How To DIY Your Wedding Cake - Butterfly Theme

Take one simple white wedding cake, add a flock of butterflies, and caboom! you've got an incredible, dramatic work of art. Just goes to show what a touch of DIY can do. Each butterfly is handmade, complete with antennae {!}, and they come in a variety of species and colours. Buy your beautiful bugs from Butterfly Bazaar, and learn how to decorate your cake in a special tutorial here. For plain white wedding cakes, you can't do better than good old Marks & Spencer.

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Pale & Romantic, Peach & Pink Wedding Inspiration

Brides looking for a romantic theme to their wedding day are going to love my next three wedding inspiration features. They're all part of the same pale and romantic styled shoot, shot by Annie Beedy of Mim & Honey, featuring flowers by Riley Messina of Erba Floral Design and wedding cakes by Cambria Goodwin of Butter. Annie's long been one of my favourite photographers - her pictures were some of the first I ever featured on Before the Big Day. So when she emailed me offering these exquisite shots, I jumped at the start. In this pink and peach-themed shoot, I'm loving the luxury of the multi-layered roses, the pink sponge interior to the wedding cake, and the simplicity of the plain white candles planted in old wine bottles. Ask your wedding cake designer to texture the icing for a similar rustic look, and add old keys, antlers and vintage crocheted mats to your wedding tables to recreate the rustic-chic look. Incredible!

♥ Want more peach-themed weddings? ♥ Or how about wedding cake ideas? ♥

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Wedding Cakes Suitable for a Queen

Do you remember Kate Middleton's wedding cake? It was an amazing EIGHT tier creation of delicious fruit cake, decorated with up to 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers. Fiona Cairns and her team spent five weeks making it perfect, before it was demolished by hundreds of VIP guests. I'd have saved my piece for posterity - wouldn't you? While you probably can't afford a cake as intricate as Kate and Will's, you could still choose a Fiona Cairns cake, either a bespoke design created by her team, or {would you believe it!} from Waitrose. They've started stocking Fiona Cairns' designs, and I'm really impressed with the selection - it's hard to tell the difference! What's more - you can choose the size and flavour of your cake, and have it delivered direct to your wedding venue.

{I want this!} Bespoke Fiona Cairns wedding cake

{I want this!} Polka-Dot & Roses Wedding Cake from Fiona Cairns for Waitrose, from £319

{I want this!} Bespoke Fiona Cairns wedding cake decorated with lilly of the valley sugar flowers

{I want this!} Vintage Fairytale Wedding Cake from Fiona Cairns for Waitrose, from £445

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Fruity vs Floral Wedding Cakes

Decorating your own wedding cake is a great way to keep costs down. Obviously there's nothing better than designer cake, but you don't want to be stuck with a thousand pound debt just because you went for an amazing confection from Choccywoccydoodah! Budget-savy brides buy their cake tiers from a high-street supermarket like M&S, and add their own decorations. Flowers have been in fashion for years, but recently I've seen a fabulous move towards fruity decor. Which do you prefer? Of course, you could go completely off-piste, and accessorise your wedding cake with macaroons {like this Before the Big Day bride}, or oreo biscuits! Don't miss my fabulous Wedding Cakes inspiration board on Pinterest.

{Photo Credits} 1. Jennifer Van Elk, more from this wedding on Budget Savvy Bride, 2. Sarah Falugo, more from this wedding on Style Me Pretty, 3. Unknown

{Photo Credits} 1. Aaron Delesie, more from this wedding on Snippet & Ink, 2. Unknown, 3. Annie McElwain, more from this wedding on Green Wedding Shoes

{Photo Credits} 1. Bret Cole Photography, more from this wedding on Elizabeth Anne Designs, 2. Unknown, 3. Unknown

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Fun Embroidered Flag Wedding Cake Topper

Sometimes I spot things on Etsy that make me happy, and I can't wait to share them with you! These cute flag wedding cake toppers were yesterday's discovery, and it took extraordinary willpower for me to save this feature for today! Aren't they just the best? Picking up on the make-do-and-mend trend that's huge for 2014, and the ombre trend that's still taking the wedding world by storm, they're not just cake toppers, they're cutting-edge wedding style! Created by Betawife in Texas, you can personalise them with whatever slogan or names that you wish. L-O-V-E!

{I want this} Flag wedding cake toppers by Betawife - £27.63

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Wedding Trends of 2014 - The Great Wedding Bake-Off

Last year, we all went crazy for the Great British Bake-Off....again! Watched by millions, the programme has turned the nation baking mad - even men are turning their hand to baking the perfect souffle. So if you add in the DIY craze that's still dominating the wedding world, you get a HUGE trend for 2014....Wedding Bake-Offs. Essentially, it's a mini-version of the Great British Bake-Off on one night. Instead of providing pudding, challenge your guests to bake the perfect cake or desert, create a desert table, and instead of cutting one cake, cut dozens! As bride and groom, you get to be the judges {of course!}, and you could even provide a special prize cup for the winner. For inspiration, enjoy the look of the delicious cakey treats below, or check out my Wedding Cake Pinterest page.

