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And Nobody Noticed It Was a Fake Cake
- DoreenMichele 8y agoThat meant $1,000 to $2,400 worth of cake for a party of 160 or so, even though the menu at the wedding location we had chosen came with dessert. Well, good for her on saving some dough, but 160 guests makes this sound like not only a First World Problem but a rather upper class first world problem at that.
- sp332 8y agoWe had over 100 people at our wedding. Our total budget was $2,000 and we went slightly over that. You can save as much money as you want if you're willing to give up having the flashiest high-status stuff. Several guests told me later it was one of the best weddings they'd been to because it wasn't all high-strung and demanding.
- kevinmannix 8y agoA 200 person wedding on a $2000 budget is a remarkable feat.
- notdang 8y ago2 gourmet hotdogs per person
- sp332 8y agoIt was a Sam's club hamburger, but hotdogs were also available. No, I'm not kidding. The wedding was in a friend's backyard with folding chairs and tables borrowed from a church. The cake was made by a friend of a friend for about half the going rate, but we also bought a couple dozen gluten-free cupcakes. We tried to pay the cooks but they refused; the musician was family, and the officiant and the sound guy (for the dance music) were personal friends and didn't charge. It was nearly a regular BYOB backyard party but with better decorations.
- flukus 8y agoHonestly I'd prefer that over the expensive yet awful food I've had at weddings. They charge expensive restaurant prices but all the food has to be made in bulk to serve at once so you're not getting expensive restaurant quality.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoIt depends on who you know and what you can do yourself. I had a simple courthouse wedding both times. My sister, though, wanted a "fancy" wedding. She was able to have the ceremony in the church she attended and use their place for the reception, all pretty cheap. All the formal wear was rented save for one bridesmaid that decided to buy hers for herself: She was using the same dress for another formal event. I personally made the cake, though my sister paid for supplies (that was my wedding gift). My mother did most of the simple decorating. The reception was mid-afternoon, between lunch and dinner. No food beyond cake and non-alcoholic drinks were served.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoFor her second wedding, my sister had a fairly big wedding. She was also part of a two career couple and had lived a long time in the same state. She knew a lot of people. In contrast, I have moved a lot as an adult and nearly 6 years of homelessness taught me that poverty is very hard on your social life. I would have trouble coming up with, say, six people to invite to a hypothetical second wedding for me. I just do not have a big social network of that sort. Congrats on getting a wedding for very little money. But I strongly suspect that knowing 200 people well enough to even invite them to your wedding makes you more upper class than you likely realize. I eloped at age 19. Including rings (bought on sale), dinner and a movie, marriage license, blood testing and cab fair, it was under $300. So you sound like you did amazingly well. Your testimony doesn't change my opinion that a mock cake for 160 guests is a rather upper class first world problem.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- sp332 8y agoOh yeah, gotta adjust for the fact that the article was about NYC/Washington DC and mine was rural New Hampshire.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoEdit: Redacted. I'm tired and maybe misreading your comment. I'm outta here folks. Talk at you good people some other time.
- golergka 8y ago> But I strongly suspect that knowing 200 people well enough to even invite them to your wedding That just depends on what you define as "well enough". I've been invited to quite a few weddings of people I barely knew.
- freddie_mercury 8y agoWhy is 160 guests a First World Problem? I don't understand. I live in the Third World (well, we call it "the developing world" nowadays). 160 guests is totally normal. The last wedding I was at had 500 guests.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoA mock cake to save big bucks over an actual fancy cake is a first world problem. The US is not like developing countries. Inviting 160 people to a wedding tends to be an upper class thing here. It's a different culture.
- refoundglory 8y agoNo, that’s absolutely false. It may be common among the upper class, but it is also common among larger families, strongly religious communities and many immigrant cultures, all of which are definitely not upper class signifiers.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoI have vouched for your comment because it's a completely reasonable observation and I have no idea why it was dead. That said, ... Edit: I'm tired. I've redacted argument here. Let's just say I did use a qualifier and let's leave it that.
- oh_sigh 8y agoCakes are made with batter, not dough, so none was saved.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoWell, I upvoted it. Word play!
