I did a two- or three- layer eight-inch round as the centerpiece of each table, topped with sprouting greens to match the greens in my bouquet. Six different types of cakes made everyone really excited to try and encouraged my guests to mingle around and try small slices of others' cakes, too. An automatic conversation starter! (And it knocks out the centerpiece drama.)

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We went with a Carvel Ice Cream cake which we fed each other (and smeared on faces). We had 2 rounds (1 big, 1 small) as the cake that we cut, and then we got a few sheet ice cream cakes to serve. The guests absolutely loved it, and it was a warm summer night so it helped cool things down.

Our caterer (we had a pig roast) also made tropical fruit salad and mini dulce de leche cakes which were also outstanding.

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At our wedding (a little over a month ago) we had a very subtle New Orleans theme, so my wife surprised me with a King Cake at midnight. We did the classic wedding cake earlier in the evening, but the King Cake was a great break in the action that led to the final hour of the party. It was great.

Additionally, when thinking about a wedding cake consider your guests. Is there an expectation of cake? Personally, one of my favorite things at weddings is having a slice of cake with a cup of coffee. And you can always have more than one option and at different times... like we did.

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We too had different cakes as centerpieces on the tables, which allowed us to have a cake to please everyone, they were beautiful and absolutely encouraged mingling. We did have a pretty small gathering, so the 6 8-inch cakes we ordered were more than enough.

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We had two cheesecakes made by the restaurant where we had our reception. I'd looked into more "traditional" wedding cakes, and they simply were not in our budget, and most of the ones I've had haven't been all that stellar.

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We are considering having Coco Puffs from Liliha Bakery flown in, and doing a pseudo-croquembouche with them.

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I catered a wedding for ~120 last summer where we did three total desserts. We did 10-inch chocolate-Guinness cakes with dark chocolate-cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut pies, and pecan pies(the groom was from Texas). We had the cake on a stand and decorated with Peruvian Lilies and the pies flanking each side, similarly decorated. The couple then sliced that cake, and fed it to each other. We then just had each of the desserts sliced and plated for guests to pick and choose what they wanted to try. Many of the guests commented that this was one of the best desserts they have had at a wedding.

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We had a Croquembouche (which is a mountain of small cream puffs or profiteroles held together by spun caramelized sugar) for our wedding. We loved it, and so did our guests! I feel like it has a lot of things going for it.

1. You get the drama and elegance of a large central dessert, just like a cake, but also the simplicity of a finger-food type dessert like cupcakes. Plus, you get to have that "cake-cutting moment" between the newly-married couple, which you don't really get with cupcakes. Also, people can serve themselves, which removes any need for a cake-cutting staff.
2. It's uncommon at weddings in the US and therefore sets your wedding apart as being unique, but it's grounded in a long French Wedding tradition, so it's not just different for the sake of being different. Plus, it's unique without being too trendy.
3. Ours was utterly delicious, and had a simple beauty to it, and yet cost a tiny fraction of what a cake would cost.
4. They can be made in any size, to precise amounts. You have 50 guests? Get a croquembouche with 50 profiteroles. Easy!

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The hotel where we had our wedding wouldn't allow an outside bakery to make our cake, only their own pastry chef could do it, which meant I'd also be stuck with whatever they dreamed up to charge me. We had a very nice buffet for dinner and since it included a dessert buffet as well, we decided to forego the cake altogether. Neither of us were terribly excited about stuffing each other's face with food, anyway, so it worked out well, and people RAVED about the dessert buffet, including myself - there must have been 1000 individual creme brulees on it, which is one of my favourites of all time!

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I've seen on a couple food show the option you can get a styrofoam cake that's decorated with fondant and looks very real. One for the smaller layers is a real layer that is cut into for the couples cake cutting. I't taken to the kitchen for cutting and much cheaper slice sheet cake is served. Sounds like an interesting to have the cake and save some money.

