Cutting your wedding cake seems simple, right? After all, you just take the cake knife in your hand, slice through a thick layer of chocolate mousse, place a piece in your husband’s mouth, and voila! Piece of cake!
While cake cutting is one of the less stressful moments for some brides, for other girls it can become quite the task. At my Las Vegas wedding in June, I certainly underestimated my 
cake. My husband, Anthony, and I had rehearsed so many moments of the big day, from walking down the aisle to our first dance. Unfortunately, we forgot about the cake cutting. Soon, we found ourselves surrounded by dozens of guests at the cake table. And in that moment, as we stared uncertainly at the bottom layer of a tower of whipped cream, we realized that slicing a couple of cake pieces was quickly becoming a show-stopper.
Despite our initial hesitance, we gave it our best. Together, Anthony and I cut two very large pieces of strawberry shortcake.
Then, as we’d seen in the movies, we each picked up a whole piece of cake and started slowly aiming for each other’s mouths. I felt the cake slipping from my hand, splitting in half at the filling. I rushed the cake toward my husband’s open mouth, hoping to make it before half the slice fell to the floor. But I missed his mouth completely. Instead, I accidentally shoved pink strawberry filling into my husband’s mustache, creating a mess on his face and the floor.
Fortunately, his piece made it into my mouth. But I quickly found the cake slice was so huge, I couldn’t chew it. So, there I was, in front of 80 people with cameras flashing, with my mouth shoved open by this massive cake piece! As I maneuvered my jaw to inhale my cake and laughed as best I could without choking, I couldn’t help but marvel at how we’d managed to mess up the one part of the wedding with which I had never anticipated having difficulty.
Ladies, don’t underestimate your wedding cake. Here are a few tips to make sure your wedding cake cutting goes smoothly for you and your man.
- Consider practicing on a homemade, store-bought, or bakery-prepared cake before the wedding to make sure you’ll know how to handle your official wedding cake’s filling.
- Discuss with your fiancé whether you want to have fun shoving cake in each other’s faces or if you prefer to sweetly place the cake pieces in each other’s mouths. Then, respect each other’s wishes.
- Cut small, square cake pieces (no larger than your thumb) for each other on your wedding day.
- Leave room for error. Don’t get upset if something doesn’t go according to plan. Accidents happen. Just laugh, and enjoy the moment.
Good luck, girls!
(Author: Allyson Siwajian © 2010)
(Photographs: Jamison Frady of Quiet Art Photography © 2010)
2 comments on “More Than You Can Chew: Wedding Cake Cutting Tips”
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Beautiful cakes! I help run a venue in Birmingham AL. Most brides still want to keep the top tier of their cake but if you plan to keep it a year, you must store it properly.
First, pre-freeze it for a few hours once it arrives home. This makes it much easier to wrap. Second wrap it in plastic wrap and keep as much air out as possible. Third wrap it in foil. Finally put it into something that is air tight like tupper ware.
Of course a year is a long time, but if you want to even attempt to eat it (without tasting like stale refrigerator water) you must store it properly