- walterstucco 8y agoIn Italy 160 guests is just close family.
- syphilis2 8y agoIs there a word for this: when the tradition is maintained in form but not in function?
- yahnusername 8y agoHah I wonder how much of this we do presently without realizing. Shaking hands maybe
- lolc 8y agoWhat do you think the original function of shaking hands was as compared to what it is today? There was this funny study that found that people were more likely to hold their hand next to their nose right after shaking hands. From this they concluded that hand-shaking is a non-intrusive way of smelling a person you just met.
- taeric 8y agoIs it any more fake than the tradition?
- foobar1962 8y agoRitual.
- olliej 8y agoWedding cakes are such an unnecessary expense - I’m not going to say a rip-off because the impressive looking ones clearly take a ton of time to make - but if you don’t care about them looking like “amazing one of a kind” cakes a regular bakery can make super tasty non-sheet cakes for a reasonable amount. We used the sadly defunct sweet inspiration in SF (sf rent prices happened afaik) and it was I think 35-40/each for three cakes which was fine. Venue was still the biggest expense - I think all up we were somewhere in the 5-10k range which was apparently “cheap” o_O
- Vinnl 8y ago> Wedding cakes are such an unnecessary expense That fits with many of the other wedding expenses then, I guess. Obligatory comedy clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimiDBAK2wA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimiDBAK2wA
- KozmoNau7 8y agoIt's insane how much money some people spend on weddings. All of the ones we've had in my family have been much more low-key type parties, just getting the families together and having some good food and drink together. I would hate to be at one of those stuffy "high-class" super expensive weddings. Just let me sit down with friends and family over a nice dinner, maybe a few speeches and silly songs, and then lounge afterwards with a few beers and shoot the breeze.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 8y agoYes. Weddings are such a ridiculous waste of money that it boggles the mind. In my region, it is customary for the guests to give an envelope to the newlyweds, with the sum of money somewhat approximating the marginal costs of the guests' presence on the event. That is, if all the guests were nice and following the custom, the newlyweds would have recouped a big part of their expenses. In other words, a modern wedding is basically a process of transferring significant amounts of money from the guests to the caterers, photographers and venue owners. Capitalism at its best.
- scrooched_moose 8y agoIn high school I worked banquets for a major hotel chain - mainly setting up for weddings receptions and conferences. I only saw a handful of real tiered cakes in the hundred or so I worked. What was more normal to see was a real and very well made top tier. This was for the cake cutting pictures and for the bride and groom. The remaining 5-6 tiers were identically decorated styrofoam. After the cake ceremony, we wheeled the rest into the back, tossed it in a closet for the caterer to pick up, and served sheet cake.
- joering2 8y agoSadly this doesn’t surpise me and paints perfectly into the bigger picture of today’s america - home of deception. that oriental Chineese soup is made by third generation americans that look like asians but never been to or heard a single chinese word. They got ingredients from local Cali’s market. That CVS 100% natural aloe vera? It doesnt have any traces of real alovera at all! Crab meat? I dint think so; its all immitation made from eatable sponge. That naural honey? Its all high fructose corn syroupe. The list go on and on ;( so sad that we as a society in whole accept this state of affairs ;(
- dokem 8y agoI never got the why Asian Americans are so adamant about exclaiming the superiority of authentic Asian food. We get it: American Chinese food is not the same.
- Moto7451 8y agoI think you may want to re-evaluate your cynicism. If you read the article they mention that baked tiered cakes for weddings are stale and mostly ineadible. I can believe this. I have baked a few layer cakes and anything more than a few thin layers (enough to make a good topper) is a serious challenge. This is pragmatism and guest enjoyment over deception. I’d take the fresh sheet cake over a week old repeatedly frozen and thawed cake.
- bumholio 8y ago
- peterburkimsher 8y agoMaking cheaper wedding cakes is definitely a good idea. I prefer flavour over kitsch. But I think guests would probably notice if the cake doesn't actually get cut, but a cupcake gets substituted instead. Instead, I think that only baking a top layer and cutting that would satisfy the photographers. Then wheel the fake cake away to the kitchen, and bring out slices of sheet cake to satisfy everyone's stomachs.
