Our amazing friend Pia from The Vanilla Pod Bakery gives her tips for lockdown planning!

5 Tips for Planning Your Bespoke Wedding Cake During Lockdown…

Planning a wedding during lockdown may be daunting but rest assured many wedding professionals are used to working remotely and solely via the power of technology up until your big day. Especially those suppliers who work with couples who choose the Cotswolds for their destination wedding.

At the Vanilla Pod Bakery we work with lots of destination couples marrying at Barnsley House and here are my top 5 tips for planning your wedding cake remotely:

Tip 1: Research:

Spend time looking at wedding inspiration on the internet, in magazines and social media.  Pinterest and Instagram are great for sourcing ideas. Explore the different styles of cakes on offer. What type of cake jumps out to you as a couple?  Three tiered, romantic, edgy, fondant iced, ruffles, semi naked? There are so many wonderful options available.

“When using social media to explore wedding cake styles, search different hashtags such as #cotswoldsweddings #seminakedcakes #buttercreamweddingcakes”.

Tip 2: Shortlist:

Once you have a feel for the type of cake style you like, explore different cake designers websites. Find cake business through google searches, friends and family recommendations and of course ask your wedding venue for any cake companies that may be on their prefered supplier list.  To narrow it down further, ask yourself what you want in a cake designer. Do you want them to be local to your venue? Do you want your cake designer to be an established business? Do you think they can create the style of cake you want for your wedding? Will their wedding cakes and service fit in with your wedding cake budget? Do they have testimonials you can read?  I would then recommend shortlisting 2-3 designers and getting in touch.

“Cake designers are a friendly bunch and always happy to hear from lovely couples.”

Tip 3: Design:

Designing your cake during lockdown can still be a wonderful collaborative experience. You may not be able to meet your cake maker in person but lots of professional cake companies are offering virtual cake consultations. Where you can meet via video chat, they may sketch rough cake designs for you during the consultation or send ideas to you via email. Lots of video chats, such as Zoom (the one we use) allow the host to share their screen so you can look at the cake designers portfolio and your Pinterest boards together.

“Virtual cake consultations are a wonderful part of wedding planning experience and really bring a personal connection to your designer even if you are hundreds of miles apart”.

Tip 4: Tasting:

Tasting cake flavours may be a little trickier during lockdown, if you can’t meet in person. However, a lot of cake businesses are geared up for sending wonderful cake tasters through the post. This is a great service to complement a virtual cake consultation and all can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home.

“At the Vanilla Pod Bakery we are proud to offer a postal tasting box service as part of our normal wedding cake service, and during lockdown it has been no different.”

Tip 5: Booking:

It may be a little scary to book a cake designer when you have never met in person, but by following the steps above and ensuring the company is reputable, then I would say go for it. In order to secure your booking, the wedding cake company will request a deposit and ask you to sign their T&Cs. A lot of wedding cake makers are small businesses and can only take on a limited number of bookings per year. Therefore, it is best to book early to avoid losing out on your favourite cake professional.

I hope these tips prove useful and if I can offer any advice on planning your wedding cake at all please do not hesitate to contact me or schedule a free 20 minute initial wedding cake telephone consultation.

Pia and team Vanilla Pod Bakery x