Is the Pillared Wedding Cake Construction For You?

Pillared wedding cakes are among the most popular of wedding cake construction style. Indeed, this style can be used to create a stunning centerpiece for a wedding reception. The question, though, is whether or not pillared wedding cake construction styles are appropriate for any particular wedding.

To answer this question, it is useful to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the pillared wedding cake style.

Pros

• Added height provides drama - the wedding cake is normally the centerpiece of the design scheme for the wedding reception. A pillared wedding cake construction adds anywhere from a few inches to more than a foot of height to a wedding cake helping it to become the focal point of the wedding reception it is designed to be.


• Particularly useful to make a small wedding cake look bigger – a wedding cake that serves a hundred people or less might not look all that impressive without the added height of a pillared construction.


• Allows more decorations on each tier of the cake – For a bride that wants more surface space for decorations (regardless of whether it is elegant crystal wedding cake jewelry, a series of themed cake toppers, fresh flowers, fruit, or some creation she wants to commission the pastry chef to sculpt) the pillared wedding cake construction is worth considering because it allows space to add decorations on each pillared tier of the cake.

Cons

• Extra surface area means added decorating cost to the wedding cake – Extra decorations means extra labor. Extra flowers or fruit can be expensive and a bride will still have to pay the pastry chef to arrange the flowers or fruit on the cake. Note: Since a pastry chef’s reputation is dependant on the appearance of the wedding cake, do not count on them allowing the florist or the bride’s aunt Jane to add to the cake later – of course, once the pastry chef has gone the cake is yours to do with as you choose… as is the risk.


• Less stable – If there are going to be young children or animals at the wedding, or if the cake will need to be placed in a high traffic area, or if there is a relative famous for drinking way too much, way to early, then a pillared wedding cake construction might not be the right choice. The added height of the pillars makes the cake more liable to collapse and while that might win some money on America’s Funniest Home Videos, most would prefer to avoid it at their wedding.


• Not Normally for Do-It-Yourselfers - Stacking a pillared wedding cake is not terribly difficult, if you know what you are doing. But the placement of each pillar is critical and, depending on the size of the cake, can be unforgiving. If a pillar is placed in the cake that later needs to be changed a hole is punched that will have to be patched and may create instability in the cake. It will, at least, make the decorating process more difficult because a patch is never as smooth as the original icing.

Is a pillared wedding cake construction for your wedding? That is for you to decide. The upside in drama is huge but the risk is large as well. It all depends on the couple’s comfort level with the risk and style choices.

Stacked Wedding Cakes

If you’re like most brides to be you’ve thought a lot about your wedding cake. But have you thought about your wedding cake construction options? In short, besides for appearance, why choose a stacked wedding cake over one with separator plates and pillars, or a cake stand?

When we talk about a stacked wedding cake we mean the traditional tiered wedding cake with each tier placed directly atop the next largest one with the smallest tier resting on the top. This style is popular for many reasons:

• A stacked wedding cake can be beautiful. It offers an opportunity for continuity from on tier to the next that is unmatched by any other options for constructing your wedding cake. Imagine a trailing floral pattern snaking up the side of the wedding cake from one tier around to the next. Or perhaps a forest glen themed cake with the image of a water fall cascading from one level to the next. If the cake wasn’t stacked this opportunity would not normally exist.


• If your pastry chef knows their business it is one of the most stable styles of wedding cake display.


• A stacked wedding cake offers perhaps more room for creativity than most other construction styles. Imagine a stack of cakes that resemble a pile of gifts. Imagine an octagonal tier atop a paisley shaped tier. The direct connection between tiers allows the structural stability for your pastry chef to go wild with your design ideas.


• A stacked wedding cake is better suited for the use of crystal wedding cake jewelry decorations that are designed to accent the entire cake than other styles of wedding cake display.
  

Cons

• A stacked wedding cake is only as tall as the combined height of the cake itself. Thus, if the guest count (number of servings) is small the wedding cake might be limited in its dramatic effect.


• It is difficult to assemble – really! Just setting one cake on top of the next largest will usually result in disaster. There are techniques involved in both the creating of the stability and in the actual act of stacking the cakes without destroying the beauty of the icing. And yes, believe it or not some bakeries do not provide set up. If a bride chooses to use a bakery that does not a provide set up and the person in charge of the cake does not have experience doing so then the stacked wedding cake option is probably not a good choice.
  

