​Choosing your cakes and dessert is the fun part of wedding planning. Typically, you go for a cake tasting or you can purchase a set of tester cupcakes to get a sample of what the baker offers. There are lots of different options as far as flavor, frostings, designs and fillings. Your baker may also offer flowers, cake toppers or cake stands. You should visit your baker as soon as you have your date, venue and a good idea on guest count or at the very least 4 months before the wedding.

Pricing

​Cake can run anywhere from $.50 a slice to $10 a slice. Most bakers price their cakes by the slice. Your area, the design and elements like filling and flavors will affect the price. To save money you can purchase a smaller prettier cake to cut and simple cupcake or sheet cakes to serve guests. Some bakeries also offer the option to display at “fake” cake to save money. A fake cake is Styrofoam decorated to look like a cake. They have a small section with real cake for you to cut in the back and then you serve inexpensive sheet cake to the guests.

​Don’t like cake?

​It is 2021! You don’t HAVE to serve cake. There are lots of other options besides cake. Pinterest is full of cookies, brownies,  doughnuts even cheese wheels stacked up instead of traditional cake. You could also serve other desserts like pie, ice cream, pastries, floats, cotton candy  or candy 

​Cake Accessories

Besides the cake you will also need a few cake accessories.

• A cake cutting set to elegantly cut your cake together. You can find these easily on Amazon but I would hold out on purchasing until the month before the wedding. Cake cutting sets are a popular gift from wedding vendors and family members. Below are some inexpensive ones on Amazon.
• Cake topper- A cake topper is a chance to show your personality or style. You can get the figurines or other designs like hearts, your name or saying. There are lots of customized cake toppers on Etsy and Amazon.
•  Cake stand- A cake stand is an easy way to make your cake stand out and look grand. There are traditional cake stands, cake swings, separate tier displays, geometric displays and hoop/ring stands. I recommend renting one since they tend to be expensive. You can rent one from your baker or an event décor rental shop. You can also purchase one from Hobby Lobby, Walmart or Amazon. If you are crafty you can also make one. You can make a  simple wooden box then stain it, paint it and add ribbon,  or wrap in rhinestone sheets or fabric. 

​Snack bar and Candy bar displays

If you are choosing to have a dessert bay in lue of cake or you choose to have additional treats you will need a way to display it. You will need containers that will be easy for guest to serve from(not too tall), spoons or tongs to serve and containers or plates for the snacks. Candy bars were a big trend for a while but now snack bars like chips, popcorn and trail mix are popular. Creating levels is a good idea and make it easier for guests to serve themselves. You may choose to do prepackaged candy or snack due to Covid.  Candy can be purchased from inexpensively from orientaltrading.com or your local grocery store. If you wedding is close to a holiday be sure to go to the store the day after when the candy is discounted.  On tip for a candy bar is don’t buy gum! It ends up stuck to the floor, table linens or in cloth napkins and can be a nightmare.