Manolo for the Brides

I have a deep love for couples who take the time to really craft weddings that will be meaningful to them in some special way. Whether they stick with time-honored traditions because they love and believe in them or strike out into new territory by rejecting or adapting traditions that don’t suit them, they make the wedding fit them to a tee.

And that’s why I have to sort of love this wedding cake:

According to the article, this couple chose to have a superhero wedding. Why? Because they love comic books and superheroes. The groom wore a green tie and the bride a green sash to signify their mutual love of The Hulk as well as of each other. Standing next to The Hulk atop their wedding cake is Wonder Woman.

Okay, so I wouldn’t have wanted a bright green cake with The Hulk standing on top of it, but it seems to have worked for them.

Speaking of weddings that seem to have worked for the couple involved, here’s an article about a British couple who got married at work…in a grocery store.

As I said, these weddings are not for everyone. The important thing to take away is that there’s plenty of room for imagination and personal expression when you’re planning your wedding. Feel free to choose a theme that’s not exactly standard, an unusual setting, less than traditional vows, or an unexpected form of decoration.

After all, it’s your wedding. You should be clearly visible in it.

Our very own Toni – I call her that because you ought to recognize her as a frequent commenter — sent me a bunch of links to photos of her cousin’s recent wedding. What you may not know about Toni is that she’s a fantastic photographer who’s shot a wedding or two in her day, including the one you’re about to see.

Toni described the wedding thusly:

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If you want to tell the world that either you or your spouse is a dedicated commitmentphobe, there’s no shortage of cake toppers that will help you do just that. Perhaps you had to carry your man to the altar? Or reel him in with a fly fisherman’s gentle touch? Are you ready to choke him for waiting for so long?

Notice a trend? In case it doesn’t jump right out at you, I’ll spell it out: It’s always the poor little plastic groom that’s being dragged around, forced into matrimony, or even physically injured!

Thank goodness for Archie McPhee, right? Finally, someone is manufacturing a tacky cake topper for those heterosexual couples in which it’s the lady-half who isn’t quite ready to say “I do.”

As you probably already have guessed, I HATE it, but that’s because I generally hate all cake toppers that aren’t something kooky like Matchbox racers or action figures. I’m kind of enamored with the notion that someone thinks there is enough of a demand for guy-dragging-girl toppers. At least they’re ready to admit that not all men secretly want to stay swingin’ single and not all women are frothing at the bit to get married.

Is this what modern-day gender equality looks like? Yeesh!

The emerging gay wedding demographic has come up quite a bit here at Manolo for the Brides as of late. With the California Supreme Court’s recent ruling — go Cali! — you can bet that there are scads of couples are sprinting toward the altar.

You can also rightly assume that “gay weddings” (a term I really dislike because it’s not a gayyyyyy wedding, it’s just a wedding) are all over the news. Why, just this morning I was knocking back the first latte of the day and listening to NPR when a story came on about Renellie, maker of what they call the world’s first interracial and interchangeable wedding cake toppers.

I do dispute the claim, because there are plenty of topper shops that let you buy figurines individually, whether you want an Asian bride and an Asian groom or an African American bride and a Native American bride or just one white groom because your fiance is a furry and you’re going to pair it with a statue of an anthropomorphic fox.

And yet, I’ve got to hand it to topper designer Rena Puebla for loudly jumping on the same-sex-wedding-friendly vendor bandwagon because my own mother was pretty well ensconced in the proverbial closet not twenty years ago. We’ve come a long way, baby!

The idea for interracial, interchangeable wedding cake toppers sprang fully formed into Puebla’s mind when she, an African American chick engaged to an Asian dude, was unable to find a topper that looked like her and her intended.

“When two people fall in love and become engaged,” she says, “there is so much going on in their lives that the last thing they should have to worry about is the unfamiliar and awkward representation of themselves on the cake.”

So where do I stand on the toppers themselves? I appreciate that Puebla has good intentions, and $70 per couple isn’t entirely unreasonable for a 7″ handpainted figure. I would imagine — though I cannot say for sure — that it must be refreshing to see a statuette of oneself when one has been “left out in the cold” for some time. And maybe, just maybe, same-sex couples in the US have been barred from officially enjoying the traditionalesque wedding for so long that they crave matrimony with all the trimmings.

But really, when it comes right down to it, these toppers are just not all that attractive. I’d much rather see something kooky like two G.I. Joes or something indicative of the couple’s interests like, say, a surfboard and an astrological symbol*. How about some Matchbox cars or two different busts of Tutankhamen or a couple of those cute birds Ann Wood makes?

Heck, if you want a topper that looks like you, get some mini frames, take some cute snapshots, and stick ‘em in the cake. Problem solved!

* I’m looking at you, mom!

The other day, I extolled the virtues of Wilton’s DIY cake guide because it is the most comprehensive free guide I’ve ever come across. Wilton, I thought naively, must rule at all things. It was only much later that I realized that this picture of an utterly horrid cake topper has the Wilton logo splashed in the upper left hand corner.

When I look at this topper, all I can see is a man in drag carrying around one of those o-mouthed blow up dolls. I can’t be the only person who felt they were looking at Mr. Wife and his friend “Rock Hard,” as this particular bride and groom set is nowhere to be found among Wilton’s current offerings.

Not that there’s anything wrong with silly toppers, if that’s your thing. Check out a snapshot of my own less-than-bridey topper under the cut.

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