{Credits}  Dessert Table by Margaux Kropf, picture by Kali Leenstra. See the rest of this wedding on The Wedding Chicks

{Credits} Cakes by Azale, picture by Sonya Khegay. See the rest of this wedding on The Wedding Chicks

{Credits} Cakes by Cakes by Rumy, picture by Jen Huang. See the rest of this wedding on 100 Layer Cake


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Cupid's Bow Wedding Cake Topper

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that one of my biggest regrets from my wedding, was not buying a cake topper! You'd think as a wedding blogger, that such an obvious wedding detail would have been on my To Do List, but it escaped my eagle eye. The consequence is that I'm obsessed with looking out for the wedding cake topper that could have been. This morning I spotted this fabulous contender by Icing 101 - isn't it fab!! P.S. This arrow is only £20, but if you're DIY-minded and want to make your own - check out this tutorial from the nesting blog Somewhere Splendid.

{Credits} Picture by NIKKI N Photography, Cake by Bakery On State

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Delicately Decorated Wedding Cakes

Wedding cakes don't get as much of a look-in on this wedding blog as they probably should. To be honest, I get more excited about wedding stationery and wedding decorations. But the cake is pretty key, as it usually ends up in hundreds of photographs, and there's the whole cake cutting pageant {which I love}. So I'm thrilled to feature these gorgeous shots of Jane Rose Cakes' incredible wedding cakes. Aren't they stunning? I can't get over the intricacy of the sugar flowers. Yes - all those flowers are handmade out of sugar! Do take a look at Jane's website - it's packed full of prettiness, and I hear her cakes are seriously delicious too!

{Photography & Styling} Fiona Pitts from Sugar For My Honey blog

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Folksy Hand-painted Wedding Cake Topper

With a touch of folksy, a smidge of whimsy and a lot of charming, these floral cake toppers are a hit for this year's summer weddings. Choose from flowing ferns or pretty florals, and a selection of soft vintage colours to match your big day. Handmade By Madeline Trait, each one is carefully cut from super-thin plywood and hand-painted using custom mixed colours. And they're perfectly pretty!

 ♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more whimsical wedding ideas? ♥

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Introducing Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery Wedding Cakes London

The cult of the wedding cake is one of the most curious developments in recent wedding trends. Simple white tiers just don't cut it anymore - wedding cakes are now works of art. I've seen them spot-lit at wedding receptions, getting as much attention as the bride's wedding dress! To make sure your cake stands out from the crowd, consider these fabulous creations from Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery. Sweetness is run by Roma Finlinson, who has a passion for creating exquisite wedding cakes, decorated with delicate, handcrafted sugar flowers. Take a look at the beauties below to get a sense of her stunning work. Can you believe those anemones and roses are made out of sugar?! Sweetness Cakes aren't just seriously stylish - Roma is a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef, so her wedding cakes have the quality and flavour you expect from French patisserie - i.e. they taste AMAZING! Although they're so beautiful, it's almost a crime to cut into them.... Sweetness Boutique Cakes & Confectionery make bespoke tiered wedding cakes, cupcakes, iced biscuit wedding favours - everything and anything you could want for your wedding or bridal shower. Be sure to check out Roma's Facebook page for more of her work.

♥ Want to see more wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about luxury wedding ideas? ♥

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Cute DIY Peg Doll Wedding Cake Toppers

Cake toppers may seem a small extra wedding detail to you, but I know one couple for whom it was almost a relationship-breaker. It seems these little statues can create the strongest of emotions; the groom thought they were irrevocably naff, while the bride-to-be felt her wedding cake would be naked without one. Personally I'm in the pro wedding cake topper camp, but there's no doubt that they require careful choosing to avoid the naff-factor. I've long loved these cute Goose Grease peg doll toppers, and now you can DIY them yourselves! Goose Grease Undone offers paint-your-own peg doll sets, while Goose Grease will custom your cake toppers on your behalf, so it all depends on how crafty you feel.

More posts like this one:

✽ DIY Signature Wedding Cocktail Bar

✽ DIY Drinks Flags

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Luxury Pretty-in-Pink Pastel Wedding Cakes

Looking back on my wedding blog posts for Before the Big Day, I realised I'm not featuring enough wedding cakes! They're a key part of any wedding day, and I'm always dazzled by the talent of the UK's expert cake makers. They're sugary artists! Naomi founded her home-baking company, The Vanilla Parlour in Surrey, a few years ago, and she's already at the top of her game. Just take a look at these pastel beauties - the flowers are exquisite. Choose your flavour and your filling, or create a completely original design.....personally I'm in love with the pastel blue wedding cake below.

