Designing the cake of your dreams doesn’t have to be that stressful! In fact it should be fun; after all you get to have your cake and eat it too.

A great way that you can assist your cake baker or Pastry Chef is to begin collecting pictures that appeal to you and your fiancé. Pictures say a thousand words. They also help to relay what it is that attracted you to the cake in the first place. As you are collect­ing the various pictures keep in mind the following characteristics about the cakes.

Shape: round, square, oval, heart, cupcakes, stacked or sepa­rated

Color: White, ivory, or some shade of color, cake colors can be coordinated to match your wed­ding colors

Theme: beach, laua, western, classical, traditional, old world, we can even match the lines of your dress to reflect in your cake. One cake we did recently had the pull-up portions of her dress depicted in the sides of her cake.

Cake flavor: vanilla, choco­late, marble, carrot, Jewish apple, red velvet, banana,

Filling: Buttercream, lemon, chocolate mousse, raspberry, tiramisu, orange creamsicle liquor infused with Grand Marnier or Amaretto and so on

When: Winter, spring, sum­mer, fall – weather always plays an issue when designing cakes

Where: indoor, outdoor, beach, hotel, private home, tent, ie. Certain buttercream design cakes in the heat of summer don’t do well for an outdoor wedding.

Budget: is it included in your wedding package? Upgrades, how much?

You should begin scheduling your consultation at least 6 -9 months before your wedding day. This is especially true if you are getting married during a busy wedding month. In Southern New Jersey the summer months are always busy, but it seems that September and October are the months that sell out first. So just like you caterer or reception hall, it is best to check in with your pastry chef early and make sure they too have availability to accommodate your wedding as well.

At the Pastry Prince, our first contact many times is through the internet on our website at www.ThePastryPrince.com. Many brides grew up in New Jersey and have moved away because of school or work and are now engaged and want to get married close to home. We work with your schedule so that when you are in town to plan your event we will schedule a tasting and consultation. Today’s brides are more knowledgeable about what’s available in the marketplace and therefore demand more of their cake deco­rators. At the Pastry Prince, we are only as good as our last cake.