So many times brides try to save on their budgets by cutting costs on some major items. A good wedding planner will walk you through areas you can save on, and areas you should never save on! The cake is one of those areas!
Wedding cake bakers range in price and you can find a very affordable baker that will fit your budget. One thing I always discourage my brides from doing is buying from a grocery store...even if it is a high end grocery store!
I have reasons behind this! One of my brides chose to buy a wedding cake from a high end grocery store because of the price and the tastiness of the cake. While the cake was delicious, it was very dense, which made it extremely heavy. She also had many tiers for her wedding cake, making it even heavier. And, on top of it all, she had her wedding at a botanical garden...in the summer. While the reception was inside, she wanted the cake set in front of the huge set of beautiful windows where light was streaming in through. While this would have made for a beautiful backdrop, I had to change the plan the day of the wedding because it was just too hot and not a good decision if we wanted the cake to last until cake cutting! So, I changed the location of the cake table in hopes of saving the cake. During the reception, I notice the cake starting to lean. We notified the bride that we would be altering the schedule of events to cut the cake sooner, rather than later. But, unfortunately, this still wasn't enough to save the leaning tower of wedding cake. As soon as the bride and groom started to cut into the cake for pictures, it completely fell over! Luckily, I was there to catch the cake before it landed on the bride and groom! My assistant quickly grabbed the catering staff and we moved the cake to the kitchen. I was a mess, and trying to contact the bakery to get replacements delivered ASAP! I tried to cut the tiers that weren't ruined and noticed a vital part of the cake was missing! The grocery store bakery failed to use cake dowels to stack the heavy tiers on top of each other! There was no hope for this cake to last!
So, while you may be thinking you could save some money, it's not worth it! Use a bakery that specializes in wedding cakes! They will know how to assemble the cake correctly and will save you the stress and embarrassment of having a collapsing cake!
This cake was assembled correctly, thankfully! With it's 5 tiers, it was heavy and beautiful!
Happy planning!