What is a celebration if there’s no cake?! 

Every good celebration of life has cake – from christening cakes and birthday cakes, to anniversary cakes, and arguably the most famous of them all – the Wedding cake!

The very first wedding cakes, however, were traditionally not eaten…they were thrown at the Bride! This was because the cake was a symbol of fertility (maybe a fun food fight, but I think I’d rather eat the cake!).

Move on to the middle ages, we see the beginnings of the tiered wedding cake – guests would be invited to bring small cakes with them, and place them on top of one another to create a stack of cakes as high as possible. The game would then be for the Bride and Groom to try and kiss over the top of the cakes without knocking them to the ground. If they had a ‘successful’ kiss i.e. the stack was still standing, it was said to be a sign of a happy marriage.

Heading into the 19th Century, the wedding cake became a more formal 3 tiered cake – each tier with its own special symbolism: The bottom tier would be for you and your guests to consume on the Wedding day; the middle tier was for guests to take away at the end of the night (think birthday ‘party bags’), and; the top tier was reserved for the christening of your first child (the traditional wedding cake being made of dried fruits and lots of alcohol meant it was still good to eat months (or even a year or two!) later; coupled with the fact that the first child was commonly born not too long after the wedding day, it was still edible!). Now in the 21st Century it’s not as common for babies to be born so close to the wedding day, so it’s now become tradition to reserve the top tier for the first wedding anniversary instead.

It’s so interesting to see how our traditions have changed over time – reflecting different beliefs and society’s history. Find out how you can create your own wedding traditions that truly reflect your personality and style – let’s have a chat!