Hey Everybody,
So you're getting married. Congratulations! Now, I know there are a lot of important decisions to make, but let's talk about the MOST important one (besides your spouse), the one that everyone will love and remember--the cake. Wedding cake has been "a must" at weddings for nearly a hundred years, ever since Emily Post mentioned it in her 1922 etiquette guide. Obviously, your cake needs to taste good--taste great--but it also needs to LOOK good--look great. I mean, everyone says, "Don't judge a wedding cake by it's cover," or something like that, but you know and I know--everyone does it.
In this article, I'd like to focus specifically on cake toppers. Not every couple has a cake topper, of course, but I personally think every cake needs one. Just think of a Christmas tree without a star on top, a birthday gift without a bow, Tammy Faye Bakker without makeup. Clearly, details matter. Anyway, like cake itself, cake toppers have been around for over a century, dating back to the times when couples used to serve loaves of bread instead of cake and decorated the bread with, say, silver bells. More and more, they are a way to make a cake (and wedding) uniquely yours, something you can save for years to come, put on your mantle, or share with your family.
Or wouldn't this make the coolest paperweight in the world?
At the Savoy, we have the privilege of hosting over sixty weddings a year, and it's wonderful to see how each couple expresses themselves in their decorations, desserts, and cake toppers. Lately we'd had several couples that have broken out of the traditional molds for cake toppers (man in suit, woman in dress, uh, holding handguns) and represented themselves with action figures. Check these out.
Surely they honeymooned at the Batcave!
And isn't this Lego couple the cutest thing you've ever seen? I wish I'd thought of that!
More than one couple has opted for Disney characters, like Lady and the Tramp.
Or Beauty and the Beast. (The girls get all the good titles.)
And then there was this couple that was obviously tuned into pop culture and had a great sense of humor. I bet they turned out to be coolest parents, especially on Halloween.
Then there was this couple that went a totally different direction and opted for even more sugar. Cookies!
In terms of cost, most cake toppers run from 15 to 50 dollars, or whatever a couple of action figures cost. For those who wish to spend a little more (150 to 200 dollars), there's a new trend on the rise thanks to online shops like Etsy--cake toppers that actually look like you and your spouse-to-be. Yes, I'm serious. Just imagine yourself--smaller--standing on top of heavenly frosting. Talk about a dream come true.
As an example, here's a couple who got married at the Savoy within the last couple of weeks. Aren't they adorable?
Now CHECK OUT their amazing cake topper. They ordered it on Etsy from a woman in Australia. (It took about a month.) Isn't this amazing?
Hopefully by now, your creative gears are turning. Just remember that when it comes to cake toppers--think outside the box and anything goes. The important thing is to "frame" your cake, give it an extra detail that not only makes it beautiful and special, but is also something you can hold on to for years to come. And whether it's serious or light-hearted, it may just be the thing that makes all your friends and family want to dig right in and tell everyone about it later.
Tonight our friends got married and they had zombies on their cake!
Now let your imagination run wild,
Anne