About Wedding Cake Traditions

In an ever changing world it is nice to know there are some things that do not alter too quickly and one of those is the customs surrounding weddings and in particular the wedding cake. As far as we know the wedding cake has been used for hundreds of years although it was somewhat different in the distant past. Although we try to keep up with these traditions, often they are only learnt by word of mouth and so they change slowly.

One such change is that with the history behind the wedding cake which as far as we know was originally made u of a number of tiny wheat cakes which were then broken up and thrown over the brides head. This was meant to bestow fertility and good luck to the new bride for her married life and is one wedding cake tradition which is not practiced any more. As taking photographs of the cake is as important as those after the wedding ceremony, there will be many in the wedding album so the choice of cake should be made carefully.

Although the tradition of a three tiered cake is not always used today; many are multi tiered, they are usually covered in royal icing even though a sponge center has become more popular. In an effort to make a wedding individual, it is actually possible to design your own cake for that touch of uniqueness.

Although no longer practiced, the bride was the only person who cut the wedding cake as a signal that she would very soon lose her virginity to the man she had married. Today however, this tradition includes the groom as well plus cutting the cake and sharing the first bite together, symbolizes that the wedded couple’s promise to share a whole new life together.

There are many wedding traditions but one of the more interesting is that one that says that if an unmarried woman sleeps with a piece of wedding cake beneath her pillow then she will dream of the man she will marry. While this is no longer practiced, it is a quaint story that many people find interesting and makes for an amusing tale at the reception, especially amongst the women. Many people wonder why the top tier of the wedding cake is not used; well this was always kept by the married couple and was too be used only when they christened their first child but over time this too has altered and now it is used on their first wedding anniversary.

One very old wedding tradition was to have different charms attached to pieces of ribbon and placed inside the cake where the bridesmaids would pull them out and depending on the charm; it would foretell what was in store for them. There are a large number of charms but probably he best known are those shaped like a heart (bringer of love) and of course the horseshoe (lucky in life).