More posts like this one:
✽ The Wedding Food Revolution
✽ Wedding Reception Inspiration: Ice-Cream

♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more pastel wedding ideas? ♥

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An Original Mushroom Wedding Cake

I don't like mushrooms, but for some reason I love this cake by Erica O'Brien. It's wonderful when cake designers go for something cool and unexpected. Three white tiers seems a bit boring in comparison to this beauty, don't they? {Discovered via US wedding blog Once Wed}

♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more rustic wedding ideas? ♥

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Before the Big Day Wedding Trends of 2013 - Bright Cakes

The days of the traditional white tiered cake are long-gone. Last year naked wedding cakes were all the rage, but wedding fashions have flown by, and now it's all about the bright cake. Make a statement with contrasting cake and icing, or pick a pastel shade. Ombre shading is still a huge trend, although rainbow cakes are making a come-back, and I reckon we'll see the end of ombre by the end of the year. Cake toppers are changing too - it's no longer about figurines - abstract and floral toppers are top dog. Take a look at my fab wedding cake board on Pinterest for more amazing bright cake inspiration!

More posts like this one: 
✽ Incredible Ombre Wedding Cakes
✽ Glamorous Ombre Wedding Dresses

♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more wedding advice? ♥

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Loving Cute Bird Cake Toppers

Choosing your wedding cake is double-decision time! First you need to select your cake style and flavour, and then you need to accessorise with a cake topper. What do you think of these? Aren't they gorgeous? They're made by Lauren Alane, and you can either choose one of her ready-made couples, or have a bespoke design just for you. Get your order in quick - she's struggling to keep up with demand.

More posts like this one: 
✽ Perfect Pastel Wedding Cake Stands
✽ The Cutest Wedding Cake Toppers

♥ Want to see wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more bird themed weddings? ♥

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Say Cheese with a Wedding Cake

If you'd choose savoury over sweet any day of the week, then you might not want a wedding cake. But what to have instead? Well to keep with the tradition of tiers, why not try a multi-level cheese cake? You could create the cake yourself, but for a guaranteed beauty, check out these Cheese Shed wonders. The West Country shop sells several off-the-peg designs, but are more than happy to provide a bespoke service for the picky cheese-eaters among you!

♥ Want more wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about more rustic wedding ideas? ♥

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Butterfly Themed Wedding Cake

Butterfly-themed weddings must be amongst the most popular for brides looking for a simple but sweet wedding motif. It's a lovely symbol for your wedding day, as in Chinese culture, two butterflies flying together symbolises love. DIY your butterfly theme with these gorgeous colourful, edible, butterflies from incrEDIBLEtoppers. Add them to a simple white wedding cake, or add one to the napkin or glass of each table place at your wedding reception. For more easy DIY butterfly wedding ideas, don't miss my Pinterest page.

♥ Want more destination wedding ideas? ♥ Or how about more peach-themed weddings? ♥

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Perfect Pastel Wedding Cake Cake Stands

How gorgeous are these cake stands? Whether you choose a three-tier wedding cake, or millions of delicious cupcakes, these perfect pastel stands will add pizazz. Etsy seller, Wendy from Marsh Home finds vintage glass cake stands and brings them back to life with a permanent glass glaze wash. Request your favourite colour, and she will hand-paint it to perfection. Love!

♥ Want more wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about pastel wedding ideas? ♥

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The New Wedding Trend - Naked Wedding Cakes

Have you considered getting naked for your wedding day? Getting a naked wedding cake, that is? It's the US wedding trend this summer season, {Hilary Duff even had one at her wedding}, and it looks set to spread across the Atlantic for British brides' autumn and winter weddings. I'm really loving the non-icing look - it's charming and whimsical, and perfect for DIY brides looking to bake their own wedding cake. For decoration, just add flowers, fruit, dripped icing, or succulents, plus anything else that might fit in with your wedding theme. For a glamorous twist on the naked cake look, why not try a French croquembouche wedding cake. We had one at our wedding, and it went down a storm! For more wedding cake inspiration, do check out my Pinterest page.

{Picture Credit} Naked Wedding Cake by Stardust Bakery. Picture by Katherine O'Brien Photography, via Green Wedding Shoes

♥ Want more wedding cake ideas? ♥ Or how about whimsical wedding ideas? ♥

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The Cutest Wedding Toppers In The World

We didn't have a wedding cake topper. I forgot to find one, and needless to say, it wasn't exactly top of my husband's list. It didn't matter on the day, because the caterers provided a truly dreadful, and therefore hilarious cake topper to finish off our croquembouche wedding cake. However it has led to a slight obsession on my part. I'm now always on the look-out for the wedding cake topper I would have chosen. My current favourites are these DIY'd kokeshi dolls from Wood and Grain. They're just the right combination of cute and cool, with a lovely dash of vintage and rustic. Plus they're custom-made, so you can ask designer Christine to hand-paint them to match your wedding attire and hair-style {and pet!}. They're a lovely idea for a wedding anniversary present as well.

♥ Want more wedding cake topper ideas? ♥ Or how about vintage-themed wedding ideas? ♥

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