I'm so in love with wedding cakes.... i don't know if it's because i am making them or if it's because it's I find them as such an important piece of a wedding ceremony... but I can go on and on day in day out browsing thru wedding cakes made by all my cake idols... and i go crazy envious how genius these ppl are in being able to design such amazing cakes!
I think wedding cakes are still NOT an important part of a wedding because weddings here are usually quite big (300-400 ppl minimum?) and the biggest chunk of the budget is already allocated for the wedding banquet, which is really costly! Then, asian being asian... we are very practically... Next budget allocation will go based on practicality - wedding photography (pre and during wedding), wedding gown, decor for the ballroom and then.... no more budget left for anything else! No more budget for honeymoon (or maybe it's more like no more leave left), no budget for wedding favors and why it comes to the cake... why bother? The hotel always provide a dummy cake anyway...
But there's such a sweet purpose for the cake... i've researched up the traditional reason and here's how i summed it up to be... The purpose of "cake cutting" is to symbolize a 'sweet beginning' for the couple and that is why some people wants the cake to be as tall as possible to signify the long long journey ahead :) And cakes are not meant to be cut the way you cut a birthday cake but instead... gently touched from top to bottom :) And of course it will look amazing in pictures hence u gotta know when to pause and look at the camera :)
Very often we get customers coming to us wanting the most fantabulous kind of wedding cake design but with a crazy-impossible-to-make-kinda-budget :( It saddens me all the time but at the same time I understand why. Even for my wedding... I had 'only' 740 guests of which more than half I am not familiar with and we only spent on what's necessary. The wedding costed a bomb! I truly do understand...
Having said all that, I still have faith... times are changing... I remembered way back when photography was not so important and people are reluctant to pay much for it but look at how it has changed overtime! I believe in time to come, wedding cake will become a 'must-have' for weddings!
One of our most popular orders for wedding are cake & cupcakes... as it is most economical & practical :) Why economical? Because the cupcake designs are simple and they make the perfect wedding favor too! So you kill 2 birds :) Why practical? Right after you cut the cake, all your guests gets a piece of cupcake looking all so pretty instead of a slice of cake (which will take a while for the hotel/restaurant) to cut it up! Easy & clean hence practical!