A stacked wedding cake is a wonderful choice if the selection fits the brides’ specific situation. If it does not… no worries. There are other forms of wedding cake construction that will serve just fine.

Country Club Weddings

Is a country club a good choice for your wedding? The answer to this question is not as simple as whether country clubs are good or bad. It is a matter of the couple's priorities. As a result a country club wedding might be a horrible choice for one couple and a great choice for another.

Advantages:

• Manicured landscape
• Well maintained facilities
• Specially designed facilities – gazebos, banquet rooms
• Adequate parking and restroom facilities
• Convenience / Lower stress levels - This is because, often country clubs offer packages that include catering and cake at least and often many or all of the traditional wedding elements. This saves you time and stress arranging everything yourself.
  

Disadvantages:

• The chance of hearing someone nearby yell, “Fore!” just as the pastor asks, “Do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?” during the ceremony. I've seen it happen.
• Elevated prices / low quality elements. The country club that offers package deals including catering, wedding cake, photography, DJ services, or any other element of your wedding either has to serve as a middle man, which means you are paying them to put everything together. It could work a number of ways; they might pay their suppliers a retainer to be available when they need their services. Or they have suppliers who give them a volume discount, but often these types of arrangements result in less than exemplary workmanship. In any case, the standards are that of the coordinator, not yours.
• It is never wise to let someone else choose your wedding photographer. He or she not only has to be able to work a camera, they also have to be able to set you and your party at ease and that is a personality thing that only you can decide.
• Due to the institutional nature of using a big venue that hosts special events for a lot of groups, if something like your crystal wedding cake jewelry is not claimed at the right place and time, it could easily get lost in the shuffle - and the bride is out an important keepsake.
• The problem is that unless you have recently attended a wedding at that country club set up in the exact same way as yours is, then you have no idea how good or bad any of the elements are. The cake might look nice but taste like sawdust plastered with sweetened lard. The DJ might not do anything more than play his or her standard wedding music – even if it’s thirty years old!
• Furthermore, the country club is going to employ a waitstaff that does not necessarily specialize in wedding events. For example, I once attended a wedding that, when the wedding cake was brought out to be served it was obvious that the staff had received zero instruction in how to cut a wedding cake.
• There are often hidden charges like janitorial, bar tending, parking, etc.
• There may well be other wedding parties bouncing around and with potentially competing sound levels or space issues.
• Doesn't maintain a particularly strong religious or ethnic theme if that is important.

These are just a few of the issues that any bride needs to consider before choosing a country club as their wedding venue. All in all getting married at a country club can be a beautiful event, if the couple has considered the challenges before hand and decided what is important to them.

Surprising Leap Day Advice for Brides

If you are just beginning the wedding planning process, as we discussed yesterday, February 29th is the perfect time to plan, to sketch out what her ideal wedding and wedding reception would look like.

But what about the bride who has been hard at her wedding planning for quite some time? What about the bride who already knows down to the specific elements of design how she wants her wedding day to look?

For those who fall into these categories, the best thing a bride (or couple) could do on Leap Day is to go do something physical to help burn off some steam and stress. Seriously.

• Go skiing - the snow is great this year pretty much all across the country.
• Go to an indoor pool and swim laps - then hang out in the sauna or hot tub.
• If the weather cooperates, go for a bike ride.
• Take a trip to the coast and walk on the beach.

The trick is to do pretty much anything physical - and make a point of not thinking about the wedding plans. The more an individual works their body, the more stress and tension will melt away and the more prepared they will be to take on the tasks ahead.

Besides, a day of physical activity will bring anyone that much closer to their weight loss goals so they will look like they hope to on their wedding day!

Making use of February 29th in this way will also benefit a couple in a manner that few people anticipate - especially if the couple spends the day in physical activity (such as skiing or beach combing) together. How? By taking a day away from the demands of life - such as wedding planning - and doing something together, as a couple!

That's right. You can build your marriage into something stronger than it might otherwise have been if you can set you wedding planning aside for one day and enjoy some strenuous activity together. Laugh. Run. Play. Build your marriage before the wedding.

