Cheap Wedding Cake

Posted on | June 22, 2010 |

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Wedding cakes are a big decision when planning your wedding. When I got married, I fell for the wedding cake hook, line and sinker. We ordered the cake through the bakery company that my reception hall recommended. It was a beautiful cake and we paid a fortune for it.

The cake was edible, good even, but I guess I expected something more, something special for the money we paid. This is one area that I would do differently if I had the chance to do it over again. We were on a pretty tight budget and I could have used the money we wasted spent on the cake on many other things. Truthfully if you are on a budget a cake is a cake, and you can get some great wedding cakes at some unlikely places for a fraction of the price.

The picture above of the cake does not do it justice (there were wires that made the butterflies fly, but in the picture it looks like cracks in the cake). It’s a different cake, made for a Halloween themed wedding, but you can see what a great job they did. Guess who made it? Publix. If you aren’t familiar with them, Publix is a major grocery store in the South. Many grocery stores all over the country have bakeries that make beautiful wedding cakes, and they taste really great as well.

Know who else makes great cakes? BJ’s wholesale Club, Costco and Sam’s Club. At these stores as well as grocery stores, they employee real bakers who know how to create amazing cakes. All stores are different so check your area to see who does what. You can consult with the bakers just like you would the bakers at expensive specialty bakeries. They will tell you what they can and can’t do. What we found was that they love to do wedding and specialty cakes. They don’t get to do them as much and really go all out when they get the opportunity.

If you have your heart set on a certain cake and it is important to you, then go ahead and budget around it. I just want to to think about the fact that besides a few pictures the cake is gone. These other places have great tasting cakes that can look just as fancy as other more expensive cakes. You aren’t really giving up anything by purchasing a cake from a grocery store or club, so if you are on a budget at least give them a try.