Weddings are a great excuse to have your cake and eat it too. Just ask any modern bride and groom.<\/p>\n
Far from the days when one size cake fit all, modern wedding confections are as much an exercise in artistry and personality as they are in taste.<\/p>\n
Bright and bold, pastel or plain, delicate or ruffled \u2026 they serve as genuine showstoppers on a day when looks come to the fore. And part of their growing appeal has been the rise of artistic cake toppers, a must-have accent that gives truth to the idea good things come in small packages.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Porritt, founder of online wedding store Pink Frosting and author of The Party Book, says cake toppers began to surge in popularity about five years ago. But in the past 12 months, she\u2019s noticed a dramatic change in trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce upon a time, our most popular items were novelty ceramic cake toppers, but during the past year tastes have switched to be very much focused on the acrylic toppers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Part of that appeal is the adaptability of the material, which can be transformed into everything from love hearts and love birds to silhouette-style brides and grooms and favourite words and phrases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wonderful thing with acrylic toppers is they\u2019re just so versatile,\u201d Kathryn explains. \u201cYou can do them in glitter, you can match them to colours, you can make them transparent and you can even personalise them. So you can have your own message or you own name featured, which means the whole trend around personalising your wedding can be completely bought to a wedding cake now without having to spend a fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also ties in perfectly to the ever-evolving style and personality that is the wedding cake.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lovely thing these days is that couples are really able to bring their personality into the day, which extends to the cake,\u201d Kathryn says. \u201cSo, instead of being tied to a traditional fruit cake with white icing, brides and grooms can go crazy with the myriad gorgeous designs and flavours made available by artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, with unique and bespoke cake toppers, it really adds that final perfect touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathryn – whose stylish, keen-eyed crew embarks on scouting missions to Asia, Europe and the Americas several times a year \u2013 says one cake topper trend starting to grow in popularity is bunting, or beautiful paper tassels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese kind of designs are very popular for weddings which are a bit more casual or rustic,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re talking something like a country wedding, which is a little less structured.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re also incredibly popular for bridal showers. Because you don\u2019t really want to use candles, but you do want to have something pretty, that\u2019s a bit more dressed, which tassels and garlands can do without going over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crafty looking toppers also serve as a spectacular hero element on an otherwise understated confection.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see this quite a lot, particularly with smaller or second weddings, where you might have a family friend making the cake for you, not a professional cake designer,\u201d Kathryn says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you end up with a lovely looking cake, but not a centrepiece as such.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s actually what I had with my wedding. My mother-in-law did our cake, which I was absolutely delighted about, and we ended up with a very simple creation that tasted delicious. And then the cake topper became the standout element looks wise.” And a stunning anchor point for photographs.<\/p>\n
Multicultural elements also come into play these days, recognising the desire of couples to reflect and incorporate elements of their backgrounds in their day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cater, in particular, for Indian weddings and Asian weddings, and both of those have some beautiful cake toppers to suit, both modern and traditional,\u201d she says. This can be anything from the Asian symbol for double happiness to a bride in a traditional sari.<\/p>\n
Not that cake toppers always have to carry a strong emotional weight \u2013 or even be that serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time they get around to cutting the cake, the formality of the wedding is virtually over, and it\u2019s party time, so often times brides and grooms will opt for novelty cake toppers,\u201d Kathryn says.<\/p>\n
This is where designs such as a bride tackling her footy playing groom, a bride holding her groom in her arms, or a \u2018couch potato\u2019 watching TV while his bride looks on unimpressed come to the fore.<\/p>\n
Even something like a cheeky replication of Marie Antoinette\u2019s invitation to \u201cLet them eat cake\u201d can strike a fun note, with acrylic toppers offering the freedom for further theming and personalisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter whether your styling is gold glitter right through to something simple like an aqua; you can virtually cover all colours,\u201d Kathryn says. You can also play with fonts and messages, whether it\u2019s featuring your names or initials or coming up with a unique welcome for guests.<\/p>\n
\u201cFly away with me is one that\u2019s pretty popular at the moment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s diamante and rhinestone toppers, which feature monogrammed letters with a hefty dose of sparkle. \u201cThese are particularly popular with a simple cake, where you want to add a bit of bling.\u201d she says. \u201cSo you can have the two initials with an ampersand or a heart in the centre and they look amazing and photograph superbly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, if you can dream it, we can make it with acrylics.\u201d<\/p>\n
With organic and rustic-style weddings sparking inspirations such as wedding cakes made out of cheese rounds, elements such as fresh fruit, photos or cut flowers can help turn a cake topper into a statement of romantic intent.<\/p>\n
But for more traditionalists, there\u2019s always the classic ceramic brides and grooms. Only these days, it\u2019s all about the bespoke approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wonderful thing you can do now with bride and groom figures, which is incredibly popular, is to mix and match them to reflect the actual couple,\u201d Kathryn explains. \u201cSo you could have a blonde, fair-skinned bride with a darker-skinned balding groom, whereas once you just had to stick a standard coupling on top of the cake and hope people thought it looked like you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s such a gorgeous and specialised offering because, after all, you want the cake to reflect you, to look like you and to reflect your personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the best thing is, they make wonderful keepsakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing with toppers is they\u2019re very durable,\u201d Kathryn says. \u201cYou could pull them out in 50 years and they would still look good. And how beautiful would it be to reuse them on an anniversary cake down the track to remind you of such a special day?\u201d<\/p>\n