"To fake or not to fake" or "Because Pam Anderson Did It"

No, I’m not talking about fake, well, you know. It turns out Pam Anderson is famous for faking something else: her wedding cake. Wedding cakes are a time honored tradition, but even a small one can cost a pretty penny. With that said, depending on how important this tradition is to you, should you save money by using a fake wedding cake accompanied with a sheet cake for the guests? Most bakeries offer rental wedding cakes, with an opening to insert a piece of real cake for the cake cutting.

Although fake cakes have been around for awhile, renting them is fairly novel. Brides to be have said they will pay half as much to rent a fake cake than to buy a real one. Three tiered wedding cakes cost about $100 to rent, plus up to $100 more for a custom design.

For DIY brides, you can make a fake cake out of Styrofoam from the craft store (Wilton makes Styrofoam cakes of different shapes and sizes, and the green Styrofoam is easily shapeable) and PermaIce (artificial icing). It’s pretty easy and can be fun to do. Best of all, if you make a mistake, just throw it out and start again.

But is it worth it? I guess that’s just a judgment call. I personally like the idea of having a real wedding cake, especially because I like the idea of pearls and flowers being edible (the ones made out of sugar, I mean). And is it really cost efficient? Maureen Rogers, at http://pinkslipblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/this-takes-wedding-cake.html did the math, and for one company, renting a fake cake with a 100 slice sheet to accompany it only saves about $45 dollars. So should you fake it? I would opt for the real thing, especially because I’m only getting married (hopefully) one time, and a couple hundred dollars is not so bad for such an important occasion, considering what I’ve splurged on in the past: 120 dollars when I was 14 on ‘N Sync concert tickets, 200 dollars a couple months ago on a pair of jeans that ripped already, and like 70 dollars at CVS last week when I only went in for toothpaste (why does that always happen?). And if the tradition is not important to you, then don’t get a cake at all. Do not conform to the matrimonial peer pressures! But for me, this looks too good to fake:


Don't you think this would taste better than styrofoam or cardboard?
(wedding cake property of Annie B's confections, find more cakes like this at http://www.anniebs.com/ )