THE VOW EXCHANGE VENUE GUIDE : Steer Clear From tiered cakes
Welcome to our VENUE Guide To Getting Hitched Without A Hitch.
Today we are addressing the dangerous decision to:
*** SERVE A TIERED CAKE ***
Having planned over 1500 weddings, the planners at The Vow Exchange have seen a thing or two. And since we are passionate about ensuring our customers leave blissfully happy, we are sharing our top advice ensuring the ONLY thing hitched at the wedding is the couple!
It seems so simple. Bring a beautiful cake and serve it to your guests. I mean how hard can it be? Most of us enjoy cake for birthdays and other celebrations. Typically we serve a flat cake (known as a sheet cake) that you can simply cut across 2 ways and pop the piece on a plate. Easy peasy. The world of wedding cakes are however an entirely different story. Anyone researching reception venues are often surprised to see a separate charge for a “cake cutting service”. What a rip off right!? I mean how could cutting a cake be something you have to pay for? Let’s just say that wedding cakes are a very different type of confection than the sheet cake most of us are accustomed to. Typically created in a stack of tiers, wedding cakes are assembled using internal structures that need to be deconstructed before serving. Additionally, tiered cakes have layers that can not simply be “cut across” like a single tier sheet cake. Each piece must be cut individually before being placed on the plate and handed out. Do this for a few dozen guests, and you have a job on your hands. Not only does it take some work, but some time as well.
HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM:
We have seen it happen time and time again. The couple enjoys their event. Their ceremony has concluded, the license is signed, they have greeted their guests, cut their cake and toasted champagne, only to look up and find there is only 10 minutes left in their event! And in 10 minutes couples scramble to say goodbye to guests while still needing to gather their things before leaving. And in doing so the couple completely misses out on taking any photos in the venue as their venue rental comes to a close and the next group arrives.
THE FLAW IN THE PLAN:
2 hours in reality is not a lot of time. As the venue opens for your rental, the clock starts. Typically it takes no less than 30 minutes for guests to arrive, and for the couple to get organized before starting their ceremony. We now have 90 minutes left. The ceremony takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Add in the time for the officiant to complete the license, and call over the 2 witnesses to complete it, takes a total of 30 minutes. We now have 60 minutes left. Couples are consumed with guests all greeting them. Hugs, hugs and more hugs. The couple shares a toast then begins the ceremonial cutting of their cake. We now have 40 minutes left. Now the process of serving the cake can begin. Since the couple will want to keep the top tier to enjoy on their anniversary, the cake cutting volunteer must carefully remove the top tier & place into a cake box (assuming the baker left you with one). Now the cake must be disassembled using pliers to remove the 3-4 entrenched dowel rods in the cake (this is assuming you brought clean pliers to use on a cake). From there the cake can be cut, one. piece. at. a. time. This entire process including the serving of 30-50 pieces of cake is approximately 30 minutes till the last guest is handed their cake. That leaves us with 10 minutes. Even if the couple took photos before cutting the cake, time will run out on serving the cake and especially eating it.
OUR ADVICE:
3 words, single serve cake! Typically in the form of cupcakes (though there are several super cute ways to serve cake in single servings such as cakepops or cakesickles), single serve cake does not need to be disassembled, cut and served. Guests can take an already parsed piece of cake and immediately begin to enjoy it. Not only is it monumentally easier for your “cake cutting volunteer” (who likely doesn’t have a clean pair of pliers to disassemble a tiered cake), but the time this saves will give you more time to take photos and enjoy a MUCH more relaxed pace to your wedding with one less hitch to worry about.