Wedding cake bakeries will have a cake portfolio to look at and that will help you decide if they are able to make the cake you want.

Have an idea of how many guests you will have at your reception, this will help determine the amount of wedding cake you will need or number of cupcake wedding cakes. The pastry chef/cake decorator may ask how many invitations are being sent to how many people and how many are from out of town or from more than a certain number of miles away.

The pastry chef/cake decorator will use this information to calculate how many people will actually show up at the reception and how many of those will actually eat a piece or more of cake.

By this time several people, such as the minister and caterer, will have asked for this information. They will have calculated and told you how many people they think will actually attend your wedding and reception.

You will have been appalled at the low number they came up with. You know that everyone you invite is waiting breathlessly to attend your wedding and that only those who are ill or incapacitated or on Moon will pass up the chance to wish you well in person on your big day. When the baker comes up with a similar number, believe him because it’s true.

Many people will simply forget and others can think of no way worse to spend a summer Saturday than at another wedding. That’s just the way it is. And you can believe it and save some money, or you can believe that everyone will come and then have to decide what to do with the leftover cake.

Do whatever will do the most to put your mind at ease for the next six to eight months. Saving money by ordering only a sufficient amount of cake based on the years of experience of your baker is no good if you are going to fret over it and be nervous about it for more than half a year.

Sleeping well, feeling good and setting your mind at ease before your big day is a lot more important than saving money and having no leftovers. You will have enough to go crazy with as your wedding approaches.

When in wedding cake bakery, be clear about the date, time, and location of the wedding and receptions; set deadlines for changes to the cake design and size and for delivery; provide the address of and a map to the reception.

Make sure that the cake can be delivered at a time convenient to you or whomever you will have to receive and inspect the cake.

There should be a written contract with the wedding cake bakery to specify the size, shape, flavor, color, decorations, delivery day, delivery time, delivery place, and price of wedding cake.

Such a contract, of course, does not need a special form or a lawyer to draw it up. It can be a simple list with this information. The list should be dated and signed by both the baker and you, and you should each have a copy.

Many wedding cake bakeries have their own form for such orders because it is as important to them that you remember exactly what you asked for and don’t remember asking for something that you never mentioned as it is to you that they deliver what you did ask for.

If they have their form, use it and add any items or information that you need to. Make sure you take a copy of their form.

Bring swatches of material to match the cake to your wedding colors because colors in pictures are often slightly off and a picture’s colors can fade with time. (But again, don't forget the picture of the wedding cake.)

Below you will find list of questions you should ask the pastry chef, baker, or cake decorator at the wedding cake bakery. It is your special day you have every right to ask questions!

Questions to ask at the bakery:

(Suggestion: print these questions, you will certainly need them)!

1. Can pastry chef/cake decorator create custom cake from your instructions and to look like your wedding-cake picture.

2. What flavors of wedding cake and icing are available? Or if you already have an idea what you want, ask “Can you make a (type of cake) with (flavor of icing)?”

3. Ask to sample some of the bakery’s cakes. If you don’t care for any of the cake samples offered by the bakery, ask for additional samples or as what other choices are available.

Even if you have to order a small cake to try the baker's version of what you want, it is a small price to pay for satisfaction.

4. In case you want to use fresh flowers to decorate the wedding cake, ask if the bakery can provide them or if you or a florist must deliver them.

5.Request to see pictures of wedding cakes from their photo gallery. Take a look at their album and see if you like the looks of the cakes. Ask how old the pictures are and if the person who baked and decorated these cakes is the same person who will create yours.

6. Does the bakery, baker, pastry chef, or cake decorator has the required licenses and has passed health inspections. Licensing varies from state to state, but a bakery is probably required to be licensed as a retail food establishment or as a food preparer.

The health department of the city, county, or state probably issues licenses. The baker, pastry chef, and decorator may also be required to be licensed or qualified as a food handler.

