Cakes as centerpieces?

WildRumpus

Who used them? I never liked the idea, but I just found these and now I'm torn..



My whole worry is what guests would do with them? Did you tell them when to cut them or just leave a knife at the table to let them serve themselves?

scoetto

Leave a short and sweet note at each table telling the guests they can eat them. And make sure there is enough for one serving per guest.

danieliza1127

Those are really pretty!

I have no idea what you would do though.  I've never seen this done in real life.  I think you could potentially have some guests that would cut into them during or after dinner unless you specifically told them somehow to wait until the bride and groom cut their cake.  You could leave a little card on each table saying something to that effect.  Then when you and your FI cut your cake and guests can cut into theirs, servers could walk around and hand out knives and cake servers. 

sarahmk5

I'm doing this!  My venue has done it before, and they said after we cut our own little cake, they go around with serving tools and plates to each table and help serve them.

georgia_bride09

If you don't want to do cake, you could find vases that look just like that and fill them with flowers like the picture.

If you have cake on each table, there would really be no need for a separate wedding cake.

AlexiaANDRobert

My SIL did this.

This is how they greeted their tables.  They went around and cut the cake at each table and said hello.

It was cute, but took waaaaaaaaay too long.  I think it depends on how many tables you have.

sarahmk5

Oh, and I never thought of guests cutting into them before it was time to do so.  I think people know that at a wedding you wait until after the bride and groom do their thing.  I'm not planning on putting any kind of card or note on the table.

pumpkinpumpkin

I love this idea. If we'd had a wedding at home that's what we would have done, for sure.

scoetto

Those cakes look really good. I want.

WildRumpus

I really like it, and it may even cut down our costs.

SwedishChick2011

I like the idea because it's cute and also combines the costs of cake and centerpieces into one.

ohwhynot

My ex's cousin did this, and it was cute and a huge hit.  There were serving utensils at each table and after the meal, when the b & g cut into their small cake, they invited everyone else to serve the cake at their tables.  Each table seemed to have someone willing & able to cut & serve the cake.  Really cute and each table got their cake at the same time.  

barbara1312

I have a friend whose daughter did this a few years ago.  Bride and groom cut a small cake at the beginning of the reception, and during the speeches MOB made an announcement that guests could cut the centerpieces when dinner was over.  (Servers brought plates and knives to cut the cakes with.)

They had a different flavor cake at every table (each cake was marked ) and encouraged guests to check out the cakes at other tables if they wanted a different flavor.  People were up and mixing after dinner - the cakes were large enough to feed more than the eight or so at each table, so it all worked out.  (They did have a lot of cake left over.)

It sounds confusing (it was a fairly large wedding - 250 people) but we thought it was fun. 

AdeleDazeem

This idea is so cute.  If I was having a wedding with a sit down dinner and all that jazz, I would definitely do this!

sarah0725

We were thinking about doing this, but FMIL is really not into the idea. Actually, the whole cake thing has become kind of a battleground, because FI wants something emotionally resonant but less than practical, FMIL and FI's aunt aren't into the whole impracticability thing, and I can see the points on all sides.

So, I think that was just a whole lot of nothing. I think the best thing to do is to talk this over with your venue and see if they've done it before, and if so, what they recommend, because centerpiece cakes could either go smoothly or be a logistical nightmare for the waiters, depending on everyone's attitudes.

sarabellam

Sarah, does this mean you aren't going to be using the family recipe for the Bundt cake? (That was you, riight?)

mwhitson14

I had plans of doing something like this, except with the cupcakes instead of cake. It seemed easier logistically. I wasn't able to find enough cupcakes stands though to do it (we had 20 tables, I ended up with 10 stands).

But not everyone likes the cupcake idea, my mom sure didn't They were a huge hit at the wedding though, everyone really raved about them. I wrapped them in pretty wrappers and had cupcake flags. There's a pic on FB but it's blocked or I'd show you.

WildRumpus

Whit, I saw them. I actually bookmarked the Etsy vendor you got the wrappers and flags from, because the original plan was cupcakes. Now I don't know

WildRumpus

Sara, not yet. We're in the very beginning stages of planning. We have a few nonbakery options that we'd like to look into first.

plessjm

One of my friends did this exact thing at her wedding. She regretted it later. She announced that every cake was different and to mingle to find a perfect cake for you. Not exactly how it turned out though.

First people would walk around with their plate find the cake and on the way back dropped it alot of frosting was all over the carpets.

Then people started swapping cakes with other tables. Out cake changed three times over the course of dinner.

There were a ton of cakes left over. Some haven't been touched.

She was bummed with the cleanup charge from the reception venue and she ended up throwing away alot of the cake because guests didn't want to take them and she never was able to eat them all.