Most would feel that a wedding is not a wedding without the wedding cake. Brides mostly spend a lot of time just to prepare and find the right cake for their special day. But, do you know that as we enjoy the variety of wedding cakes available to us now, these cakes also had a long deep history of how cake cutting and the existence of wedding cakes came to be.
How it All Started
Roman Times
Wedding cakes date back all the way to the Roman Empire. The custom was for the groom to break the cake over the bride’s head to symbolize the end of the bride’s virginal state, ensure fertility, and the beginning of her husband’s power over her. Cakes were not yet invented at that time, so they mostly used a loaf of freshly baked of barley bread to do the tradition. The guests who also attended the wedding would take part by taking a piece of the broken wedding cake in hopes that they would also get good luck and fortune.
The custom of breaking the cake was mostly necessary at that time since they believed it would benefit and provide good fortune to the couple’s future children. This ritual was mostly necessary for couples because this also affected the future of their children since only those children whose parents participated in the ritual were considered for a Roman high office. Brides mostly had to participate to ensure that her children would have good fortune.
Modern Tradition
These days, the tradition of cutting the cake as a couple is ever more popular. The groom will place his hand over the bride and in a way help her in slicing the first piece. The couple will have to cut through the bottom layer to symbolize the continuity of their relationship. The meaning of the groom having his hand over his bride means his support over his bride while the bride allowing the groom’s hand on top of her means her ability to take care of her new husband and her family.
Once the cake has been cut, the groom will feed his bride, and then the bride will go second. This ritual symbolizes their commitment to provide for each other, and contains the meaning of good luck and fortune. Some also believed that the bigger the piece of cake that is fed to each other, the bigger their family would become.
Some couples are also replacing the ritual of feeding each other with a piece of cake with just smashing each other with a piece of it. However, most are still not at ease with this ritual since both the bride and groom took the time to make themselves prepare for their big day and ruining their make up with icing is not a great way to end a beautiful wedding.
In the past, it was the duty of the couple to send guests home with a piece of their wedding cake similar to a wedding favor. They also had to send pieces of cakes to those who were not able to attend their wedding. But, while the tradition is well meant, the popularity of it is slowly fading.
Wedding cakes are symbolic from the time they were created until now that they were made even more special. Brides and their grooms may even become emotional as they cut their cake. After all, this would also mark the ending of the wedding, and the beginning of a new life as husband and wife.