You can go to most states’ web sites and find out just what licensing is required so that you know what to ask for.

Most bakeries will gladly let you look at the kitchen to see where the cake will be mixed, baked, decorated, and stored; this is probably as satisfying as seeing the licenses.

You should probably ask to take a peek at the kitchen after asking about the licenses. You can also ask to see the results of the latest health inspection.

7. If you simply don’t like frozen food and don't want it served at your wedding, ask if the wedding cake will be frozen. But understand that some people believe the taste of several cakes improves after freezing.

8. Ask how long before the wedding date the cakes will be prepared and how they will be kept until time for delivery. If you think the time or the method of storage will result in the bridal cake not being as fresh as you want, express your feeling to the person you are talking with.

He or she either will explain or demonstrate that this will not be a problem or will negotiate a shorter length of storage. She may let you sample some cake kept for that length of time. Some cakes keep well when frozen, and others do not.

Pound cakes and some carrot cakes seem to improve with freezing. If you are not satisfied and cannot reach some agreement, you must use another bakery.

9. To find how much time and attention will be spent on your cake, ask how many orders the bakery typically has for the weekend of your order and how many of those your pastry chef might be producing.

A large volume can be an indication that not a lot of time and attention can be devoted to your cake. But a very busy bakery also indicates that many people like its products and trusts its work. Wedding cake bakery that no one likes will have plenty of time to dedicate to your cake, but that alone will not guarantee good results.

Neither will a very busy bakery guarantee good results all the time. For one, you may need to check with them during the week of production to make sure that things are going well.

For the other, you may want to check to make sure that your order has not somehow been overlooked among so many orders. In either case verify that your cake is in the process of being prepared.

10. Ask if the decorator is experienced and good and if he or she decorated the cakes pictured in the bakery’s gallery.

The point of such a question is to find out whether you will be getting the best the bakery has to offer and whether you will be served by the same personnel that did the work seen in the bakery’s photo album and for the references you will contact.

You may be satisfied that all decoration is supervised by a master decorator with long experience and excellent references, even though the actual work may be done by one of several less experienced decorators.

11. Ask to be introduced to each of the people who will bake, decorate, and deliver the cake. You may have questions you want to ask. If you do, ask them.

For example, you might be concerned with the experience each one has. If so, you might ask how many cakes they have baked or decorated. I might be more concerned to simply ask whether they did the cakes in the bakery’s album of cakes.

If you have no questions, ask to meet them anyway. Introduce yourself and try to make it easy for them to remember your name and your face. Show a great pleasure at meeting the people who have created the wonderful masterpieces that have come from this bakery and tell them that you look forward to having them create your wedding cake.

What you are creating is a personal relationship with these artists at the wedding cake bakery. Like all workers and artists, these people like being appreciated and will do their best work for someone who has praised them and treats them as a master of their craft.

This goes as well for the person taking your order, whether it is the owner, manager, or just the order taker. I suggest that you work to make as good an impression on them as you expect them to try to make on you. Dress well when you are shopping for a bakery.

You don’t have to dress like you’re meeting the Queen or the First Lady, but don’t be dressing like you’re about to be hitting the bars with your friends on your bachelorette party–not unless you dress a lot better for that than most of the young women in my neighborhood.

Please try to time your visits so that the bakery is not crowded with customers. This is particularly important in smaller bakeries.

12.If you are concerned, ask whether the cake be made from scratch or from packaged mixes. Packaged mixes are so much more expensive that few busy bakeries would use them. And if they produce the wedding cake you want and it tastes good, do you care whether it’s from a mix or from scratch?

13. Ask what the price will be. If the baker can give you an estimate but not the final cost, ask how much the final cost might vary from the estimate.

If the baker says that they will charge by how long it takes because they charge by the hour, ask how many hours it will take and do the calculation yourself.

Again, if it’s an estimate of hours, ask how far the hours might vary from that estimate. If you feel uncomfortable with the bakery’s commitment to giving you a number, maybe you should find another bakery.