- skybrian 8y agoOurs was the opposite: a three-layer cake where the top two layers were fake. This was because we didn't have enough guests for a three layer cake (according to the bakery), but for a larger wedding, I suppose you could supplement that with sheet cake?
- carlmr 8y ago>we didn't have enough guests for a three layer cake (according to the bakery) Are you implying that you did, or that your guests really like cake?
- michaelt 8y agoI read it as "We told the bakery we had 20 guests and wanted a three-tier cake; they told us their three-tier cake feeds 40 people and recommended fewer tiers to save money"
- philliphaydon 8y agoLast year I got married in Taiwan, I got to pick between Cake Cutting, or a giant pyramid of glasses. I picked cake thinking I get cake. So come wedding day we have this giant cake next to the stage, we do the cake cutting and we leave. My best friend at the wedding was shocked I had such a large cake, he was telling people at the table it was huge, my group of friends informed him it was fake, he didn't believe them. So he got up in front of everyone, nervously walked across the room to inspect the cake, touched it and realised there was dust on the lower pieces and it was hard, then he went to see my father in law to confirm if it was fake or not. Well it turned out the only real bit was the top bit which was super cheap and not edible, just show for cutting. He was disappointed he wasn't getting cake, after the wedding my wife informed me I wasn't getting cake and I was sad. :( Apparently this is the norm in Asia.
- windows_tips 8y agowtf
- faizmokhtar 8y agoGot married in Taiwan > Norm in Asia. That's a huge jump mate.
- philliphaydon 8y ago> That's a huge jump mate. I live in Singapore and after speaking to people about this, I'm told its the norm, at-least in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Vietnam.
- stingraycharles 8y agoCan confirm for Thailand and Cambodia as well. Honeymoon pictures are typically of the couple being photoshopped on pictures all around the world as well. (Got married in Cambodia, got fake cake and said pictures as well)
- jac_no_k 8y agoNorm for Japan as well.
- lacker 8y agoWe had wedding pie. It was great. Pie > cake
- lostcolony 8y agoOh you pie people. You make me laugh. Cake will always be superior to pie. Yes, I'm sorry. For one very simple reason. FROSTING! Ya'll forgot about frosting! - Paul F Tompkins.
- 2038AD 8y agoBut the icing is always the worst part!
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- masklinn 8y agoPreach! Icing is marketing, the entire point is to make a shitty cake look less shitty by completely hiding it. Heavy icing is usually deceptive, hiding the emptiness of the actual cake.
- masklinn 8y agoFrosting is bad, and you can put ice pies if you like ruining good things. The advantage of cake over pie is layering. A pie reveals everything upfront, a cake can hide deeper secrets, and provide more contrast in both taste and texture.
- gwbas1c 8y agoI thought everyone knew that giant fancy cakes are usually props? Anyway, I wanted a fancy single-layer cake at my wedding, but my wife nixed it. Our caterer ended up making delicious cupcakes!
- koliber 8y agoI wonder if this is a US-only phenomenon. I've been to a number of weddings in Poland. The cake is real! They don't wheel it back to the kitchen for cutting. It's served right there in the middle of the reception hall. I guess it is less elegant than a stream of plated cake slices flowing out of the kitchen. However, you know what you are eating. Can anyone share their experience?
- saberdancer 8y agoI think it depends. When I got married, we had the option of having tiered one with lower levels fake and sheet cake cut behind the scenes for the majority of the guests, or full tiered cake. We had a full tiered cake, no fake parts involved. If I remember correctly, downside to non fake tiered cake is that you are limited by types of tiers you can have, "softer" cake types cannot be used as one of the lower tiers. Oh, and it's cheaper to have fake lower levels.
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoI've personally made a wedding cake (once, and never again - too much work), and they were correct: The softer cakes cannot be used that way. The cake itself needs structural integrity. Even with supports, you run the risk of the cake collapsing on itself if it does not.. No one wants that. Most box cake mixes won't do, though I know folks use them. I wouldn't take the risk. That said, I still don't actually understand why some are so tasteless.
