Title: Wedding Cake: Top Tier

Category: Food

Informant: Kurt A. Gabbard

Nationality: American, caucasian

Age: Upper 50s

Occupation: Princeton Seminary—Vice President of Business Affairs/Financial Consultant/CPA/CFO

Residence: 5031 Mead Drive/ Doylestown PA, 18902 (Suburban Home)

Date of Collection: 4/8/18

Description:

The cake of the wedding is supposed to be served in primarily white icing and with few/no other colors included. The wedding cake is to be served from the bottom layer up. The top layer should not be served to party guests. The top layer of the wedding cake is supposed to be saved from the wedding, wrapped up, and placed in the freezer of the couple until their first wedding anniversary.

Upon the first wedding anniversary, the couple is supposed to eat the cake. Alternatively, the couple could also take a bite out of their wedding cake upon each wedding anniversary and continue the tradition until the cake runs out or spoils. The flowers adoring said wedding cake are supposed to be either all white or in the color of the bridesmaid’s dresses.

Context/Significance:

The wedding cake for married couples is significant for it’s religious implication of the first meal shared together. It is white so that it matches the color of the bride’s dress and sometimes hints at the bride’s personal preferences. For the most part, the wedding cake is meant to be white as a representation of the bride’s dress and presents itself as a virginal object. After the married couple cuts into the cake, the pieces are served to party guests and those in attendance of the wedding. The top tier of the wedding cake is saved for the bride and groom alone and is an object of food that the couple is meant to eat exclusively by themselves.

Personal Thoughts:

The reason behind the couple eating the cake upon each wedding anniversary is meant to symbolize the circular bond the couple has together and their “continual” commitment to each other. The circle of the cake tiers is similar the circular theme else identified in the wedding rings of the couple (Although a variety of cakes are served now-a-days in a variety of shapes and configuration).