14. Ask for customer references so that you can talk to with them. Then actually contact them and ask about their experience with the bakery.

While they were probably very pleased with the bakery (otherwise you'd think the bakery would not be giving them as a reference), they may give you some pointers about how best to deal with the bakery.

15. Request a written proposal that includes the size of the cake, the flavor, the icing type and flavor, the description of the cake: Number of tiers or number of cupcakes or miniature cakes, decorations, the date and time the cake would be ready, whether it would be delivered and where and when, and the price.

Some bakeries will put all of this in a proposal and some will commit to just the basic items. Press for commitment to everything that is important to you.

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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_107979_41.html

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Author: Caroline Miller

Aside from the dress, the cake is probably the most admired element of the wedding. There’s a reason why it's placed at the center of the reception hall, so everybody who enters can admire it. The perfect wedding cake should not only reflect the personalities of the bride and groom, but also blend into the theme of the wedding seamlessly.

Decide on a design for the cake much before the actual date of the wedding. As D-day draws nearer, you might find yourself tied down with a million things to do, and not have time to look into the details of the cake.

The first thing you’ll look into is the design of the cake. Gone are the days of a single three tiered cake as the only choice for a wedding. Nowadays, cakes come studded with crystals, have roses falling all over the sides, can resemble Christmas trees, and a myriad other possibilities.

Choose a design that stands out from the rest, and blends with your personality. An elegant couple will probably do well to choose an equally elegant and traditional white three tiered vanilla cake. A whimsical eclectic couple on the other hand, will have more room for innovation. A cupcake wedding confection that consists of a number of cupcakes of different flavors all arranged to make one large tiered cake is another off beat idea that allows guests to sample different flavors of cake at a single wedding.

Make sure you pay attention to the details; rest assured guests will want to spend time looking over the cake, and appreciating its finer details. Pale green or pink ribbons of frosting draped on a white cake can make it seem extra special, while cascades of red roses all over the cake spell glamour. Look around, before you make a choice. Your cake designer will show you a catalog of various styles, but you don't have to be restricted to those. Scour the internet for one of a kind imaginative designs until you find one that appeals to you. If your favorite celebrity’s wedding cake had you swooning at the design, hunt for a picture of the cake (you’ll easily find it online), and show your designer exactly what you want your cake to look like.

Remember, a perfect wedding cake is one that people remember for long after your wedding is over, and they’ve left for home!

About the Author:

This author lives in Flemington, NJ with her husband and 5 month old daughter and is an expert contributing author for a luxury wedding favors boutique offering variety of bridal shower favors, candle wedding favors . This author and WeddingFavorStation.com is also dedicated to providing valuable and informative articles on wedding planning, wedding party ideas, wedding dresses styles and wedding etiquette.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/a-guide-to-choosing-the-perfect-wedding-cake-372768.html

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One of the events that command supreme importance in everyone's life is his wedding. Such is its importance that everything else pales into insignificance when compared to it. When anything commands such great importance then everything that is attached with it gains importance as well. And when they happen to be wedding cakes then their importance can easily be understood. Their value can be gauged from the fact that their absense rob any weddings of its sheen. It, therefore, is imperative that a lot of care is taken while preparing these cakes.

One way of preparing nice cakes is by preparing them with plenty of sugar and cream with a dash of chocolate thrown in between. This would give such a yummy taste to the preparation. Cakes can also be prepared in different flavours to add variety. Some of the flavours that find favour with people in a big way are chocolate, pineapple, strawberry etc.

Then again what should also be kept in mind is that merely preparing good wedding cakes wouldn’t suffice for they also have to be decked up nicely to meet the magnanimity of the event. One way of decorating the cake nicely is by garnishing it nicely by almonds, cherries, cookies etc. This would brace up the cake nicely to meet the occasion. Another way of doing it is by preparing them in different shapes. A cake prepared in the shape of a heart can go a long way in adding unlimited glamour to the occasion.

