MISTAKE #4: Hiring an Unskilled or Not-so-Experienced Vendor
A few brides told me how the picture of the wedding cake they showed their baker looked nothing like what was delivered to them. What a waste of money, you’d say.
Can you imagine the level of disappointment they felt, plus the shame to display the cake at their reception venue? Some cake bakers are more educated on cake artwork than others, and so their capabilities vary. Asking a not-so-experienced cake baker to do a difficult cake decoration often results in disappointments – usually, it’s a hit or miss result.
Hiring an unprofessional vendor is another common reason for some wedding cake disasters in Nigeria. Most Nigerian vendors do not inform a client if that person chooses a type of cake they have no experience in or have never baked before.
Service providers here tend to say Ýes’ to every work, which they sometimes fail to deliver on. When hiring a cake vendor that you do not have strong or any recommendations about, assume that it would be a hit or miss.
For these types of not-so-experienced cake bakers, some brides make it even harder by choosing complicated wedding cake design, flavour, and decoration. That often ends in disaster and regrets.
Mistake #5: Choosing A Complicated Wedding Cake Design
I agree that many wedding cake disasters in Nigeria are the fault of inexperienced and unprofessional bakers. In a country where lack of jobs has forced many to become emergency entrepreneurs with minimal education and little hands-on experience, it can sometimes be difficult to find a few good cake bakers.
That said, sometimes brides also are to blame because their choices make it difficult for the available street bakers to deliver. Some Nigerian brides have a tall list of wants in their wedding cakes, such as complicated decoration and topper-sculptures, hard-to-get cake colours, flavours they heard about on the internet or from big-time cake makers.
When you give a small-town baker a difficult cake design and want the baker to be a wonder-sculptor with your cake, expect a hit or miss.
We are tired of seeing Nigerian traditional wedding cakes that had cake artwork and sculptures that don’t look real. Not many cake bakers are good at making cake art. Commonly failed cake topper images or figurines we see at Nigerian weddings include funny-looking little figures of bride and groom and calabashes that look like native doctor’s juju.
Another popular wedding cake mistake in Nigeria is where the cake delivered on the wedding day was different from the cake colour in the Instagram or Pinterest cake picture the bride showed her baker.
3 Tips For Avoiding the Above Wedding Cake Mistakes:
Here are tips to avoid making those mistakes with your own wedding cake budget, and how to make it easy for your cake baker to deliver on what you want:
a. Keep it Simple: Simple wedding cakes have always been some of the most elegant cakes, plus they are easier and not time-consuming to make.
Your chances of getting the cake that looks like what you showed your baker are higher if you choose a simple cake. See ideas from these 100 pictures of some of the most beautiful wedding cake designs.
a. Tone down the artistic details and Complex Cake Sculpture Toppers: When choosing decorations and design elements for your wedding cake, please be realistic about what your baker can easily deliver. Don’t ask for a cake decoration art that may be difficult to achieve.
A simple wedding cake with minimal or easy-to-get decoration looks elegant if you are not sure your baker is a World-class artist. And you’ll save money by either skipping the cake sculpture decoration or keeping the design realistically simpler.
a. Go for a neutral coloured wedding cake. Many Nigerian brides go for strong colours for their cake design. Some real-World colours may be difficult for some bakers to create.
You can avoid this mistake by choosing neutral cake colours which usually look more classy or confirm that your baker has the exact, same cake colours you want.
MISTAKE #6: Forgetting to Eat Your Cake
I often hear many couples say how their wedding day went by so fast, that some said they forgot to eat their wedding cake, apart from the small pieces they feed each other after cake-cutting. Imagine if that happened to you, after all the time you put into helping to design and create that cake. I want you to plan your cake design and also eat it.
2 Tips to Avoid This Mistake:
Instruct someone to reserve some cake for you: A day before your wedding day, have your chief bridesmaid or one of the servers to reserve a big portion of the cake for you and your new husband (or wife). You both deserve to enjoy eating your own cake.
Ask for the Top Cake Layer to Be Left Uncut: If you plan to store the top layer of your cake for your first wedding anniversary, be sure to let the responsible people (your baker, chief bridesmaid and those who will slice the cake) know to pack and wrap that top layer for you, and store it in the freezer.
Wrapup: Wedding Cake Disasters Can Be Avoided
There you have it – the different wedding cake mistakes common in Nigeria. If you take action on the recommended things-to-do, you will be able to save money on your wedding cake, and still, have a beautiful cake that looks expensive to your guests. This post is part of our wedding mistakes awareness series.
This post is part of our wedding planning mistakes awareness series. Other articles in this series include:
- 7 Fun Ways to Transform a Cheap Wedding Cake
- Costly and Common Wedding Reception Planning Mistakes in Nigeria and Tips to Avoid them
- Wedding Cake Budgeting Mistakes Nigerian Brides Often Make
- Wedding Gown Budgeting Mistakes that cause Nigerian Brides to Overspend
Your turn – do you have any wedding cake mistake story from a Nigerian wedding you attended or heard of? If so, I’d love to hear it in the comment area below.
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