Some couples are skipping wedding cakes altogether and instead going for an elaborate dessert table full of rich, decadent delights instead. How about you? Are you sticking with a traditional white wedding cake?

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You can stack the cupcakes in the shape of a wedding cake and then have a small layer of cake to use for the cake cutting ceremony, if you like. Look for a money saving wedding tip here on this blog every weekend.

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What do you think about the trend to go away from traditional white wedding cakes?

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Here are some great ways to save money on your wedding cake:

Order you cake early. Many bakers charge extra if you order your cake within two weeks of your wedding. Try to order as soon as possible.

Buy your own flowers, cake decorations, dividers and cake toppers rather than purchasing or renting them from the bakery.

Skip the elaborate fillings. Jellies, fruits and other fillings add to the cost of the cake. Stick with a basic cream filling instead.

Have a friend or relative pick up your cake instead of having it delivered.

Use upside down glasses as your cake dividers. They serve the purpose and you can use them later. You can also skip the dividers all together.

Have the baker make a smaller cake and then also serve cupcakes to your guests. Cupcakes are very affordable at your local grocer’s bakery or you can make them at home.

Ask a friend or family member to make your wedding cake. Almost every family has one expert baker. Ask this person to make your wedding cake in lieu of buying you a wedding gift. You can purchase the ingredients yourself.

Elegant Affairs Caterers is a 5-Star, full-service catering company that has been catering to social and corporate clientele of Manhattan, Long Island and the Hamptons for the last decade. Andrea has extensive experience planning all types of weddings from the simple affairs to the most lavish galas.

Here are some tips and trends from Andrea and Elegant Affairs Caterers:

What’s In & What’s Out

• Round tables for reception seating is out and a combination of square, rectangle, and round tables are in.
• Symmetrical floral centerpieces are out and varying size and shape floral centerpieces are in (different vases and vessels used at each reception table).
• All white weddings are out. Chocolate brown accented with either pale blue, celadon, or pale orange is the hot color combination for 2008.
• Fried food and heavy entrees are out. Lighter fare, organic cuisine, and vegetarian cuisine are definitely in.

Gift Trends

• Many brides are requesting that a donation be given to their charity of choice in lieu of wedding gift.
• For bridesmaids gifts, it’s a great gesture to take the girls for a spa treatment, or manicures and pedicures followed by a ladies lunch catered at the spa or at a local restaurant.
• Using an online photo shop, create personalized photo books of memories throughout the years. Try shutterfly.com to get some great ideas.

Wedding Cake Trends

• Round cakes are out and square cakes are in.
• The days of the white cake are over. Brides are opting for cakes with bold colors and abstract shapes.

To learn more about Andrea Correale and Elegant Affairs, please visit elegantaffairscaterers.com.

Adam posted pictures of his and his bride’s Mii cake toppers (see below) stationed appropriately in front of their gorgeous ivy cake. They even made sure they had a console cake ready for Adam’s son! Way to be creative!

I’m not quite sure where they got their fantastic idea. It could have been from Martha Stewart’s Wii cake on the cover of Wired Magazine. While Martha made a console cake that stood on it’s side, she didn’t have any Miis in site, and her cake wasn’t actually edible. Such a shame.

Whether you like the console lying on it’s side, or standing up, if you’re a Wii-fanatic, this is an idea that’s perfect for you! Just be sure to make sure your Miis have smiles on their faces! It is, after all, your wedding day!

(Photo credit: Adam via Flickr)

A recent trend in wedding cakes is the cupcake wedding cake. Instead of a fancy, expensive multi-tiered wedding cakes, many couples are opting for cupcakes arranged in the shape of a cake. This is a much more affordable alternative to a traditional wedding cake.

Your guests, young and old, will enjoy the cupcakes at your reception. What’s fun is that you can get the cupcakes in a variety of flavors.

If you’d like, you can still have a smaller, separate one tier cake used to do the cake cutting ceremony.

What do you think about cupcake wedding cakes? Good idea, or just tacky?

Leave your comments here and let us know.

Photo credit: Hawaiian Weddings

Personally, I just went with the flow when it came to my cake. I had heard of this incredibly smooth icing option called fondant, and I let my mother-in-law design an absolutely gorgeous beach-themed, seashell accented wedding cake for my reception. I have absolutely no regrets because my cake was undeniably beautiful, but I certainly wouldn’t have minded if it had tasted just a little bit better. (As it turns out, fondant is a very, VERY gummy type of icing.)

Well, there are definitely a lot of different ways to approach the big wedding cake decision: tasting, reading, comparing, tasting again, but wouldn’t it be nice if you had a little nudge in the right direction to get you started? I thought so.

Well, just so you have a starting point, I thought I’d provide a very nice chart I found that breaks down your many, many icing options, and their various features like flavor, consistency, coloring, etc. Check out this link to the Wilton website to have a look and learn a little bit about your icing options before you make your (littler) big decision!

(Icing chart available also at: http://www.wilton.com/cake/icing/icingchart.cfm)

Anyway … they have a big collection of wedding planning videos and one that I found to be very comprehensive was about how to choose your wedding cake. The video demonstrates all the steps you need to take to select a wedding cake that reflects your own wedding style and taste.

Choosing your wedding cake is one of the more fun parts about planning your wedding. You get to visit a bunch of bakeries and get treated like a queen, while sampling tons of delicious cake. Even the groom likes this part of wedding planning!

Check out the video when you have a chance and let me know what you think.

VideoJug: How To Choose A Wedding Cake For A Formal Wedding

For more fabulous information on how to choose your wedding cake, please read our Guide to Wedding Cakes.

Still, if you want something truly unique and unusual at your wedding reception, this certainly fits the bill. Can you imagine all the jokes being blurted out as the Bride and Groom cut their cake? And just where would you start cutting; at her head or neck or back or where?

Let’s hope the actual cake part wasn’t something like Red Velvet cake – yuck!

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