Another thing that is important to note about wedding cakes is the fact that contrary to what many people think it is not difficult to make wedding cakes at home. All that is required is little bit of innovation and one can, indeed, churn out some nice wedding cakes that would enhance the pleasure of evening manifold.

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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_254067_26.html

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Author: TM Lung

You may want to make your wedding cards as special as possible. One of the ways to do so is to hire a designer to help to your create the cards. Of course this will be a more expensive option.

In fact, you will need to take care of various items when you are searching for the wedding invitations. You will need to prepare the save the date card, RSVP card and so one. In order to save money, you can consider creating the cards yourself. In fact, it is not only a good way to save money. You can also make your cards more special by creating them yourself.

However, you may not know what you need to do when you are trying to create your own wedding cards. It is not difficult to do so. You can follow some simple steps and you can do it easily.

1. You will first of all think about the kind of materials you want to use for your wedding card. Since you are going to create the cards yourself, it will be easier if you stick to the idea of printing the contents on paper. There are different kinds of paper you can choose. Yet, one think you need to know is that you need make some test print after you have chosen the material.

You have to do the test prints before you buy the paper in bulk. You are doing this to make sure that you can print on the paper. As a matter of fact, there are some materials which are not for printing. You may not be able to print on this kind of paper. If this is the case, you will need to select other kinds of paper for your invitation.

2. You will also need to consider the size of the wedding cards. This is mainly because of the postage. The cost of postage may be higher if you create a bigger card. Of course you will need to check with the post office to this end. The shape of the card may also affect the cost of potage. Again, you should check this with the post office.

3. You will also need to consider the envelopes. In most cases it will be less expensive if you can use ready-made envelopes. This will go back to the size of the card. You have to make sure that the card will fit into the envelope.

4. Since you are going to create the card yourself, you may not be able to use techniques such as die cutting and embossing. However, there are also some tools for you to do some simple die cutting and embossing. Remember to read the instructions before you use the tools.

5. One last thing is that, you will need to start working as soon as possible. You will need to spend some time in order to create your own wedding invitations. And it is not an easy task at the end of the day. You will not be able to make your cards special if you have to do it in a hurry.

About the Author:
TM Lung designs Chinese Wedding Invitation. He has sites on Wedding Vendor Directory and Wedding Planning and Marriage.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/5-tips-for-diy-wedding-cards-672330.html

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A wedding cake has to work hard. Not only does it have to look gorgeous and fit perfectly with your overall wedding style but it also has to taste fabulous too! Incorporating features, themes or colors from your day into your cake design is a stylish way to coordinate your wedding style.

Personalize your cake

Express your own style by using personal touches on your wedding cake. Take inspiration from your life, your hobbies or even your dress to add beautiful details to your wedding cake. Crown your wedding cake with a topper formed into your initials. Imagine a simple white classic tiered wedding cake transformed by a fabulous sparkling monogram of your entwined initials. One fun way to personalize your cake is to include a specially designed wedding cake topper � these unique works of art can be sculpted and designed to reflect your profession, hobbies or interests complete with your own features right down to your clothes, hairstyle and eye color. Consider having your topper made from ceramics so that you can keep your figurines as an extra special memory of your day.

If you have a favorite poem or quote that means something special to you both why not use this as a creative starting point for your cake � ask your designer to pipe the verses around the edges of your cake for a lovely romantic touch.

A treasured photograph can be turned it into a stylish and personal addition to your wedding cake � one company offers you the opportunity to have your photos to be turned into edible decorations for your cake. A series of black and white photographs set on a classic tiered white cake would fit well at a wedding with a monochromatic theme.

