The majority of my wedding cake orders have some type of flowers placed on them as part of the design. They are a great way to add extra detail to a cake design and sometimes they are all you need to add to a plain cake to make it look beautiful! While the most popular option for cake flowers are sugar, there are also other options to consider, depending on your budget, wedding style and cake type.
Sugar Flowers
Of course, as a cake maker, I do love sugar flowers as they can match the cake perfectly, tying in colours and there is a lot more freedom with the types of flowers. Sometimes my most favourite sugar flowers I have made are not botanically correct, but matched the cake perfectly!
For most of the larger sugar flowers, each petal is made individually and built up to make the finished flower, which can take hours especially when making multiple flowers, a true labour of love! This means they can be the more expensive type of flowers for you to have on your cake.
Fresh Flowers
Fresh flowers have always been a popular for naked and semi naked cakes but more and more couples are opting for them on their iced cakes too. If you are having a lot of flowers as decoration in your venue, such as in your centerpieces, they can be a great way to tie your cake into the rest of the wedding decor.
I usually recommend that couples add their cake flowers onto their order with their florist, so they can match them to the types of flowers used throughout your wedding.
It is also important to check that the type of flowers would be safe for putting on the cake. Most florists will know the types of flowers that are poisonous, but you can always check with your cake maker too to be extra sure!
I really love arranging fresh flowers on cakes as they are easier to handle and not as fragile as sugar flowers. I personally prefer to add the flowers to the cakes myself and most florists are grateful for this. This allows me to check the types of flowers and also make sure they are safely added to the cake inside food safe flower picks.
Artificial Flowers
Certain types of flowers are of course seasonal, so harder or impossible for florists to source during certain times of the year. An option some of my couples have opted for are artificial flowers, on their cake as well as for decoration and in their main wedding flowers. Depending on where they are sourced, some of them can look real! They are also a good alternative option for fresh flower types that are not to be placed on the cake.
I hope this gives you some ideas of the floral options you have for your wedding cake!