| Back when your mother and grandmother got married, | | | | best, perhaps with a touch of pale pink if you want a |
| the wedding cake was not the extravagant | | | | hint of color. Keep the design classic. You cannot go |
| showpiece that it is today. Brides back then would | | | | wrong with pretty decorations piped in white frosting. |
| have been shocked at the price that some couples | | | | Wonderful choices include garlands, scrolls, and Swiss |
| pay for today's over-the-top wedding cakes. Cakes | | | | dots. The pearl is another lovely addition to a vintage |
| these days have become like competitions; it seems | | | | inspired cake, as it really ties in with the classic bridal |
| like every bride wants hers to be taller or more | | | | jewelry favored by brides throughout the ages. You |
| elaborate or quirkier than every wedding cake that has | | | | can have a simple pearl border piped along the edge |
| come before. If you feel like sometimes simpler can be | | | | of each tier, which looks beautiful when the bride is |
| better, take a look at some ways that you can design | | | | wearing pearl bridal jewelry. |
| a wedding cake with a refreshingly nostalgic charm. | | | | Another nice choice for cake decorations would be |
| A traditional wedding cake was frosted in white or | | | | fresh flowers. They can be arranged in small clusters |
| ivory buttercream. The buttercream icing has a softer | | | | on the base of each tier, cascading down one side of |
| and more genuine look than the too-perfect look of | | | | the cake, or as filling between layers if your cake has |
| perfectly smooth fondant. (I once attended a wedding | | | | risers. Ask your florist to bring some additional flowers |
| where one of the young guests insisted that the cake | | | | to place around the base of the cake, as well as |
| was fake; he could not believe that fondant was edible | | | | some petals to sprinkle on the cake table. Roses are a |
| and not plastic!) The look of buttercream frosting | | | | timeless flower to use; even more vintage would be |
| harkens back to the day when the families of the bride | | | | orange blossoms. Choose cake flowers that tie in with |
| and groom did much of the cooking for the wedding | | | | your bouquets and centerpieces. One of the nice |
| celebration. Although I don't necessarily recommend | | | | things about decorating your cake with real flowers is |
| having your mom try to make your wedding cake, | | | | that it is considerably less expensive than having the |
| working with buttercream is something that a talented | | | | baker create handmade sugar flowers. |
| amateur could conceivably do. | | | | A nostalgic wedding cake should definitely have a |
| Classic wedding cakes were generally round, and | | | | vintage cake topper. The best of all would be if the |
| could either consist of stacked layers or tiers with | | | | bride or groom's parents saved their cake topper for |
| risers in between. The risers got a bad name in the | | | | you to use. Otherwise, look around at vintage stores |
| 1980s, as they were often really tacky plastic things | | | | and online for wedding cake toppers with a |
| made to look like fluted columns, or worse yet, bridges | | | | sentimental design. You cannot go wrong with an |
| spanning from one tier of cake to another adjacent to | | | | original bride and groom topper. Other popular choices |
| it. Yet, pedestals can be used to in a good way to add | | | | from the past are wedding bells and doves. |
| height to a cake and to give it a lighter feeling. One | | | | Your wedding cake should be special, but it does not |
| very nice way to use risers without the tacky factor is | | | | have to be cutting edge or extravagant. Create a |
| to partially obscure them with flowers between the | | | | cake with a nod to the past for a dessert that will |
| layers of the cake. | | | | have both beauty and simplicity. A nostalgic wedding |
| The decorations on your nostalgic cake are what will | | | | cake is the perfect sweet ending to your special day. |
| really give it a charming simplicity. White on white is | | | | |