cupcakes. Here is what you do: get a smaller cake and put it on a cake pedestal, crate or decorative box to raise up the cake. Suddenly, your cake looks more impressive and is the center of attention. It creates a bigger deal while keeping your cost down.
2. Buyer beware: Cake cutting fee! You have ordered your cake, and it’s perfect, just like you always dreamed! Yay! You got your final invoice from your caterer or venue, and there is an unexpected fee! Boo! I hear from brides all the time that they were not expecting a cake-cutting fee on top of their catering bill. Beware, many caterers and/or venues charge a fee to cut your cake. It’s industry-wide and common. I don’t have a way for you to avoid the fee; I just advise you to ask your caterer and venue if they apply this charge. The worst is spending your whole cake budget and then getting surprised by an additional fee that you had not considered. Please don’t think I mean this as a ‘hidden fee’–I simply think caterers and venues forget that most brides haven’t done this before and might not think to ask about additional costs as it related to serving desserts, amongst all the other questions and decisions on their list.
3. No topper, no problem! It’s okay not to have a cake topper! If you can’t find something that is ‘so you’ then skip it! I have many brides that struggle to find a topper they love and settle for something just to have a topper. I have had brides skip the topper and just go with fresh flowers on top, and it’s gorgeous! If you can’t find the perfect topper, I say skip it!
4. Flower Power! Personally, I feel when you add fresh flowers to your cake, it really pulls everything together. Many florists are happy to put aside a few flowers that were left from your bouquets. It’s perfect! By using the same flowers, it ties everything together for a seamless look.
5. Cake tasting is for the guys! There is not a ton that guys get excited about during the wedding planning process. I am lucky enough that cake is usually what gets them. Maybe they don’t care how the cake looks necessarily (which is perfect, because we DO), but they usually DO care about how it tastes and what flavors you pick. Let them decide what cake you want to try during your consultation. If there is one that he really loves, make sure you incorporate that. There are so many details that are about us, the brides . . . let him have this one. Tell him it’s all about him and what he wants for the cake. I promise it will go far.

Cheers to you! I am genuinely excited for you and I hope this helped, even if in the slightest. Here is to your future together and starting it on a sweet note.”

You can find Two Whisks Bakery:

Online at www.twowhisksbakery.com

Facebook

The Knot

Thanks Katie for sharing your expertise with brides! I’m sure this post will be so helpful to them.

For more helpful tips for brides, head to the For Brides section!