When should my wedding cake be delivered?

Oftentimes I hear brides confused about a cake delivery.  We have all seen Buddy and his crew waltz in with a grand 5 tier cake at the beginning of a reception and the guests cheer, ooh and aah over the big entrance.  Unfortunately, that's tv.  While that's grand and quite the display, it's not reality.  So, what is reality.  Well, that varies based on your baker.  But let's talk about what we have found to work best with cake deliveries.

First things first.  We do not deliver our cakes pre-stacked.  That's just a disaster waiting to happen.  What we do is deliver each tier in a separate, padded box.  The padding in the box helps the cake not to slide during travel.  It also helps absorb the shock from the road, which makes sure your icing is still firmly in place and your design is not disturbed.

We like to arrive 1.5 to 2 hours prior to your ceremony to begin the cake stacking process.  We allow an hour to assemble the cake, however usually it only takes 30 to 45 minutes.  During this time we stack the cake, pipe a lovely border around each tier to cover the board, and place any adornments on the cake such as flowers or cake toppers.  We also allow a small buffer in case we are a few minutes late, Austin traffic can be a little unpredictable, or if the cake table isn't skirted or the venue isn't quite ready.  It's important to allow a few extra minutes for minor setbacks...better to finish a few minutes early then to arrive late and have someone rushing to stack a cake.  That's how mistakes get made.

So, now we are finished!  Your cake is stacked and standing beautifully with all adornments ready to be devoured!  But, there is still a little time before your ceremony.  Yes...and there is a reason for that.  Your photographer will need some time prior to the ceremony to get some nice detail shots of your cake.  Once the ceremony starts there is little for those kinds of photos.  Additionally, some people have other decorations they wish to place on the cake table.  This needs to be done post cake set-up to allow the room needed to work with your cake.