Choosing the size of your wedding cake.

When it comes to your wedding there are no rules, the same applies to your cake, to help you out I have written some handy tips to consider when choosing the size of your wedding cake.

Number of guests/portions;

Usually cake is served in the evening after the meal, so it’s offered as more of a gesture/evening snack than to actually feed your guests. A good guide is to aim for around 60-70% of your guests. Not every guest will eat the cake, some with kids many have left early, some will be too busy dancing etc.

Cake cutting two tier cake
Photo credit – Keith Touhey

If you are planning on using your cake as the dessert for your guests you will need a lot more cake than this. When choosing your cake size for the amount of portions it provides, ignore those portion size charts you find online, these are very old school and only apply to cakes where each tier is only around 3 inches in height. Always ask your cake maker how many portions your cake will provide. 


Visual aspect

Cake cutting 2 tier
Photo credit – into the light project.

How do you visualise your dream cake to look?, a small single tier, 2 tiers, 3 tiers, 4 tiers?

Your overall cake size doesn’t need to be determined by how many portions it provides, it can be purely down to how you want your cake to look.


Personal preference

Cake cutting single tier
Photo credit – DK photography

Are you having a small intimate wedding and just want the cake for family afterwards? A single tier would be perfect. Are you a bit of a foodie and want 3 different flavours of cake, then you’ll need a 3 tier. Some couples order large cakes because they want to keep a portion of the cake for day 2, and let me tell you, cake is very much appreciated the next day when everyone is tired and a little worse for wear! 

Finally, of course there is always cost to consider, generally the larger the cake the larger the cost so you’ll also need to factor that into your budget. 

Cake cutting
Photo credit – Brooke Cox Photography

Remember, everyone’s wedding is different so just go with what suits you for your day. 
Louisa x


2 thoughts on “Choosing the size of your wedding cake.”

  1. Hi Louisa,
    I am hoping to ask some professional advice. I am a cake maker that has been mostly catering in celebration cakes. I have recently made a couple of wedding cakes and really hope to peruse this avenue. Any advice on how to branch out??
    Many thanks
    A fellow cake maker
    Eleanor

    1. Hi Eleanor, pictures of your work are very important, decorate some dummy cakes to showcase your work, take good pictures, get them out on social media. Make a website that focuses on wedding cakes and then look at maybe advertising with one of the online wedding websites – weddings online, wedding suppliers etc. Good luck!
      Louisa

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