Wedding Cake Traditions Through The Ages
A traditional wedding cake calls for a cake topper; usually small figures of the bride and groom. These are usually handed down from the generations as a family heirloom to bless the matrimony of their children. While modern couples think this is an overplayed tradition and have opted to mount simple floral arrangements at the top of their wedding cakes; many still go the conventional route.
The wedding cake has sprouted a dozen of traditions; others as mundane as watching the bride and groom feed each other with the first slice, while some as unusual as sleeping with a piece under the pillow to dream about their future spouses. No matter how crazy these customs are, many believe that the wedding cake is a symbol of wealth and prosperity that the newlyweds impart with their guests. The act of sharing a slice with their friends and relatives has made the wedding cake the centerpiece in any matrimonial party.
It is believed that the cake should be colored white. White is the symbol of purity. And it was tradition during the Victorian Era to marry as a virgin. Add to the fact that ingredients were hard to come by, the wedding cake remained white for more than a century. While this may seem to make sense, as the wedding cake was originally called the bride’s cake, tradition doesn’t stop couples from altering this with a few splashes of color based on their wedding motif.
Albeit it is now commonplace to see the bride and groom cutting the first slice of the wedding cake, there is much more to it than feeding each other with huge chunks of chocolate flavored cake. The symbolism of this act is as romantic as it gets. The bride and groom must feed each other as a symbol of their promise to provide and cherish one another, ‘till death do they part. It is also believed that the first task of husband and wife is to share their blessings with their guests in the form of the wedding cake. This tradition dates back to the Roman Empire and was altered a bit when guest lists grew. It was originally the bride’s task to serve the cake to her guests.
To date, there are hundreds of ways of decorating the wedding cake. But the meaning and the traditions still hold true. The wedding cake is a symbol that marks the commitment of the newlyweds to live together in harmony for the rest of their lives.
