How to Display Your Wedding Cake at Your Reception

In this week’s wedding tips post, I’m answering the question on where to display your wedding cake. Wedding cakes are luxurious works of art and they’re just as important to your wedding decor as any centerpiece or lighting setup.

I run into a lot of wedding cake setups that are less than ideal in terms of lighting and scenery so it’s important to ensure you’ve properly placed your cake in your reception room.

How Not to Display Your Wedding Cake

Don’t put your cake in a corner, light or dark. This is one of the worst setups you could have with your cake and yet it seems to be a common place. For one, if your cake is in a corner, the photographer has to compete with guests in a smaller space to get the shots.

The second and main reason you shouldn’t put your cake in the corner is because of how it looks in photographs. If the cake is in the corner, your photographs of the cake cutting are going to include the two of you and a wall. I would so much rather be able to move around and get a variety or angles and backgrounds in your photos that show your guests and their reactions.

If you can’t display your cake away from the corner of your venue, ask if it can be carefully moved to a more open space when it’s time for cake cutting. If you can’t do this, at least decorate the wall behind the cake with beautiful accent lighting or ribbons, lights, anything but a blank wall!

Don’t clutter your cake table. The cutting knife and cake plates, as well as floral arrangements on top of a beautiful linen are all you need on your cake table. You want the attention to be focused on the cake!

How to Display Your Wedding Cake

Do place your cake in a good light source. The cake below was actually placed close to a window, which worked out well because the quantity and quality of light allowed me to work without flashes (no worry of glares). Cakes should be beautifully illuminated.

If your cake is white, consider using linens with colors from your wedding or texture to make the cake pop. All-white cakes on white linens without texture tend to blend together too much. For cakes that aren’t all-white, use coordinating colors for your table linens.

Be careful not to overpower your cake with linens. This advice holds true for other table decorations, such as floral arrangements. Keep the level of grandiosity proportional to that of the cake and ensure complementary colors!