Guest blogger: Sharon Naylor, bestselling author of over 35 wedding books, including The Bride’s Guide to Freebies. Visit sharonnaylor.net for more great tips and advice.
Kate Middleton has a knack for creating new wedding trends; first, she brought back lace for wedding gowns, and now she’s done something very sentimental with the top tier of her wedding cake.
The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William’s baby son, George, was christened today at St. James Palace, and it’s been widely reported that the post-ceremony tea held at Clarence House featured a cake tier from the royal wedding. (The royal kitchen staff must have done an amazing job preserving it so that it wouldn’t be freezer-burned two years later!) How sweet is that?
Photo Credits: British Royal Monarchy on Flickr
In honor of the stylish trendsetter, here are some fun ways to use the top layer of your wedding cake:
1. Copy Kate and serve cake from your wedding day at your future child’s christening or another momentous spiritual celebration in your family. The “good luck” tier will bring back beautiful memories from your big day.
2. “Christen” your newly purchased house after the wedding by defrosting your top cake tier. Spend your first night there feeding each other the first few bites and sipping fine champagne.
Photo Credit: Tinywater Photography on Wedding Chicks via Lover.ly
3. Take any leftover wedding cake home and let guests dig in at your after-party or morning-after brunch! Many guests skip cake after a huge wedding feast, or they skip it in favor of all the other desserts on display, so this is a great way for them (and maybe you, too) to get a full slice. Plus, serving cake you’ve already paid for is a brilliant budget-saver.
4. Serve your cake a month or two after the big day, when friends or family members who couldn’t attend your wedding due to illness or pregnancy come visit. They’ll love getting to share your wedding cake with you after the disappointment of missing out on your big day, and you’ll love having this magic moment with them as well.
5. Invite your parents over for a thank-you dinner to express gratitude for their financial contributions to the wedding and/or invaluable planning support. Surprise them by serving your wedding cake’s top tier as dessert. Again, it’s a freebie for you, and they’ll love the sweet gesture. Besides, if they were circulating during the reception, maybe they didn’t get a slice that day, either!
Photo Credit: Lisa Lefkowitz on Snippet and Ink via Lover.ly
6. Give the top tier to your parents. If you know your wedding day will be sentimental to them, and that they would otherwise just head home to a quiet house – or if they’re inviting their friends to their place for their own after-party – your sweet gift lets them enjoy a memory from your big day.
7. Reward yourselves for getting all of your thank-you notes done with some cake and champagne.
8. Celebrate a romantic anniversary. It can be your actual wedding anniversary, the anniversary of the date you got engaged, or even the new trend of celebrating the six-months married mark. Break out the special plates from your registry!
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Messina on Kiss the Groom via Lover.ly
BONUS:
9. A fun new tradition at baby showers is to reveal the gender of the baby to loved ones by using a sweet confection: pink cake for a girl, blue cake for a boy, or layers of both if it’s going to be twins. Design your “gender reveal” baby shower cake as a reproduction of your wedding cake’s top layer.
Photo Credit: Giuliana and Bill Rancic's Baby Shower on Mindy Weiss via Lover.ly
10. If you eloped or had a destination wedding with just a few guests present, and are now planning a post-wedding party to celebrate with all of your hometown pals, have a reproduction of your original cake’s top tier made. You can’t fly home with a cake in your carry-on, so this is a great way to bring a pretty part of your getaway nuptials into the festive celebration back home.
Tell us: What do you plan on doing with your cake's top layer?
—Sharon Naylor
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