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My sister and brother in law wanted chocolate chip cookies. They were already having a cookout type wedding, so it worked well for them. There were normal size cookies in individual bags (or boxes? something), but then we also cooked the plate sized cookies, and piled them on each other to make a slightly more dramatic dessert for the couple. We had to back almost twice as many cookies as we stacked because it's difficult to get them stacked without them cracking, but they were happy.

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We had a perfectly normal looking white wedding cake with two white hand-made sugar roses on top instead of the more traditional plastic-people topper. As I said, normal looking: the 'cake' was a huge rice-crispy-treat. The bakery did an excellent job and it was the most moist and chewy but still crisp treat we had ever had. I personally dislike cake, and had almost decided not to do one when my husband jokingly suggested this. It was awesome and a lot of our guests asked for more.

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One of my main priorities for my cake was that it taste good. I'd never had a wedding cake I liked, they're beautiful but tasteless. I went in knowing some of what I wanted (marzipan on top, and definitely some fruit) and fortunately our baker had a fabulous cake with custard and strawberries that was to die for and perfect for marzipan.

I have to disagree that people won't eat a cake that tastes good. Our guests downed ours. I still hear about it. Whenever anyone brings up my wedding, they always remember the cake.

With that said, do whatever you want. Just make sure you get a good baker who will make it taste fabulous.

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Where I live in NE Ohio the cake, no matter how grand, is always secondary to the legendary cookie table. At a wedding this past fall, I beheld a behemoth of 6 large tables covered in a bounty of assorted homemade cookies (we have to have something for our ethnic grans and aunts to do)! People barely touched the cake (which sadly was beautiful and made by one of the bridesmaids) but I nearly saw a few throw downs over the cookies. And having small containers, so your guests can abscond away with 30 more cookies, is a must...otherwise all the old ladies will just shovel them into their purses. So at least in NE Ohio, the cookie reigns supreme. You can sod the cake, but if there isn't a pile of buckeyes, Italian wedding cookies, pizzelles, clothespin cookies and peanut butter blossoms somewhere in the room, then you might as well have set the groom's mother on fire, as you've just committed the mortal sin of Mahoning Valley wedding receptions.

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i would be pissed if i went to a wedding and there wasn't CAKE. COME ON. there is no substitute. at least a cheap homemade sheet cake, anything, but there must be cake. don't kid yourself. it is the true incentive to get people to attend.

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What? No "other"?

My husband and I ordered a 6" round cake to cut and a whole bunch of 2" mini cakes for our guests. The mini cakes were decorated exactly like the "cutting cake" so it was a very nice presentation.

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I know a couple that didn't like cake but loved ice cream. They actually called Breyers Ice Cream and asked if they could get a discount for using Breyers at their wedding. Breyers ended up donating all of the ice cream for free, and they had a great sundae bar.

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I'm a fan of cheesecake as wedding cake -- not only is it delicious, it's unexpected. I've seen it at a couple weddings both as a guest and as the baker who created the cheesecakes. In the latter case, I baked the cheesecakes, though I didn't do the final assembly and decorating. I made 4 white chocolate mousse cheesecakes of varying sizes that could be tiered. Then we also created multiple other flavors (single layer only) to have available for guests.

There are lots of cool platforms that can be used to create a tiered cheesecake.

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We did a small 2-tiered cake to cut for show and feed each other and then had 3 different kinds of cupcakes set out on a long buffet table with our cake. We put our cutting cake up on a beautiful red glass cake stand to give it more height with all the cupcakes around it. This way is SO much cheaper! Cupcakes cost less than half as much each as the baker charges per slice for a big wedding cake. And you avoid cutting fees at the venue because people can just go up themselves and grab a cupcake. As part of our contract, our baker even included a 6" cake in our wedding cake flavors for free on our anniversary so we didn't have to try and salvage a small piece to save for the traditional year old cake eating.

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We're having our wedding in September and chose to have an all-dessert reception, so we'll have a little bit of it all - cupcakes, cookies, tarts, brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, and other fun.

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