Wedding Cake Basics: Choosing the Perfect Cake

Your wedding cake may be the centerpiece for your entire wedding, so you’ll most likely be putting a lot of thought into choosing just the right one. Even if you intend to stick with a basic tiered cake, you’ll still be faced with many choices regarding flavours and decorations. When shopping for the right cake, be sure to choose a baker who is willing to work with you and understands what you want.

Before Shopping For Your Wedding Cake

Before you start tasting samples and designing an elaborate blueprint for your cake there are a few things you’ll need to think about first. No matter how simple you’re wedding’s theme is, you’ll want your cake to match the rest of that colour scheme or any other type of theme you’ve chosen. As one of your biggest visual highlights, your wedding cake will play a key role in tying your theme together.

Know your budget before negotiating with your baker. You should have your guest list established beforehand to give yourself an idea on how many servings you’ll need. Cake size, type of icing, and number of hand-made decorations will all play a part in your final cost so it’s important to have an amount you’re willing to spend in mind before allowing your bank account to be seduced by designer decorations and fancy frostings.

Do Your Research

Before deciding on any particular bakery, read reviews and get referrals. Don’t hesitate to ask every question you have, such as what kind of delivery method your baker uses and is there an extra fee for that service. Educate yourself on the different icing options such as fondant, butter cream, and sugar icings. Taste everything, get samples, and bring a trusted friend or family member along to give second opinions. Once you’ve settled on a baker, make sure they understand your timeline and any other expectations you may have.

Unconventional Cakes

Not all wedding cakes have to be a standard, white, tiered cake from your local bridal shop. Some other ideas you may want to consider are tiered cupcake trays with delicious little mini cakes decorated to suit your theme. Perhaps you’d rather go with a smaller wedding cake for each table which will double as your centerpiece. Having your cake made by friends or family can also give an added personal touch to your wedding.

Wedding Planning: The Budgeting Basics

Budgeting for your wedding can sometimes be a huge headache and may take the romance out of the whole wedding planning process. Rather than stressing out every time you think of another bill or deposit that’s due, create an organized budget in advance before you spend a dime and give yourself a realistic idea of what kind of wedding you can afford.

Budgeting Before You Buy

Sit down with your partner and create a thorough budget before you start thinking about where to have your wedding or how white you want your dress to be. Make a list of every detail you can think of and assign a monetary or budget percentage value to each item. Creating a budget and not worrying about all the little stuff is usually what gets couples into tight situations because it’s those little things that can add up after all the rest of your budget has been spent on the caterer, the venue, and the wedding dress.

The Guest List to Expense Ratio

Creating your guest list should go almost hand in hand with creating your budget. More guests equals more cake, more food, more drinks, and more seating space. For a large guest list, you need extra wedding invitations, wedding favours, and perhaps even a bigger sound system to function in a larger reception hall. When estimating out your budget, be sure to keep all these factors in mind.

Make a List of Priorities

You can’t know in advance exactly what everything is going to cost. While you may have put your best effort into drafting up an accurate budget, some things may just end up costing more and you may have to eat up those extra costs. By prioritizing everything in your budget, you’ll be able to cut back on the less important aspects of your wedding. If possible, pay for the most necessary things in advance and save the less important things for the end when you have a better idea of what you’re actually spending.

Keep a Budgeting Checklist

By making a chronological checklist of everything you need to buy, pay for, or put a deposit on, you’ll be able to see how much you’re spending and when you have to spend it all at a glance. If you have to pay a few vendors all within the same week, you may choose to make any additional purchases at a later time in order to leave yourself some financial breathing room. This is also a good way to remind yourself when a bill or deposit is due so you don’t lose a hold on your dream dress or that perfect venue.

Budgeting doesn’t have to be a chore when planning your wedding if you stay organized and keep records of everything. When your wedding day rolls around and you’ve stuck to your budget you’ll be able to enjoy your big day with unburdened shoulders and a light heart.

Will You Need to Hire a Wedding Planner for Your Big Day?

As you probably know already, planning a wedding can be a lot of work and it can be all too easy to overlook some of the most important details. Hiring a wedding planner can be expensive, but in some cases the help they provide will be invaluable. Even when you have the time and energy to do it all yourself, you may still find that a wedding planner can offer a great deal of knowledge and experience that will come in very handy.

Your Budget is Tight Enough Already

Even if it’s just a rough draft, get a good idea of your budget before deciding to hire a wedding planner. Once you have a better idea on how much you can spend on some extra help you will be able to determine if hiring a planner will be worth the cost. Keep in mind that a professional wedding planner will most likely be able to haggle with your vendors and may already have contacts they work with often enough to get discounts from. If you can’t afford to hire their full services, you may be able to negotiate a fee to get some consulting advice.

Save Yourself from Unwanted Surprises

Hiring a wedding planner may seem like an unnecessary luxury on a tight budget, but you could save yourself quite a bit of hassle by following the advice of a professional throughout your entire wedding planning experience. If you don’t know where to start for some or all aspects of your wedding or if you’re having your wedding in a different town whose vendors and locations would be unfamiliar to you, a wedding planner becomes even more valuable. Especially as you get closer to your wedding day, your wedding planner will be the one who takes care of any problems or surprises that arise.

You Don’t Need a Pro to Still Get Help

If hiring a wedding planner just isn’t in your budget, talk to your friends and family for a little extra advice. Given the opportunity, your mother, your maid of honour, or even future sister-in-law may be more than happy to take the role as your second in command. Any friends or family you have with extra time on their hands may be happy to take charge on the floral, cake, or catering responsibilities. If you’re going to put certain aspects of your wedding in the hands of your friends and family, just be sure it’s someone you can count on who knows your tastes and understands what you’ll be expecting.

If you choose to hire a wedding planner, be sure to get referrals from your friends and family who have used one in the past and ask for references from any potential planners. It will be up to you how much help you want to get from them, so if you just need a hand on the day of your wedding or you want help with only a few details of the planning process, shop around to see who you can hire on a per service type of basis.