Wedding Cake Decorating Tips

By Kristi Patrice Carter

How exciting! You've set the date to be married, and now you have a myriad of chores to complete and decisions to make. While some of the details will be tedious or even unpleasant, designing and decorating the cake will be one of the most fun and satisfying parts of planning the wedding. Let's talk a little about different ways to decorate your cake.

First, imagine the overall theme and tone of your wedding. Years hence, will you and your guests remember your wedding as elegant, traditional, whimsical, playful, offbeat, casual, or formal? Any of these is just fine, as long as you are deliberate about the overall effect of your choices. If you are a young, non-traditional kind of gal, you probably don't want the conventional three tiered ivory wedding cake that your strait-laced auntie had at her wedding. On the other hand, if you value convention, and want your wedding to be traditional, by all means, embrace that attitude and decorate your cake accordingly. Anything goes, as long as it represents you and your spouse-to-be.

Next, take into account the season of your wedding. It's lovely and fitting to use nature as a guideline for decorating your cake. For instance, in the fall, a bride might opt to have a cake iced in chocolate brown with glorious orange, fiery red, and vibrant gold leaves cascading all around it. Similarly, a spring wedding cake might pay homage to the delicate pink and purple flowers common to that time of year. A wedding set during the holidays might employ deep red, the color of the season, against snowy white frosting. Let nature be your guide as you choose the colors and embellishments on your cake.

Third, consider the weather and time of your wedding. Certain types of frosting or icing don’t survive well in warm weather. Make sure you choose a cake and decorations that will be fine if it is not refrigerated for hours. Fondant, for example, may "sweat" beads of condensation. Unappetizing, and definitely not beautiful. 

Unfortunately, you will have to give a bit of thought to the cost. Generally cakes are sold at a cost per serving basis, and the decorations on the cake don't affect the price as much as the ingredients. Still, asking the baker to create something he's never done before or requesting unusual shapes or decorations might hike the price a bit. It may be worth it to cut back on other costs to ensure you can have a delightful, meaningful cake.

Finally, think of the personalized touches for your wedding cake. A topper that represents your interests as a couple is endearing and unique. If you and your husband-to-be met on a hike, perhaps you could have the bride on top of the cake, and the husband scaling the side, to represent the situation you were in when you first laid eyes on each other. Possibilities are literally endless, as personalized decorations can be fashioned from sugar or fondant by a creative, willing baker.

Have fun designing your wedding cake decorations. Allow the cake to showcase you as a couple, and let your imagination run wild.