Reflecting on a wonderful year, I will have much to share about 2019’s weddings and other adventures; today I wanted to start by sharing some of my favorite cake designs. This year it hit me how much I love decorating cakes and it has actually become one of my favorite parts of designing wedding flowers. Rather than an afterthought (a rose here, a rose there, some eucalyptus here) cake flowers can be an easy opportunity to add beauty, color, and fun to one of the best parts of your wedding reception. I’m excited to share a little more about cakes I decorated this year, and what was involved in creating these designs.
This big, beautiful tiered cake by Classically Cakes for my friends Elise and Travis was decorated with spray roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, thistle, and Italian ruscus foliage. I co-decorated this cake with Classically Cakes during wedding setup, so it was a group effort! I loved that this was a “half-” naked cake, beautifully accented with gold foil.
Nobody does classic, gorgeous icing work like Sugar Bakers Cakes, so I kept the flowers simple with Abbie’s cake to accent their lace designs rather than cover them up. For this September wedding I used local dahlias and lisianthus; the cake also features burgundy orchids, eucalyptus, and roses.
- When Tehtena shared her vision for a whimsical, colorful floral design for her wedding cake, I almost flipped out from how excited I was to bring this unique concept to life. She ordered from Fluffy Thoughts Cakes (who, by the way, create their own absolutely stunning cake designs, sugar flowers, and more), and I decorated the cake with whimsical, seasonal summer flowers like zinnias, lisianthus, strawflower, and gomphrena, all grown by our friends at Two Boots Farm Another flower (not local) is the delicate waxflower, which was pressed into the middle illusion layer. It felt perfect for a secret garden-inspired outdoor reception at Strong Mansion.
For Taylor and Robert’s intimate Woodberry Kitchen wedding in Clipper Mill, Baltimore, the couple put so much thought into every detail. Taylor is the fiber artist behind Myth and Moss, and the lovely vision for her wedding was full of details she either created herself, by Dear Darling Weddings, or as part of their creative duo The Darling Myth. Taylor wanted a colorful, lush statement of a cake topper, and I enjoyed creating a crescent-shaped design with an ombre, or color-gradient, effect. It was all captured beautifully by L.A. Birdie Photography too.
This topper was created off-site in the studio and then the pre-made piece was placed on the cake (with a protective paper liner) during setup. This makes it easier for the caterer to cut and use the whole cake without contamination from flowers, or the hassle of pulling them out of the frosting–especially important in this case because it is a smaller cake.
Final thoughts about cake flowers:
–When you’re planning your cake decorations, you have a few options: 1) your baker will place fresh or sugar flowers on the cake and then deliver it 2) the baker will deliver the cake and then decorate it with flowers purchased from the florist or 3) the baker will deliver the cake and the florist will decorate it with fresh flowers. The cakes featured in this post were decorated by Violet Floral Designs.
–It’s easier to plan the flowers you’d like on your cake after having a cake size and design finalized, so during the initial process of planning and booking your flowers I’d recommend leaving cake flowers in your quote as a placeholder until closer to the big day. (Haven’t booked your 2020 wedding with us yet? Contact us here to get started!)
–Flowers should not be directly inserted into any portion of a cake that will be eaten, especially imported flowers or poisonous flowers (I’m looking at you, ranunculus). Typically I use straws, paper liners, and stem wraps to protect cakes from contamination.
Thanks for checking out this post about one of my favorite subjects: fresh cake flowers! To learn more about our wedding services at Violet Floral Designs, click here, or check out more of our work over in our Portfolio.