A good wedding cake tastes as good on the inside as it looks on the outside. Period. End of story. Unfortunately, I think a lot of brides and grooms don’t actually care about the wedding cake. How it tastes, I mean. That’s okay, of course. I am an advocate of splurging on what you care about and scrimping on the things that don’t matter to you. However, wedding guests are presented with cake slices whether they want them or not, and wedding the cake is often the last hurrah of the reception.

So, if you want a memorable wedding, consider a good wedding cake.

A giant, six-tiered wedding cake from your country’s most sought after cake decorator is going to set you back. Luckily, there are other ways to come by a beautiful and tasty wedding cake. Perhaps you know someone with mad icing skillz. Maybe your local bakery makes beautiful small tiered cakes and sheet cakes. Or, you can try following the step-by-step instructions in wedding cake expert Dede Wilson’s guide, Wedding Cakes You Can Make: Designing, Baking, and Decorating the Perfect Wedding Cake.

Of course, you can also dare to be different. There is no rule stating that wedding cakes must be white, tiered, flowery, and bland. There are some pretty interesting recipes out there. Since who knows when I’ll get to have a wedding, I’m going to try out a few of these to give out as New Year’s gifts!

Fruity, cinnamon wedding cake

Caribbean wedding cake with jam

Old fashioned country wedding cake

Rosewater flavored wedding cake

Almond wedding cake

Champagne wedding cake

I have no illusions about my eventual wedding. I may have mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again: I have six younger siblings. My father is a good provider for his family, but he cannot afford to be oppulent. I don’t have any savings that aren’t dedicated to my eventual retirement. So, I know that when I get married it’s going to be a relatively simple affair. Neither my family nor I can afford to drop a thousand dollars or more on a dress, much less anything else.

So, for my own future reference and possibly yours, I will now present a list of things any bride can do to create a frugal yet fabulous wedding.

Get high tech. Spend the forty bucks to splurge on wedding planning software like Smart Wedding 4.0 that keeps track of things like spending, guests, seating, appointments, vendors, and gifts. It’s like having your very own wedding planner…except this one won’t push you into buying nasty little packets of stale Jordan Almonds.

Go to the library. Or better yet, to one of those bookstores that have a little cafe and will let you read books like Denise and Alan Fields’ Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget while drinking a latte.

Be confident in your ability to find the perfect dress for less. Don’t feel you have to settle for retail prices. Surf the Internet classfieds, check EBAY, visit sample sales, consider checking your local Salvation Army or Goodwill outlet, and look for knockoffs. Sometimes having an original dress handmade by a tailor can be less expensive than buying it off the rack. Making your own dress with help from books like Susan E. Andriks’ Bridal Gowns: How to Make the Wedding Dress of Your Dreams is also an option.

Instead of booking an expensive hall, consider letting mother nature host your wedding. She has wonderful taste in colors!

Finally, use any resource you can. Plenty of Web sites, such as Brilliant Wedding Pages, have oddles of money-saving tips and tricks that will help you choose favors that are so fantastic, a dress that is so divine, and a setting that is so sublime that no one will ever know you’re a budget queen.

Now, if only there was a cost effective way to inspire The Beard to go ring shopping…

Being that I am a Boston girl, I couldn’t help noticing that the 7th annual Baystate Bridal Expo, the largest two-day Boston bridal show, will be coming to the Bayside Expo Center in January. According to a press release, the show will…

sparkle with glamorous gowns, elegant formal wear, door prizes, fashion shows, live music and entertainment, DJs, photographers, videographers, limousine services, ice-sculpting demonstrations, breathtaking floral designs, wedding ideas from participating sponsor, Stop and Shop and food samples from Boston’s top caterers, bakeries, and banquet facilities. Brides-to-be can plan their entire wedding in just one weekend, it’s one stop shopping and planning with many of the best wedding professionals in the area.

But is it worth it? Apparently, these shows have been around for decades and can be a great resource for the future bride (and perhaps groom) who goes into it with the right attitude and as an idea seeker. Expos are filled with folks whose main goals involve getting your money. According to the expo tips on BrideandGroom.us, it’s best to wear comfy shoes and clothes, bring a friend or relative, and fill out as many contest entry forms as humanly possible. Also, future brides and grooms should bring pens and notebooks because the fashion shows and cake displays can all be great sources of ideas.

As to how to find one in your area, they recommend you:

Check out websites, wedding publications and bridal shops to see where shows are in your area. If you’ve registered your name anywhere as a bride-to-be, you will more than likely receive information about bridal shows in your mailbox or e-mail.

Just be prepared for the resultant spam.

A friend of mine from college got married a few weeks ago. He is one of a kind and thus I must imagine his lovely bride is also a unique lady. This was their cake. I am not sure, but I think their wedding decor was autumn themed. I just love, love, love the colors on the icing leaves and the stick figure cake topper. I must applaud them for choosing a cake design that reflected their tastes. I sincerely hope it tasted as good as it looked.

There is just something about the weddings that sends some girls reaching for the fifteen nearest bridal magazines and other girls reaching deep into their imaginations for the ideas that say, “I am here to have a good time and to show my guests a good time, and I’m going to think out of the box and create something that screams ‘ME’.”

A friend of mine falls squarely in the latter catagory. The day before her wedding, she and her handsome future groom took the guests to an old fashioned roller rink for a skate party. She had another friend of ours perform the nuptuals. And this was her wedding cake:

Though they are too small to see properly in the photo, a mini King Kong carried a even smaller Fay Wray up the side of the sweet, delicious Empire State Building. It was magnifique!