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Wedding cake

The ancient Greeks threw cakes at the newly married couple, just as we throw confetti today. In Roman times, at the marriages of the upper classes, cakes made of flour, salt and water would firstly be shared by the bride and groom, which was thought to promise the couple a life of plenty, in both children and happiness.

The remainder was then broken over the bride's head. The guests, believing they would share in the blessing it symbolised, would rush forward to procure a morsel for themselves. Furthermore, it was only the children born to a marriage sanctified in this way that qualified for the high sacred offices in Roman life, hence, the cake provided the couple with future fertility.

In Victorian times, the tradition of breaking the cake over the bride's head was believed to promote fertility and unmarried girls would pass a piece of the cake through the bride's wedding ring and place it under their pillow believing that they would dream of their future husband.

In more recent times the cutting of the cake, once the sole responsibility of the bride, was symbolic of the bride's pending loss of virginity, and even now the wedding cake is often still regarded as a symbol of fertility, and its distribution among the guests is symbolic of the sharing of happiness.

Ask your friends, relatives for recommendations. Lacking a good word of mouth referral you will need to shop to compare quality and pricing. Even with a good word of mouth referral it is not a bad idea to shop around since the cake will be one of the focal points of your wedding reception decor.

Selecting the type of cake

White cake is the traditional selection, however, the current trend is to select the flavour of cake that you like. Anything from chocolate to carrot cake is acceptable. It is not a bad idea to actually taste the cake/frosting combination before ordering a flavoured cake though.

Decorations

Cake toppers that are placed on the top tier of the cake can be traditional using bride and groom figurines, wedding bells, hearts, love birds, etc., themed with (non poisonous) floral decor, or sentimental using items that have a special, personal meaning.

Dummy Cake

Consider a decorated dummy cake for the display and sheet cakes for actual guest service. Some decorators have very beautifully decorated display cakes available for rental for that purpose.