Share the Sweetness on Your Special Day

Brides, prepare for the tastiest portion of your wedding planning! Follow this online guide to select the perfect wedding cake for your Northern California Wedding.

An offset square damask cake from Lovely Layers Cakery:Perfection by Confection in Chico, CA

Start Planning Early

After your engagement, you’ll have numerous wedding planning commitments, such as finding the date, venue, gown, etc. But in the bustle of bridal beginnings, don’t forget about the cake. Make plans to order your wedding cake six months before your wedding date.

Find Your Inspiration

Gather inspiration for your favorite cake features. Glance at bridal magazines, view wedding web sites, and peruse local bakeries to formulate your ideas of favorite cake designs. You can visit Northern California Bridal Show for inspiring bakers and cakes on display. 

Our Summer/Fall Wedding Fair features "Say YES!" to the Cake contest. A perfect place to select your cake.

Book a Bakery

As you gather ideas, make plans to book a bakery. Think of your favorite pastry shops, and explore your options for wedding cake specialists through WeddingsNorthValley.com’s list online. Then schedule consultations with your favorite bakeries, caterers, or cake specialists to narrow your options. Choose the bakery that best fits your needs and personal style. Remember to review a contract before you sign the dotted line to ensure these details are included: cake’s design, wedding date, wedding venue and delivery time (if applicable), final price, and initial deposit.

Sometimes you just want to find the "right fit"--- maybe it's Cake is the Best Part's Teri LaHorgue from Redding, CA

Choose the Design

Partner with your favorite baker to create a wedding cake design that reflects your wedding’s tone and color scheme to further personalize your experience. Incorporate ribbons, flowers, pillars, feathers, icing designs, figurines, or even exchange the traditional cake for contemporary cupcakes. Be as creative as you please, but bear in mind more intricate cakes are more expensive. Always show your cake consultant your inspiration pieces, pictures, or drawings to ensure your ideas are clearly communicated.

Know the Numbers

Tell your cake consultant the number of guests you expect to attend your reception. Then the baker can determine what size cake you’ll need to feed your entire guest list.  This may include the number of tiers, width of tiers, or even a separate sheet cake for economical necessity. Also, know whether you plan to save your top tier for your first anniversary or if you prefer to let guests enjoy this layer on your wedding day.

Select the Shape

Round cakes and square cakes are both popular choices for weddings. These shapes feed more mouths and they are easy to cut, which leads to quick food service and happy guests. If you have alternate shape ideas, speak with your baker to see if your idea is doable.

It may not be a "cake" at all! Cupcakes are more popular all the time. Check out Blue Sugar Cupcakes.

Find the Flavor

Once you choose your cake’s design, you’ll be able to select the cake flavor and filling. Enjoy mixing and matching as you decide which combination tastes the most decadent. Throughout this process, feel free to ask questions and listen to your wedding cake professional as well. The baker knows the products well and can guide you to complementary flavor combinations. If you and your groom savor different flavors, then ask your cake consultant if each tier can be a separate cake flavor.

Icing on the Cake

Complement your favorite cake flavors and fillings with the right icing. While you may consider the taste, you’ll also need to cater to your cake’s design. Some styles require sturdy fondant icing to create the complete look while other cakes can maintain a richer flavor with soft butter cream icing. If you’re unsure, ask your wedding cake consultant to recommend icing to best complement your cake.

Top It Off

To complete the cake’s overall appearance, choose a complementary cake topper. You may want an elaborate topper as the cake’s crowning glory, or you may prefer a simple topper as the subtle finishing touch. Consider your options, such as a ribbon arrangement, monogram, flowers, fruits, symbolic shapes, or porcelain figurines. Select a cake topper to reflect your groom’s and your relationship as well as match the mood of your reception.

Share the Sweetness

For all your wedding planning, your cake is one area where wedding guests will want a big slice. Share the cake cutting with your groom, and enjoy a bite of scrumptious dessert together. Then let guests partake in your celebration with their own thick slices of cakes. They’ll be pleased when there’s enough cake for everyone in attendance, and you’ll be glad you took the time to provide this tasty treat. 

