Wedding Cake WIN and Wedding Cake FAIL

Posted by admin on October 26, 2011

Our very own cake veteran Joanne Bruno recently gave some of her most useful tips on how to choose the best wedding cake for She Knows online magazine. We want to recap some of her best advice for choosing a wedding cake and give you some tips on what NOT to do.

WARNING: wedding cake disaster footage below, view at your own risk!

1. Choose a reputable bakery

“Brides-to-be should absolutely begin their research online. Visit general wedding sites to obtain real customer feedback from other couples. Then visit the bakery’s website to view images of their work. If the photos aren’t up-to-date, their work isn’t either. You want to work with a bakery with positive feedback from married couples and a wide range of cake offerings.”

2. Give yourself adequate time

“Three to six months is enough time to plan the cake. Once a bride knows her color scheme and the wedding venue, it’s good to get the cake designed and ordered before she enters the ‘crunch period,’ which is usually the last two months.”

Modern Design Success-Palermo’s

Design FAIL

3. Make sure you love how the cake tastes

“I can’t stress this enough: Arrange for a cake tasting before the cake is ordered. If the cake has multiple flavors, taste all of them. Basic flavors like chocolate, strawberry and vanilla will vary depending on how the cake is made, its formulation, its frosting and more. Don’t assume — taste!”

4. Get creative with the design

“The age of the cookie-cutter tiered white wedding cake with a plastic figurine at the top is long gone and, personally, I’m happy to see it go. Many brides bring their color scheme (wedding gown, bridesmaid dresses) into the shop for color coordination.”

Success through creativity (Palermo’s)

Creativity at its worst…

5. Need inspiration- try a cake trend

“Matching the bride’s dress to the cake is a big trend this season. We’ve matched the ruffle on a bride’s dress to the cake. We’ve also matched specific pieces of heirloom jewelry on the bride to the wedding cake.”

Match the colors of your dress

Speechless…

6. Don’t make these cake mistakes

“There are two cardinal sins of planning a custom wedding cake: The first is waiting until the last minute to design and order a cake. Most bakeries have their custom cakes calendared out weeks in advance.” ”The second mistake is to have too many people providing input. I’ve seen many brides driven crazy because they involved both sets of parents, friends, cousins, the entire bridesmaid party, etc.”