Stylish Ideas

Take inspiration from your wedding dress by asking your cake designer to include details from your dress. If you have flowers or lace details on your dress ask them to add pretty sugar icing flowers or lace effect icing. Using a ribbon on your cake is another excellent way to add in your wedding colors. Color is becoming ever more popular with brides who really want their cake to stand out at their reception. Your wedding flowers can also be added to your cake to tie in with the color and floral scheme of your wedding. The flowers can be made by your cake designer or fresh or silk flowers supplied by your florist � for food safety reasons check with your cake maker about using fresh flowers on your cake. Beautiful fresh roses blocking in between the tiers of the cake can transform a simple white cake into a stunning centerpiece.

Don�t forget your Wedding Cake Designer

Your designer will be full of brilliant ideas and suggestions to help you find the perfect cake but you need to give them an idea of your personal style. Start by compiling a scrapbook or file of your wedding cake ideas. Research ideas and inspiration for your perfect wedding cake style online in wedding cake picture galleries; try visiting your local library or research online to find books or magazines about wedding cakes. Include any materials in your file such as pictures of your dress, snips of fabric and your color inspiration or theme ideas.

For more ideas and inspiration on planning your wedding cake design, visit My Wedding Cake Ideas complete wedding cake planning guide.

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Wedding is once in a lifetime affair and it deserves to be celebrated with due grandeur and splendor. Among many other things that are necessary to celebrate a marriage in a befitting, there is the wedding cake. In fact, after the bride, the bridegroom the costume, it is the cake that attracts the attention of all the attendants.

Therefore, it is necessary that the wedding cake should be eye-catching to look at. At the same time, the designing of the cake also should be in sync with the sentiment of the occasion. To make a cake that wows everybody, it is necessary that it is made by a specialist. However, we are in a tech-savvy age and we have access to unlimited information on any subject answer the sun.

So, if any body wishes to decorate the wedding cake by himself, he can do it even without being a specialist. The Internet has unlimited information on how to make a cake for a marriage ceremony and how to decorate it as per the demand of the occasion. You will find nice ideas on how to make the cake look different and unique and what are the ingredients you need for that.

If you find it a big botheration to make and doctorate the wedding cake personally, you can get it done by specialists. You can simply describe them the kind of cakes you want and they will provide you with this. They may also help you with nice ideas, of course, if you want.

It is possible to order wedding cakes online. There websites that sell cakes via the Internet. Browsing through some of these sites, you can easily come across the one you are thinking of. These websites have beautifully decorated cakes on display. All you have to do is to choose the one that you find aesthetically appealing and befitting to the majesty of your marriage ceremony.

Mr. Daniel is an expert author on cakes, by virtue of his extensive knowledge and meticulous research, he produces informative articles on cakes. The article given here covers the arena of Wedding Cakes.

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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_234602_47.html

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One of the events that command supreme importance in everyone’s life is his wedding. Such is its importance that everything else pales into insignificance when compared to it. When anything commands such great importance then everything that is attached with it gains importance as well. And when they happen to be then their importance can easily be understood. Their value can be gauged from the fact that their absence rob any weddings of its sheen. It, therefore, is imperative that a lot of care is taken while preparing these cakes.

One way of preparing nice cakes is by preparing them with plenty of sugar and cream with a dash of chocolate thrown in between. This would give such a yummy taste to the preparation. Cakes can also be prepared in different flavours to add variety. Some of the flavours that find favour with people in a big way are chocolate, pineapple, strawberry etc.

Then again what should also be kept in mind is that merely preparing good wedding cakes wouldn’t suffice for they also have to be decked up nicely to meet the magnanimity of the event. One way of decorating the cake nicely is by garnishing it nicely by almonds, cherries, cookies etc. This would brace up the cake nicely to meet the occasion. Another way of doing it is by preparing them in different shapes. A cake prepared in the shape of a heart can go a long way in adding unlimited glamour to the occasion.

Another thing that is important to note about wedding cakes is the fact that contrary to what many people think it is not difficult to make wedding cakes at home. All that is required is little bit of innovation and one can, indeed, churn out some nice wedding cakes that would enhance the pleasure of evening manifold.

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