Planning Your Wedding Cake: Set Up A Tasting

The tasting should be, in my humble opinion, the most fun part of your wedding planning process. You are basically just eating desserts for a real purpose. Seriously, it’s the best.

I recommend having your consultation, then deciding if you want to set up a tasting. Sometimes you just don’t mesh with the person at the consultation, so it isn’t really worth paying for a tasting. Yes, I did say paying for a tasting. You should expect to pay for your samples. In some cases, bakeries or pastry chefs happen to have extra cake around to use for samples, in which case you won’t usually pay. However, in most cases, the vendor will be preparing samples specifically for your tasting. Some will just factor the tasting price into your final bill, others will request payment up front.

Tasting Tips:
·      Request to take your samples to go. I encourage my clients to taste on their own. When I sample things, I hate being watched. If I don’t like it, I have to be fake and pretend it’s great – and if I love it, I tend to get really overexcited and forget to ask important questions.
·      Narrow your choices before the tasting. While I do believe you should try everything you think sounds great, you should not give yourself too many options. If you want a couple flavors of wedding cake, try four flavors maximum. If you are doing a dessert bar, definitely try one of everything.
·      Order in multiples. Always order enough for at least two people to taste. For cake, some vendors will give you slices, others will give you cupcakes. Make sure the slice is big enough to share and that you have enough cupcakes or individual desserts to share. Not only might you ask for input, but you may want to go back the next day to try again.
Have fun tasting and enjoy the sweet, sweet ride.
Visit my introduction post to learn all about this series. FYI: I use the term “wedding cake” very loosely here and believe that it covers the whole range or your options.
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