Sounds easy enough until you actually start looking! Weddings have undergone a radical change since the days your parents got married and wedding cakes are no exception. There are many cake designers willing to let you go wild with your imagination....quite literally!

You can still opt for the traditional three-tiered fruitcake, of course, but these days couples have become more adventurous and unusual with their designs :

-Tiered cakes in a variety of arrangements
- Fairy cakes
-Chocolate fondue fountains

Tiered cakes

There are many flavours and fillings to choose from including the ever popular chocolate or vanilla sponge, a rich coffee and walnut cake for the caffeine addicted or even carrot cake for those watching the calories! Fillings vary from the chocoholics chocolate truffle to the calorific jam and butter cream!

There are two great advantages of having tiered wedding cakes, The first is that you can choose any size or number of tiers to suit the size of your wedding party and second, is that you can choose different flavours and fillings for each tier! This means your guests will always find a flavour they like and the more superstitious can opt for a chocolate cake, but keep the traditional fruitcake as the top tier and save it for the christening of their first born child as good luck.

The tiered wedding cakes offer a lot more scope for making the cake unique to you. When I said you can go wild with your imagination, this is where you can really get stuck in! Although traditionally round cakes, decorated with white icing and a figurine of a bride and groom on top have been popular, there are no limitations as to how your cake should look. There are many companies, who will help you to tailor-make your own wedding cakes, allowing you to choose the size and decorations, which can range from elegant sugar flowers or hearts to novelty figures of the happy couple.

If you have something more adventurous in mind to spice up a themed wedding, for example a fantasy castle, then you can work with the cake designers to get the exact cake you want.

Fairy Cakes

Fairy cakes are an alternative to full-size sponge cakes and are much easier to distribute among your guests! These can still be arranged in tiers like other traditional big wedding cakes, but allow your guests to help themselves with very little fuss or mess.

This option looks great for less formal weddings and can be topped with decorations or coloured icing, which will make it a nice colourful feature for your wedding photos. The downside is cutting the cake, but again you can opt for a big sponge as the top tier.

Chocolate Fountains

Chocolate fountain wedding cakes are a novel and fun alternative to conventional cakes. A must have for any chocoholic couple. It literally is a fountain of melted chocolate that is a great talking point for any wedding. It comes with a range of fruits and marshmallows that guests can dip in to get a chocolate coating.

While chocolate fountains are quite unique wedding cakes as most people opt for cake, they would need to be well placed at any wedding to allow several people to use the fountain at one time. They can create a welcome diversion and bring people together in conversation.

As you can see it's not just a case of buying a cake! You need to think hard about the type of wedding you are having and the number of guests in your wedding party. Set yourself a budget and research all the options to make sure you stay within it. It is very easy to get carried away as wedding cakes can be very expensive and remember there are so many other things to pay for.

Good places to go for advice are cake shops themselves and you can find these in bridal magazines or on the Internet. Recommendations from friends or family are also a great way to source cake designers. Once you have decided what you want, get a quote from several shops to make sure you are getting the best deal. Consultations are free and a good shop will offer free cake sampling to help you make your mind up on the type of cake you want.

Enjoy cake shopping!!!!