You can worry about the toasting glasses on March 1st. Exciting Wedding Favors and Accessories will still be there for a couples at home shopping convenience. In the meantime, the best thing a bride who has been hard at work with her planning can do with the extra day that leap year provides it is to get out and do something physical that will leave them relaxed and refreshed.

Extra Time to Plan

I wish I could take credit for this boon to brides planning their wedding. I really do, but I can't. As much as I would have loved to have lobbied congress on behalf of brides everywhere, it wouldn't have done any good.

Still, every bride already engaged or at least already planning gets extra time to plan this year. I am talking, of course, of the extra day we get with leap year.

The question is how does a wise bride take full advantage of that day.

The answer depends on what she has been doing to this point:

If she has just begun the wedding planning process she should take the extra time as the ideal opportunity to sit and plan. Don't let the tyranny of the urgent get in your way. Instead:

• Go into seclusion
• Grab a favorite hot beverage
• Bring music that inspires creativity
• Bring sketch pad and pencil
• Sketch - don't worry about how good it looks - ideal wedding ceremony
• Sketch - don't worry about how good it looks - ideal wedding reception
• Relax
• Have fun with it.

The sketch is just for the bride. There is no need to show it to anyone else - it simply helps her decide what elements are really important to achieve the look she wants. Put another way, even if she doesn't like her drawings the exercise will help solidify the design concept in her mind. The end result, however, is that this exercise will help prevent her from spending money on decorations or design elements that don't help or even detract from the concept.

Tomorrow, The Surprising Tip for Brides Who Have Already Fully Planned Their Wedding

When to Start with Wedding Cake Design

Planning a wedding is not easy. There are so many elements to consider. Often, as a result wedding cake design is put off until the end.

Foolish.

True, the actual baking of the cake should not happen until the last few days prior to your wedding (watch out, I've heard reports of bakeries that bake wedding cakes months in advance and keep them in the freezer until they need them - yuck), but baking and the actual building of the cake is only one of the last steps of the wedding cake design process.

The real question is what kind of wedding cake do you want? Do you want it to be a visual centerpiece of your wedding reception design? If so you need to start early to incorporate your overall design.

Think through the details of the kind of design you would like:

• Is your reception a formal, elelgant event? Consider a tall, hexagonal, regal cake matching the design of your wedding dress, accented with your favorite flowers and crystal wedding cake jewelry.

• Is your reception more whimsical? Consider a square or rectangular cake stacked in an offset fashion and decorated with fondant to look like a stack of gifts with a large bow on top.


• For a Cinderella themed wedding consider a round or oval tiered cake with a crystal pumpkin cake top making it's way up toward the castle somewhat in the style of the cake pictured to the right.


• For an Asian themed wedding consider an ivory colored cake with delicate lotus flowers or cherry blossoms - or go more bold with reds and yellows.

The options are nearly infinite. The trick, however, is to find a pastry chef who can make the wedding cake that you envision. Some can. Some can't. Some won't. Take time early in your wedding planning process to decide on a design concept at least - then you can start the process of finding a bakery that can provide that centerpiece wedding cake that you want.

A Celebration of Romance

Happy Valentines Day!


Valentines Day, like your wedding, is a celebration of freedom. It is an opportunity to rejoice in the equality of individuals because in both we choose who we love and make a life with. We are not clubbed over the head - we choose. Both partners. Equally based on our own ideals and desires.

So...

Take a ride in a horse drawn carriage: If your wedding is scheduled for a time when the weather will cooperate, there is little more romantic than a couple arriving or leaving for their honeymoon than doing so in a horse drawn carriage.

Make a grand entrance: Who can resist the romance of Cinderella's grand enterance at the head of the stairs with all eyes drawn to her beauty? No stairs? No problem. Arrange the seating to face a set of double doors behind where your groom will stand that can be pulled open simultaneously at the time for your appearance.

Give your Groom the tools he needs to be the gracious host at your wedding: Let's face it. Weddings as we know them are generally designed by women, for women. Then we wonder why he feels so out of place and doesn't know how to handle himself. Check out this leather bound "Groom's Guide". Written by a professional wedding journalist, this guide will help him be the 'Knight in Shinning Armor' that we all hope for in every detail of the wedding.