Wedding Traditions: Why Save the Wedding Cake?

wedding traditions

This week we’re wondering: Why is saving your wedding cake a tradition?

We just assumed people originally started shoving their leftover wedding cake into the freezer, because they thought they might get hungry a year later. As you may have guessed, we were pretty far off the mark.

It was a long time ago in far away England that newlyweds began the tradition of saving the top tier of their wedding cake. In those times, it was expected married couples would start a family immediately after tying the knot. Thus, when their one year anniversary came around, the couple’s wedding cake could serve multiple purposes by being served for both the anniversary and first child’s christening.

Though many cultures have progressed past the idea of marriage being for the sole purpose of offspring, the cake saving tradition still lives on in some homes. Often family and friends are invited over to join in the eating of the cake, which hopefully has stood the taste test of time. Fruit cake is known to be the easiest to freeze, so some choose to make the top tier of their cake this flavor on purpose. Chocolate and vanilla cake are much more of a gamble to freeze; the process includes several heavy duty freezer bags, a lack of air bubbles and a cross of the fingers. However, if you really want to perserve your delicious cake, it’s always worth a try!

Here are 10 wedding cakes we couldn’t bear to toss in the trash…

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

wedding traditions

In the mood to learn the history behind other wedding traditions? Click here.

*Click photographs for original sources
By: Kelly Hamilton

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