James Thurber once quipped, “The most dangerous food is wedding cake.” Notwithstanding the famed humorist’s insight to the perils of marriage, here are some random bits of advice to keep you clear of danger when ordering a wedding cake for your big day, as well as photos of some of the stunning cakes that Dani. Fine Photography has come across while shooting recent weddings in the Pioneer Valley.
Wedding cake bakeries will have a cake portfolio to look at, and that will help you decide if they are able to make the cake you want.
Have an idea of how many guests you will have at your reception; this will help determine the amount of wedding cake you will need, or the number of cupcake wedding cakes. The pastry chef/cake decorator may ask how many invitations are being sent to how many people and how many are from out of town or from more than a certain number of miles away. The pastry chef/cake decorator will use this information to calculate how many people will actually show up at the reception and how many of those will actually eat a piece or more of cake.
By this time several people, such as the minister and caterer, will have asked for this information. They will have calculated and told you how many people they think will actually attend your wedding and reception.
You will have been appalled at the low number they came up with. You know that everyone you invite is waiting breathlessly to attend your wedding and that only those who are ill or incapacitated or on the moon will pass up the chance to wish you well in person on your big day. When the baker comes up with a similar number, believe him, because it’s true.
Many people will simply forget, and others can think of no worse way to spend a summer Saturday than at another wedding. That’s just the way it is. And you can believe it and save some money, or you can believe that everyone will come and then have to decide what to do with the leftover cake.
Do whatever will do the most to put your mind at ease for the next six to eight months. Saving money by ordering only a sufficient amount of cake based on the years of experience of your baker is no good if you are going to fret over it and be nervous about it for more than half a year.
When in the wedding cake bakery, be clear about the date, time, and location of the wedding and receptions; set deadlines for changes to the cake design and size and for delivery; provide the address of and a map to the reception. Make sure that the cake can be delivered at a time convenient to you or whomever you will have to receive and inspect the cake.
There should be a written contract with the wedding cake bakery to specify the size, shape, flavor, color, decorations, delivery day, delivery time, delivery place, and price of the wedding cake.
Such a contract, of course, does not need a special form or a lawyer to draw it up. It can be a simple list with this information. The list should be dated and signed by both the baker and you, and you should each have a copy.
Many wedding cake bakeries have their own forms for such orders, because it is as important to them that you remember exactly what you asked for (and don’t remember asking for something that you actually never mentioned) as it is to you that they deliver what you asked for. If they have a form, use it, and add any items or information that you need to. Make sure you take a copy of the form.
Bring swatches of material to match the cake to your wedding colors, because colors in pictures are often slightly off, and a picture’s colors can fade with time.
Here’s a list of questions you might ask the pastry chef, baker, or cake decorator at the wedding cake bakery:
1. Can the pastry chef/cake decorator create a custom cake from your instructions to look like your wedding cake picture?
2. What flavors of wedding cake and icing are available? Or if you already have an idea what you want, ask, “Can you make a (type of cake) with (flavor of icing)?”
3. Ask to sample some of the bakery’s cakes. If you don’t care for any of the cake samples offered by the bakery, ask for additional samples or ask what other choices are available.
Even if you have to order a small cake to try the baker’s version of what you want, it is a small price to pay for satisfaction.
4. In case you want to use fresh flowers to decorate the wedding cake, ask if the bakery can provide them or if you or a florist must deliver them.
5. Request to see pictures of wedding cakes from their photo gallery. Take a look at their album and see if you like the looks of the cakes. Ask how old the pictures are and if the person who baked and decorated these cakes is the same person who will create yours.
6. Ask how long before the wedding date the cakes will be prepared and how they will be kept until it’s time for delivery. If you have concerns that the cake may not be as fresh as you’d like, express that concern.
7. Ask whether the cake will be made from scratch or from a packaged mix.
8. Ask what the price will be. If the baker can only give you an estimate, ask how much the final cost might vary from the estimate.
9. Ask for customer references. It’s a good idea to contact those references to get a sense of what experiences others have had.
Piece of Cake
