Floral Ideas for Your Wedding Cake
Floral Inspiration For yOur Wedding Cake
One thing I will always love, even though I didn’t have one at my wedding and even though I have a gluten allergy, is wedding cake. The reason is possibly quite frivolous, but I’ll admit it: I love the moment that a wedding cake provides. The way that tradition revolves around them, that there can be a pause in a chaotic evening for the two of you to enjoy a moment together, and of course, I love the design opportunities that a cake can bring.
I know people have their ups and downs with wedding cakes and whether they’re a priority or not. In my mind, it comes down to this: if you’re going to invest in a wedding cake, then make 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 moment 👏🏻
Photo above by Brittany Mahood
Cake Meadows
I have loved designing cake meadows these last few years. If you’re going to make your cake a design focal point in your reception, then this is such a great way to do it. Florals surrounding the cake is delightful for a few reasons — no stems actually have to poke into the cake, so we can use whatever type of flower we want (even if it’s poisonous!), they can have a constant water source so stay fresher longer, and it’s also just a WOW moment.
Simply Rosie Photography // Baked Expectations
Things to know if this is what you want:
Please budget accordingly. I don’t think I’ve ever charged appropriately for these, to be honest 🤦🏼♀️ This labour should be done entirely on-site because it’s difficult to deliver, and you really can’t design it well without the cake present so you can get the scale right. Additionally, be sure to ask your florist to design this floral foam-free, because that $h!t is toxic and we don’t want that anywhere near anything you’re eating.
Dramatic Floral Moments
This is a go big or go home kind of moment.
If you’ve got a really large venue space to fill, if you’ve got an impressive floral feature like this 20 foot wide hanging floral installation (yes, we really did that!!), then take the opportunity to really go for it and make the cake a focal point in the floor plan. This design (laid out so carefully by Soiree Event Planning) saw the cake elevated on a circular platform, and set in the middle of the lounge and underneath the hanging florals, right in front of the dance floor, so that everyone could see it. It made for such a sweet cake cutting moment and was really spectacular!
Partial Floral Meadow
I designed this many years ago, before floral meadows were becoming popular, and I still love it. The crescent moon shape allowed me to add some height behind the cake, while still allowing full access to cut into the cake. The combination of sugar flowers, hand-painted flowers, and fresh flowers was such a flirty, fun combination and I really love that the fresh flowers accented the sugar flowers without taking over the design that the baker lovingly created.
Fresh and Sugar flower combination
Things to know if this is what you want: This is a combination that you need to trust to a cake artist. I LOVE placing fresh flowers on a cake. I would NEVER dream of touching the sugar flowers. The idea of accidentally breaking or causing damage to those delicate sugar flowers that were handmade by someone else is so stressful to me.
Additionally, this needs to be done by a cake artist with the eye for detail that you’re in love with. Not just anyone could do what Jenna Rae Cakes did here and make it look this amazing.
To do this, I’ll connect with your baker to ask about the design they’re planning, and then figure out roughly how many loose florals they’ll need. The bakery will typically send someone to pick up the flowers from my studio a day or two before the wedding, so they can have everything they need in-hand to create their masterpiece!
**Please make sure to ask your florist and baker for food-safe flowers and floral applications. Flowers should never just be shoved into cakes because a) many are toxic to humans, and b) without proper care they will die really quickly, and c) most commercial flowers are grown with a LOT of chemicals, so even if it’s not a toxic flower, it could still be covered with icky things. We don’t want any of this going into your body.
Petite Floral Touches
Because you don’t always need something huge! Here are some sweet, petite floral moments — from a few blooms that I carefully inserted into the cake, to a small arrangement placed beside the cake, to locally grown, edible flowers sprinkled on top of the cakes. Sweet and simple!
Photos by Bennett Murphy-Mills, Kass Donaldson, Nicole Plett, and Brittany Mahood
Simple cake, big placement
I personally love a small cake, big placement moment. You may not wish to serve wedding cake to your entire guest list, or maybe you have specific allergies so a small cake just for the two of you is the way to go, and you maybe don’t even wish to add flowers to the cake. But placing the cake intentionally in your floor plan in a place where it gets more attention because of what it’s placed by (in this case, in front of the floral-covered bar), is just a smart move!
Repurposed ceremony arch
Top Photos by Keila Marie, Jenna Rae Cakes // Bottom Photos by Brittany Mahood, Sugar & Salt
Things to know if this is what you want: Chances are pretty good that your arch is the piece that will need to move locations. If this is what you want, then you have to contract your floral team for a flip and refresh, which means that they either stick around during your ceremony (instead of leaving when their work is completed), or they come back, so they can move the arch for you (and will incur an additional service fee). This really should not be done by anyone else — firstly, it’s that floral designer’s art, and it’s BIG, and someone else touching it just isn’t that appropriate because a lot of things can go wrong. Secondly, a lot of damage can be done during the move-over, and the florist may need to redesign some elements, or remove spent blooms and refresh them with new. Additionally, your planner and your family are busy doing other things. This shouldn’t be their responsibility.
Ground-based pieces around cake table
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Call me biased, but flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!