Save Money on a Wedding by Renting a Wedding Cake

Here's an interesting and unique money saving tip:

Rent your wedding cake.

What?

Yep, you heard correctly -- rent your wedding cake. The savings can be pretty good:

A new business allows couples to rent decorated plastic foam wedding cakes for less than half the cost of the same cake made from scratch.

But what about the look? Don't they look fake? Nope:

"They're covered in exactly what a real cake would be covered in — fondant and gum paste,'' said Kimberly Aya, owner of Fun Cakes. "The only difference is the inside. Nobody can tell.''

So how does it work? Don't couples still have to cut the cake? And what about serving cake to all the guests? The details:

Aya has a secret spot on the cake reserved for one real slice of cake for the bride and groom. It is slipped into place, at the base layer and under the fondant sugar paste frosting. "So they can cut that at the ceremony and feed each other wedding cake,'' she said.

And normally, the cake then is wheeled to the kitchen to have it cut and served. So guests don't need to know the rest of the cake was fake.

Doesn't this idea just take the cake? ;-)

Comments

[Katy Raymond]

Our daughter's getting married in ten days. Where were fake cakes when we needed them? ;) We compromised by ordering a smaller wedding cake, and then sheet cakes to serve the masses. You can save a ton of $$ just by being conservative on the size of the main cake.

[My New Choice]

I love this idea, although seeing that I am already married and our oldest child is only 8 years old it will be some time before we have to think about this. I'll store it away in the memory bank and remind both of my son's if the time comes for them to plan a wedding.

[Duncan]

We made our own wedding cake. I think that the total cost was around $30 for 60 people. About half of that cost was for the flowers used to decorate it. It looked as good as and tasted better than most professional cakes. It took a bit of Internet research, but is very doable.

[Arlene]

I think this idea is great for people who want the whole "frou-frou" look of a traditional wedding. Since I hate that whole crap so much, we jus ordered a huge sheet cake - all chocolate - with the words "Congratulations - and our names" on it. (Just using the word "Wedding" ups the price!)

[Ciji]

Hmmm... it's something I'd consider, if I was on a budget. The plan is to be able to actually afford my wedding and pay cash, so that we don't go into debt. But on the other hand, I see a lot of cakes that look good, but are covered with stuff I would never want to eat, like fondant, gum paste, (yuck!) or large sugary flowers and ribbons. I'm a simple gal: I like plain white sheet cakes or boring chocolate with strawberries and whipped cream. But whipped cream frosting doesn't last nor spread smooth like fondant. If I saw a decent looking fake one... sure, I'd consider it. That way I could get the look I want without sacrificing the taste.

[MoleOnABull]

Wow... I have to say this is actually pretty good.

I just like the idea of pulling a fast one on the guests, and no one would know ;-)

ha ha, good stuff

[Teri]

Um, we didn't spend that much on our cake I guess. LOL. But I just had to say we had a small cake (beautiful BTW) and also a sheet cake in the back - to make sure we had enough for everyone.

Oh commenter #1 already pointed this out. I figure it must be common practice.

[Angie Hartford]

If I were doing this, I'd be careful not to let anyone else know, because something this new and unconventional is sure to offend at least someone!

[Melonie K. (Workerette.com)]

Sure wish I'd known about something like this for my first wedding! We still got a deal because my (then) husband worked with a woman who made wedding cakes on the side - but the cake turned out better than the marriage did. My second husband and I saved even more - we did a super small wedding with the JoP and had no plans for refreshments until our witnesses said they wanted to take us to dinner to celebrate. So somebody else bought our cake. *chuckle*

I think this cake rental is a fantastic idea, personally!

[Never teh Bride]

Where saving money was concerned, the cake was an area I didn't want to compromise on. I love great cake and I love eating beautiful cakes. I think I spent around $500 on cake meant for 100 people -- we ate plenty of leftovers -- and it was worth every penny. I still dream of the look and the taste of that cake. YUM!

[kanth]

Many couples may find that their wedding Cake turns out to be very expensive even if they want to order a cake with a lower price. It seems that there is really no way to have a cheap wedding cake. In fact, you can have a cheaper cake by taking care of some issues.

[Karen]

I own a cake business. I don't know where this person has her business, but I'm in Texas, and here there is no taking the cake to the back room. It is cut and served for all to see, so every bite has to count. Anyway, you're only married once (in theory!) Why wouldn't you want a beautiful (and edible) cake to look back on and enjoy. For most people at the wedding, having a piece of the cake is the high point of attending!

[AL]

I agree with Karen. At all the weddings I've been to in Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky, the cake is cut and served from its display table, not from a back room. It would be pretty difficult to sneak in a sheet cake without it being obvious. I don't think a wedding cake needs to be overly elaborate and expensive though. Some of the most beautiful cakes I've seen are decorated with fresh flowers, which I imagine would be cheaper than fancy icing detail.

[Bettsi]

Why have a sham? American weddings have become all about the "production" and not about the people and the celebration. If you can't afford a fancy cake, get a plain-looking, but delicious cake. Why would you want to fool your guests? Aren't they your friends and family? Don't you want to share your joy with them? I guess I just don't get it.

[Phil]

I've always sasked myself this question: Why are people coming, for the couple or the cake? Do what you want, and what ou want to pay for. If someone wants to try and shame you into doing something you don't want to do, they don't have to come.

[Kathleen Couch]

For years I was in the upscale wedding cake decorating. It is a very common practice to do part of the cake faux. This was usually because they wanted the splash and glam of a large cake, but didn't need to serve as many as it would serve. Or sometimes it would be because of the structure of the cake. However, they didn't get much of a discount, because the labor of the decorating is what costs. Also we didn't ask for the faux pieces back.

The closest I ever made to this was all styrofoam except the top cake. They cut out of the top cake, then saved it for the 1st anniversary. Then had sheet cakes for their guests.

Have you ever watched Ace of Cakes? They use styrofoam for a lot of their cakes. At least part of them.