- scaryclam 8y agoSame in the UK. I think people would ask for their money back if the cake wasn't real (and they hadn't asked for it on purpose). I even had to store a tier of my friends cake as they couldn't fit it in their own fridge!
- micheljansen 8y agoNetherlands reporting in: the cake is not a lie. Wedding cakes here are always made on the day of the party. A stale, frozen cake (like in the story) would definitely raise eyebrows. We picked our cake based on flavour after a tasting session at the baker and it was then created and finished to our "specifications", so it looked and tasted great. We ate it all!
- GrumpyNl 8y agoNothing todo with the cake, but i would like to see, that the people who prepare my cake are taking all the right steps, beginning with a hair net when its over 50cms long.
- dmichulke 8y agoRelated: "The cake is a lie" is a famous line that happened to become an internet meme (935k google hits when used in quotes) It's also really funny if you happened to play Portal 1 which you should because - it's really funny (might have said that already), - educative, - addictive, - less than 24hs to play through (more like 6 to 12 IIRC), - teaches you how to interactively teach concepts without saying a word (there was a great blog post on this topic but I couldn't find it).
- taejo 8y agoAbout ten years ago my then-girlfriend asked my mother (a retired baker) and me to make a cake for her cousin's wedding. We proposed some recipes to the bride and groom, they chose one, told us how many guests they were expecting. They accepted our quote so we went ahead with the whole hog, three tiers, chocolate leaves and everything; I show up a couple hours before the reception to stack the tiers in place and add the decorations, gold dust and all the rest. But I get to the table and there's another cake! We'd never considered the possibility that we weren't making a "wedding cake", but the bride's family was under the impression we were just making a "cake for the wedding" and they were responsible for buying a "wedding cake" (in this case real, but flavour not a priority).
- smudgymcscmudge 8y agoThat must have been awkward. It sounds like you have them a good price if they didn’t question your price.
- taejo 8y agoI'm sure I charged very little on top of the ingredient cost since I was an amateur (my mother just provided some guidance, really) and they were family.
- mixmastamyk 8y agoTwo wedding cakes it is.
- gadders 8y agoWhat happens if the bride and groom don't know and try and do that stupid "smooshing the cake in each other's faces" thing and it's not real?
- torstenvl 8y agoSo now instead of the expense of one cake, you have the expense of two cakes, and you have a cake-shaped hunk of styrofoam in a one-bedroom apartment in NYC of all places. Maddeningly absurd.
- robbiemitchell 8y agoThe price of a fancy wedding cake is the absurd part. Even better would be ditching this fake cake thing altogether, but if you’re going for the traditional playbook, this is pragmatic.
- cs702 8y agoYes, non-edible cakes made of light, cheap materials like styrofoam are routinely displayed at weddings and other ceremonies. One of the layers might be soft, allowing for fake-cake cutting. The hosts know the cake is fake. Many of the guests know the cake is fake. After cake-cutting, the fake cake often remains on display while everyone eats slices of real cake brought in from a kitchen. No effort is made to pretend that the cake on display is real. It has come to be understood, accepted, and expected by society that there should be a cheap sculpture of a cake on display and that everyone should act as if this cheap sculpture is a real cake during the ceremony. How did we, as a society, arrive here?
- merpnderp 8y agoI'm not sure many of us have arrived there.
- zdragnar 8y agoPerhaps by watching lots of home videos on the internet or TV of people hauling massive tiered wedding cakes around, only to drop them or for a tier to give out and the whole thing to fall over? As pretty and traditional as they are, they aren't nearly as practical to cut for a large crowd, especially once it's fallen on the ground, and nothing tops off the single largest event you'll host and pay for in your life like disappointing all of your guests.
- foxyv 8y agoI can honestly say that, at a wedding, I am never excited for the cake. It usually looks amazing and tastes like industrial lubricants.
- madcaptenor 8y agoI agree. However, at my own wedding I insisted there should be a cake. This is basically the only thing I insisted on - I kept saying that we're not actually married unless there's a cake. Because weddings are complicated, I'm pretty sure I never got a slice of that cake.