Wedding Cake Designs:
Choose from These Wedding Cake
Styles and Ideas

Don't be overwhelmed by the number of cake designs, wedding cake styles, and wedding cake ideas there are out there to choose from.

Once you answer the questions below, start a clip file of related wedding cake styles and ideas you love from magazines and online sources to show your cake vendor.

The classic tiered cake style -- cake layers either stacked directly on top of each other or separated by pillars or a ring of flowers -- is the most popular design, it's what your guests are likely to be looking for at the reception.

Separated cake layers on a stand is an alternative, and recommended if you are planning to make your own wedding cake as constructing and transporting the cake will be greatly simplified and much less stressful.

If you hire a cake vendor, make sure they have the type of cake stand you desire.


A fondant wedding cake or buttercream frosting?

Fondant cakes are smooth in appearance, often with rounded corners. Fondant is best for modern, minimal wedding cake designs and outdoor summer wedding receptions as fondant holds up in the heat better than buttercream frosting. These cakes often cost more than buttercream cakes.

Buttercream is a traditional choice, especially if you like the intricate drape work decorations that are possible with piped frosting (see white cake at bottom of page).

If you are having a summer wedding and love buttercream frosting cake designs, make sure your wedding cake is kept indoors at your reception venue.

Learn how bride Lisa Spooner saved over $20,000 on her dream wedding

Fresh flower wedding cake decorations? Sugar or frosting flowers?

Look at the pictures in your wedding cake idea file, are most of them decorated with fresh flowers, or do your preferences lean more toward frosting or sugar wedding cake decorations?

If you lean toward more modern and simple designs, fresh flower decorations are a good choice for your wedding cake.


Theme wedding cake or traditional wedding cake style?

When you look at the wedding cake ideas you've clipped from magazines, are they unique shapes and styles? Theme wedding cakes? If so, then you will most likely have a fondant wedding cake and will need to find a vendor who specializes in making unique wedding cakes.

Do not ask a traditional tiered cake designer to execute a cake in an unusual shape, even if they claim they can do it, hire a specialist.


Square, round or heart shaped wedding cake design?

Most of the wedding cakes you will see are round shaped, but some vendors may have the capacity to make square, heart shaped or even octagon shaped wedding cakes.

Square or octagon shaped cakes make a strong, modern statement, but can be softened a great deal by adding flower decorations.

A heart shaped wedding cake is a romantic, charming choice, but can be made more modern with fondant frosting and by adding minimal decorations like ribbon (see photo below).


Find your wedding cake vendor

Does your caterer make wedding cakes, or do they just order from a bakery and mark it up? Do they have much flexibility when it comes to wedding cake designs?

If you’re not getting your wedding cake from your caterer, cake vendors can be found on the internet, in the yellow pages, or at wedding shows. Also ask anyone you know who recently married who they used and if they were happy with the cake.


Find a designer, or bakery, whose cakes are most like what you’re looking for

Every wedding cake designer will specialize in certain types of cakes. Make sure you look at photos of your vendor’s work and look for the wedding cake designs that dominate the book; this will be the style they specialize in.


When you contact a wedding cake vendor for the first time, they are going to need to know a few things:

• The date of your wedding. Sometimes they have lots of cakes to produce for a particular day. If they are too busy, they will not take the job
• An estimate of the number of guests you will have at your wedding
• An idea of what wedding cake style you have in mind

Make sure you sample the cake and filling you would like!

Some bakeries have specific days where they do open tastings, or they will do it for you if you call ahead and make an appointment.

The wedding cake is what really sells your party as a wedding, so consider different wedding cake designs, styles and ideas carefully.

Everyone loves to see the cake and it will be one of the things most-remembered after the event.

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