Getting married doesn’t automatically mean that you should abandon your own sense of style and feel pressured to pick a 'theme'. We’re certainly finding brides and grooms in 2020 are less concerned with having everything matching or having everything based around traditional neutral colour palettes. Instead, many couples are expressing their individual taste in a more eclectic fashion to create a wedding atmosphere they are comfortable with. For couples on a budget, this is great news, as styling with a mix and match approach can really help save money whilst giving a truly unique look. Whether you've got a theme or not, here are some ideas based on the top current wedding cake trends...
Festival colour
Whether on a farm, in a barn, on a beach or in a field, the trend for couples hosting their very own wedding festival celebrations in the beautiful English countryside continues, where everything is laid back, fun-packed and informal. The ubiquitous naked or semi-naked wedding cake with it’s rustic charm, has been the favoured style for this type of wedding but as we enter a new decade we’ve found couples are willing to experiment with pops of color, new colour palettes and wedding cakes with a relaxed, joyous, summery feel.
Coastal character
Big for 2020 is the trend for weddings with a carefree, sun-bleached, coastal vibe with a muted colour palette and everlasting blooms. It’s a modern evolution of previous popular natural, rustic styles, characterised by architectural seed pods, husks and white wood, softened by small coastal flowers and grasses and free form, flowing elements inspired by the sand and sea. Expect to see lots of interesting coastal plants and seed pods made from sugar adorning sandy coloured wedding cakes.
Small and sustainable
The climate emergency means that sustainability is fast becoming a much bigger part of all our lives and informing our lifestyle choices. This means couples are much more sensitive to the impact their wedding might have on the environment. Being conscious of waste and avoiding single use plastics is one of the many simple ways to make a difference and have a more sustainable wedding; we anticipate couples and cake makers alike turning away from ever bigger made up of ‘fake’ tiers of polystyrene to be discarded after the wedding. Polystyrene doesn’t degrade and will inevitably end up in landfill or broken up in the sea. The alternative being embraced by environmentally aware couples is to celebrate real cakes, which might be smaller but where design, craftsmanship and taste are more highly prized than sheer size.
Victoriana
From dresses with high ruffled necklines, long sleeves and defined waists to wedding cakes with royal iced decoration, the Victorian era’s influence is back for 2020 weddings, with delicate dress embroidery expected to be echoed in cakes decorated with intricate hand-piped detail.
It’s influence is informing a less playful, more timeless look, so we will see cakes with a more classically romantic feel too.
Mosaics & Tiles
Over the past few years, geometry and tessellation have been extremely popular in wedding cake design, being both simple and effective and providing a more masculine contrast to some of the softer design elements which can often dominate. However it’s a trend which is evolving and becoming more decorative with bolder colour choices, mosaics and patterned tiles coming through in more ornate designs.
Modern Fairytale
Brides dreaming of a modern fairytale wedding will be loving the bold and billowing blouson sleeves and full, flouncy skirts that bridal designers have been experimenting with recently and it’s those frothy frocks of layered tulle that have translated into wedding cake design with weightless, paper like ruffling the key to unlocking this avant-garde, voluminous look.
Decorate-It-Yourself
For many couples, being able to get creative with their weddings is an essential part of the planning process and undoubtedly, couples are getting braver with what they are willing to do, eschewing the traditions they don’t like and introducing new more modern twists to their weddings. A DIY wedding cake is undoubtedly a great way for couples to keep within their wedding budget and still get the unique, tailored look they yearn for. This trend isn’t about trying to learn professional cake decorating skills - it’s about cleverly styling their cakes with fresh flowers, ribbon or statement objects. The possibilities are endless!
Macrame
Creative brides have recently been taking inspiration from trendy textile macrame, perfect for adding that all important texture to wedding cakes. It's a modern way to achieve a retro, boho style and a great choice for 1970's inspired weddings. Surprisingly versatile it also offers a natural, romantic feel for those looking for something a bit unusual.
Modern Pearls
After years of being seriously unfashionable, pearls have reclaimed their position in fine jewelry, thanks to a new, focused creativity on the marine born gem. Recently, we’ve seen gowns, hairpieces, veils and shoes all incorporating pearls in modern and stylish ways. This means we’ll see fewer plain cakes and more cakes with embellishment, including piped edible pearls in a celebration of timeless, understated elegance.
Terrazzo
Marbled cakes have been a wedding favourite for a while but in 2020 we’re going to see the trend develop beyond marble into different stone effects. In particular we predict that cakes everywhere will be rocking the terrazzo look, that jewel like material made from marble chips set into cement.