Pink and sweetened by vine-ripened fruit is just one of the toothsome goodies from Marcie's Cupcake Kitchen.

Share the sweetness of your special day! For more information about Northern California’s Sweetest Choices, please view our website or visit us at Facebook.com/ChicoBridalShowcase. Make your wedding day extra fabulous…hire a Wedding Professional. 

Go to WeddingsNorthValley.com where great Northern California weddings start!

11 Commandments for A Memorable Wedding

Be Creative. Don't think you are? Think again!

1.   Let's face it, if you've sustained a healthy relationship with each other, you've already figured out a number of creative solutions to problems. Be still and think about it. The ideas will flow. Talk to other recently married couples. If all else fails, get a group of friends together and brainstorm!

How about unique transportation to bring the wedding party and guests to your wedding venue. Here the groom and groomsmen arrive in style to a wedding at Cory's Country Inn's Secret Garden and Lawn Pavilion in Chico, CA

2. Incorporate your joint interests into your ceremony. Outdoor enthusiasts? Include a reading that speaks of nature. Share a passion for dancing? Tango up the aisle after you're "hitched".Add in an ethnic tradition!

3. Include your children. If this is not your first time down the aisle and you have kids who are old enough to participate, then by all means, make them part of the ceremony.

4. Choose an alternative location. Church weddings are not for everyone. Consider locations such as parks, museums, bed and breakfasts, even a private home. If size is a problem, keep you ceremony guest list small and invite the rest to a party later.

Gale Vineyards in Durham, CA is one of our favorite sites. Magnificent shaded areas, adjoining their vineyards and winery.

5. Feeling really brave? Throw a surprise wedding! Invite guests to a luncheon or dinner; promise them a surprise. When everyone arrives, announce that they've been gathered to witness your wedding vows! (Make sure you arrange for the officiant to be on the scene.) While this is very unorthodox, it's a whole lot of fun and  takes the pre-wedding pressure off. In Northern California, you can do this with ease by turning to Simply Little Weddings --- our sister company. Give the SLW concierge your date, get a marriage license and SLW does the rest.

6. Consider a winter wedding--even outdoors. You can keep it brief, and winter can be such a beautiful time of the year. (This may not work if you have older guests.)

7. Pick a theme for your wedding. Go beyond simply choosing coordinated colors for your bridal party. Whether you love country western, have an affinity for butterflies or the work of William Shakespeare, revolve your ceremony around a single theme and people will talk about it for years.

Tracy Lynn Photography captures the fun --- and the surprise --- of well worn boots of the bride and her attendants. Fun!

8. Plan your ceremony around an untraditional holiday. Sure, Christmas weddings are beautiful, but how about a Halloween event where all the guests arrive in costume? St. Paddy's Day, complete with pale green dresses and shamrocks at every table. Groundhog Day? Well, we haven't seen that one yet, but if you do wed on this day, please share your creative ideas with us. We'll pass them on!

9. Use your ceremony to honor special people in your life. Have your maid of honor do a reading; hand roses to your mom and new mother-in-law as you walk down the aisle; ask Uncle Fred to offer your final blessing; include a prayer of thanks to your parents.

10. Do not expect a "perfect" ceremony. Children may cry; your bridesmaid's hair may be dyed blue; your grandmother may flub the reading. That's okay. Don't aim for perfection--aim for memorable.

11. You are allowed to have fun. Do not ... I repeat DO NOT ... let anyone convince you that a stodgy, stuffy, stale wedding ceremony is for you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime day, so don't be afraid to bend the rules. Do what you like and have a blast!

Mim's Bakery of Chico,CA created a very personal design for a wedding. Image captured by Chameleon Photographix of Redding and Chico, CA

Guest Blog courtesy of Maureen Thomson (no relation) of Rocky Mountain Wedding Officiants.

Carol Thomson, The Wedding Lady, is a 5th generation North Californian. I share my passion for life in the northstate with engaged couples planning a home-grown wedding with style. Contact me at info@weddingsnorthvalley.com. You can read more of my tips and trends at Wedding Wishes; read my blog and view the great videos. Meet me Sunday, August 15, 2010 at Chico Bridal Showcase.