I reported on the hat trick of celeb weddings last week. Having just seen the pictures of Marcia Cross’s nuptials, I thought I should share them here. First off, here’s a pic of the happy couple.
After the turn you’ll find a picture of the massive cake (we all know I am obsessed with cake for it is splendid indeed) and the bridal party.
A few years ago there was a huge shift towards getting rid of the traditional wedding cake and serving up a croquembouche instead. For these of you who’ve just said ‘croak-a-what?’ let me explain. Croquembouche is a pyramid of profiteroles filled with cream and drizzled with a sweet sauce such as a raspberry coulis or chocolate.
It’s been used in France since the 18th century and recently was used at Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s reception. Savoir Design created both their cake and the one pictured here.
Now, I know you gals and guys are a classy bunch with good taste (you prove it week after week on the Yay or Nay) so I’m sure you probably won’t be picking up one of these charming cake toppers. They are funny though, in fact I’d probably be highly amused to see this ball and chain figurine on a wedding cake.
I must confess I’ve never been to a wedding though where the couple had a cake topper of any variety so I’m not sure if these things have had their day.
Buy at a Picture Perfect Wedding [Via God Awful Wedding Crap]
New Yorker Sylvia Weinstock is probably one of the leading experts on wedding cake design on her home soil. Sylvia’s career sprang from humble beginnings. She apprenticed with a pastry chef before making a wedding cake for a family friend who then displayed it in her shop. A society chef purportedly noticed it and began to commission her and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now firmly touted as the ‘Quen of Cakes’ Sylvia has designed cakes for everyone from Liam Neeson, Whitney Houston, the Saudi royal family (it served 3000 guests!) and Donald and Melania Trump. Each creation is custom designed for the client in any shape, design or size you could possibly imagine. As for prices – well, it starts at $10 a portion and the sky is your limit. Some of my favourites are after the turn and I’m sure they’ll give you some great ideas for your cake!
I can’t deny that some of the wedding cakes these days are amazing – absolutely wonderful creations that quite rightly cost at least three month’s ordinary food budget. But sometimes I do baulk at the idea of spending six hundred pounds on what is essentially just a fancy cake.
One current trend to justify the cost is to do without a dessert at the reception and instead serving up the cake as pudding. The other option is to buy a simple store bought wedding cake. The one pictured is a three tier fruit cake costing £50 at Marks & Spencer and serves 74 people. Embellish it with some great decorations such as a floral display similar to this style – your florist could produce something that matches your display – or top with sugarcrafted displays to give it the wow factor.
Just in case you (like me) are not quite over the polka dot trend and are not fed up of seeing it gracing everything from your tea towels and mugs to your dresses then I thought it was about time I popped a polka dot feature in. It will never be too late to pick up on this trend – polka dots have been in fashion since the forties! Forget your Cath Kidston reds though, opt for subtle lemon and delicate creams for upscale dotty weddings.
Dress by Michael Kors. Cream strapless full length dress with polka dot tulle layers. £2345.01 at Net-A-Porter.
Related stories:
Find more ‘Get the Look’ bridal styling here
Thornton’s polka dot favours
Marc Wallace waistcoats for the groom – polka dots!
I’m constantly on the look out for cakes with a difference – be it shape, colour, decoration or flavour. When I came across Maisie Fantaisie I knew I was on to something special. She has some incredibly imaginative cakes – from polka dots to butterflies, photo transfers to citrus tiers. I’m fairly certain she could get to grips with any fantasy style you or I can come up with.
I particularly like the combinations of bittersweet fruit and melting chocolate on this creation. The three tier chocolate curl and rapberry cake is £595. Delivery is available throughout the UK and Europe.
Feel like throwing out the rule book and fancy a wedding cake with a difference? Cupcakes’ are on the rise as a fun alternative to the traditional tiered styles. Cakes 4 Fun combine the two styles with a small traditional top layer and then cupcakes underneath. Or they can make you a full cupcake extravaganza like the one pictured.
Have as many cupcakes as you like and include individual flavours to tempt even the most jaded palates. Decorate with your choice of colours and decoration or make every single one completely indivdual.
Hosting a buffet reception and not sure where to start? Don’t fancy paying a fortune in caterer costs? Try Waitrose online ordering and home delivery service.
With plenty of vegetarian options too, they even provide eight varieties of wedding cake and ice sculptures. You can place your order as little as five days before the date for food and 42 days for the cake.
A few selections…
Cake has to be one of my favourite things in the world and I can hardly believe I have the good fortune to get to write about it. In days of old (that’s before 1975 to you and me) you had a choice between fruit or fruit or if you were feeling really wild – two tiers of fruit. Now the cake industry has gone wedding bananas and the world is your oyster – though thankfully I haven’t heard of any oyster flavoured cakes ick!
Choccywoccydoodah do some of the most amazing gravity defying designs and you can’t fail to be entranced by this gleaming tower of white roses. As you probably guessed from the name, chocolate is the core ingredient of these cakes.
All those pounds you lost before the wedding are looming on the horizon. The sacrifices we make for good cake!
It used to be that the wedding reception was either a heavy sit down meal or a finger buffet, then with one swoop of a plate of bangers and mash Zoe Ball and hubby Fatboy changed all that with their simple post nuptial pub meal.
What other inspired alternatives have been tried out?
Aussie ’24′ actress Sarah Wynter (left) and magazine editor hubby Dan Peres had an eight course Australian themed menu featuring barbecued shrimp and newspaper wrapped fish and chips.
In the absence of any celebs tying the knot this week (or if they have… why have we not been invited?), we are taking a fun look at past celeb weddings beginning with what could quite possibly be the tallest cake ever.
Law and order star Maritsa Hargitay and hubby Peter Hermann picked out a seven foot tall, six tiered cake in chocolate and vanilla for their enchanted forest themed nuptials. They ‘tastefully’ topped off the monstrous creation from LA cake makers Very Different cakes with their intials in swarovski crystals.
It’s such a travesty of colour and style that it actually looks kind of cool.
From:Madeline Isaac-James launches two new collections