You’ve chosen your mouth watering wedding cake flavours. You’ve decided on the all-important colour palette and discussed the jaw-dropping decorations. You’ve made sure you’ve covered all dietary requirements. What’s left? Just one thing: how you’re going to create your wedding cake display!
More this year than ever before, our couples are asking us about any wedding cake display ideas we may have. Where in your venue should you have it? What should the wedding table set up be? How can you show it off?
This is a question we’re always happy to help with: in our opinion, the less beautiful wedding cakes placed by toilet doors or fire extinguishers the better! (We’ll never forget a conversation we had with a wedding photographer back in the early days of our business, who said venues place them there so frequently they often have to be photoshopped out or photographed at a really weird angle.)
Your wedding cake is probably the most expensive cake you’re ever likely to buy, and it deserves to be centre stage for everyone to see and admire. So today, we thought we’d put together our guide to wedding cake display ideas. In other words: how to create the best wedding table set up, to show off your gorgeous cake!
How to decide on the wedding table set up for your cake
1. Treat your wedding cake as part of an amazing display, not just a cake on a table
Your wedding cake isn’t just functional: it’s also part of the styling. Sure, you (probably) won’t be cutting up and eating your flowers in quite the same way, but it’s still part of the aesthetic display! With that in mind, don’t be afraid to tell the venue exactly where you want the cake going. It’s your wedding and you want your wedding cake to be enjoyed by everyone!
You can read all about Zahra and Phillip’s stunning London wedding at Carlton House Terrace here.
2. Think about your wedding cake stand
Don’t get us wrong: we’re not anti the classic silver cake stand, because in the right setting it can look fantastic! However, many couples don’t know about the other options that are out there, and as the cake stand or even, no cake stand can totally change the look of your cake, we always recommend assessing the alternatives. In fact, we also always consider your wedding cake display ideas, and especially the cake stand, when it comes to designing your cake.
Here’s what we mean:
Option A – no cake stand. Beautiful five tier gold textured wedding cake placed directly onto a white table cloth, with no cake stand and absolutely no styling. Yes, your wedding cake is still lovely but oh, could be so much more.
Option B – your exquisite five tier wedding cake styled on a statement cake stand, tall table (no round table insight) with gorgeous Spring light flooding the room behind your showstopper. Now your guests will remember your wedding cake for all the right reasons! The absolute epitome of a wedding cake display.
3. Ditch the classic round cake table
It’s not just the cake stand that contributes to the wedding cake display, either: you can’t have a wedding table set up without a table (well, actually you can – but we’re jumping ahead of ourselves. That’s in the next section.) Most venues will offer a round table and tablecloth as standard for your cake, but don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when it comes to your wedding cake display. You could even gather your friends and family (and wedding cake) and make your cake cutting moment an outdoor event.
Wedding cake display ideas that make a statement
4. A ‘floating’ cake display
We mentioned above about the magic of a glass cake stand, but why not go one step further for your wedding cake or even macaron tower display? Combine a clear plinth with an amazing flower display to give the impression that your cake is floating.
5. In the grand entrance
What better way to set the tone for your wedding day than by greeting everyone with your cake? Estee and Adrian did exactly that for their wedding in Buckinghamshire at Stowe House, asking us to set it up in front of an amazing statue in the grand entrance. That way, they could ensure that nobody would miss it – and even as we were still setting it up, people were taking photos! It was such an eye-catching place for their wedding cake.
6. On the dancefloor
This might sound like a crazy suggestion, but hear us out! Instead of being placed in a corner and left to sit all day without being seen, we’ve done amazing weddings where the couple have wanted the cake table set up in the middle of the dancefloor. Sonia and Aaron wanted to use their wedding cake as part of their entrance into the reception, so they had their cake cutting at the beginning of the reception, and everyone toasted them at the same time.
7. Unusual, intriguing props
Alternatively, you could create a wedding cake display using some intriguing, unusual props. For Phoebe and Owen we created a dessert wedding table setup using two barrels and an old wooden door as the table top! This went well with the rustic feel of their venue, The Old Kent Barn, but was unusual enough that it made a statement. Phoebe had said to us that she wanted her wedding cake to be talked about by everyone for years afterwards, and we think this set up nailed it.
8. A wedding cake display unique to your venue
The wedding cake display ideas we have here are just the tip of the iceberg (cake display on an iceberg, anyone?) Each venue will have something unique to it that would also make an amazing wedding table set up, and we’re more than happy – in fact, we actively enjoy it! – to work this out with you.
For example, if you get married at The Globe Theatre, you might want a wedding table set up that evokes Shakespearan styling. You can read all about how Kristin and Christopher transformed their room into A Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque setup here.
Or perhaps you’re having your reception at the Natural History Museum: you’d want your cake set up on the grand staircase into the main auditorium, not in amongst the tables. It’s a grand venue which needs a display to match.
Which wedding cake display ideas are your favourite?
We hope these wedding cake display ideas have helped get those creative juices flowing. And if you need any advice on your wedding table set up to go with your cake, then please do get in touch; we’d love to chat cakes (and macaron towers) with you!
Photographers: Fiona Kelly Photography, Rebecca Douglas Photography, Lemonade Pictures, Valo Studio Photography, The Unbridled
Venues featured: Bradbourne House, The Old Kent Barn, Stowe House, The Swan at The Globe Theatre
We are Erica and Charlie Bell, a mother-daughter team creating breathtaking wedding cakes and macarons from our studio in Maidstone, Kent. We love nothing more than getting to know our couples, and creating distinctive designs that are inventive and imaginative. Our one-of-a-kind cakes that are designed down to the very last (sugar) detail. We deliver across London, Kent, Essex, Surrey, Sussex and beyond.
