Top Wedding Cake Tips You Need to Know

The Sweet Tradition of Cutting Your Wedding Cake

*Playlist updated for 2024-2025 wedding season

The wedding cake has long been a symbolic detail—the tradition of breaking the cake over the bride’s head dates back to the Ancient Romans. While many wedding traditions change over time, the ceremonial cutting of the wedding cake has remained a popular and meaningful wedding reception moment.

It provides both a fabulous wedding photography opportunities and symbolizes the couple’s first joint task as newlyweds. Find out all you need to know about this wedding tradition below.

Designing Your Cake

Trying to determine which bakery with bring your wedding cake vision to life? Here are some questions you might ask:

• What flavors of cake do you offer?
• What fillings are available?
• Do you offer a gluten free option?
• What shapes do you offer?
• Do you specialize in a particular flavor or design style?
• How early should I order? Deposit requirements and final payment dates?
• Is there a delivery charge? How much setup time is needed?
• Do you offer tasting sessions?
• Will you supply the cake stand? Cake knife and server?
• Will you provide storage box for the top tier?

Get the Best Shots

The cake cutting is often one of wedding photographers’ (and videographers) favorite moments to capture. Before the celebration, be clear and specific with them about how you want this moment documented.

• Do you want the traditional posed shot of the two of you cutting the cake together, or do you prefer a more candid one?
• Is a close-up of your hands on the knife important?

With the Mike Staff Productions Team Approach, you’ll never have to worry about your photographer & videographer competing for the best shot. When you book our wedding services, we guarantee our videographers, photographers, and DJs will work together to make sure your wedding will be remembered…for all the right reasons.

Wedding Cake And Your Budget

To maximize your budget, consider these budget savers.

• Order a small one or two-tiered cake and then supplement cake with a larger sheet cake (hidden back in the kitchen).
• Keep the add-ons simple.
• Use fresh flowers, not sugar ones.
• Reuse ceremony flowers for the cake table.
• Skip exotic fillings like guava and mango.

How To Cut The Wedding Cake

When Should You Cut Your Wedding Cake?

A very common question during wedding planning is when to cut the wedding cake! The big debate: before or after dinner. Well, if you’ve been to a wedding in the last decade, you’ve probably noticed the cake cutting ceremony is usually performed immediately following the grand entrance, before the wedding party toasts begin.

It’s all about flow & timing — cutting the cake before dinner allows your serving staff to clear and cut the cake during dinner service and have it ready once the dinner plates are clear. Whenever you decide to cut your cake, your Mike Staff Wedding DJ will know your plans in advance. Your DJ will arrive early and communicate with venue staff to ensure that everyone is on the “same page.”

Do we keep a tier?

Let your serving staff know if you plan on keeping or giving away any tier of the cake, otherwise, they may serve it to your guests. Don’t assume everyone knows. Traditionally, most couples keep one cake to celebrate their first anniversary and this means storing it in the freezer for one whole year. More recently, bakeries have begun to offer a replica cake tier on your one year anniversary.

If you will be storing the top tier, the following can help to preserve the flavor. Remove the decorations such as flowers and toppers from the cake and make sure the cake board is wrapped with a foil paper. Place the wedding cake in the freezer for about 20 minutes so as to make the icing hard. Once hardened, wrap the cake with an airtight plastic wrap. Wrap it with two or more layers of foil to prevent the frozen taste and store in a freezer storage container.

Wedding Cake Cutting Playlist

Your cake cutting is an exciting part of your reception, that will likely end up in your wedding video and album. You’ll want to choose a sweet song to narrate the moment – no pun intended. Cutting that tasty slice of heaven will only take few minutes, but it’s one of those wedding reception traditions that everyone will be waiting to see.  This is definitely a moment you want to coordinate with your wedding DJ.

The wedding DJs at Mike Staff Productions put together a Spotify playlist featuring their favorite cake cutting songs for 2021. Whether you’re looking for something playing on the radio right now, a classic tune or something upbeat and ‘sweet’, you’re sure to find the perfect tune for this special reception moment in our playlist.

1. Stuck On You – Meiko
2. Better Together – Us The Duo
3. Chapel of Love – The Dixie Cups
4. Recipe for Love – Harry Connick Jr.
5. Silly Love Songs – Wings
6. This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) – Natalie Cole
7. Sweet Creature – Harry Styles
8. I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) – The Four Tops
9. Butterflies – Kacey Musgraves
10. Shallow – Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper
11. Happy Together – The Turtles
12. Landslide – Dagny
13. Sugar – Maroon 5
14. Back to You (Joey Pecararo Remix) – Selena Gomez
15. You’re My Best Friend – Queen
16. Come and Get Your Love – Redbone
17. You Are the Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne
18. I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher
19. First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes
20. Be My Baby – The Ronnettes
21. Sugar, Sugar – The Archies
22. Love and Marriage – Frank Sinatra
23. The Girl – City and Colour
24. Watermelon Sugar – Harry Styles
25. Magic Moment – Drifters
26. Puppy Love – This Wild Life
27. Can You Feel the Love Tonight – Elton John
28. Best Day of My Life – American Authors
29. I Choose You – Ryann Darling
30. Lover – Taylor Swift
31. “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” – Cake
32. Nobody But You – Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani
33. Everyday – Buddy Holly
34. Love You Madly – Cake 
35. Blessings – Florida Georgia Line
36. Loving You Easy – Zac Brown Band
37. Find Someone Like You – Snoh Aalegra
38. Your My Best Friend – Queen
39. “ily” – Surf Mesa & Emilee
40. Big Parade – The Lumineers
41. Lucky – Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat
42. Marry You – Bruno Mars
43. I Like Me Better – Lauv
44. I’ll Name The Dogs – Blake Shelton
45. Adore You – Harry styles 
46. Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine
47. Get You – Daniel Caesar
48. Look At Us Now – Dylan Scott 
49. I Will Always Be Yours – Ben Rector
50. Today Was A Fairytale – Taylor Swift
51. One Man Band – Old Dominion
52. It’s Been a Long, Long Time – Harry James
53. Grow Old With You – Adam Sandler
54. A Little Honey – Nathaniel Rateliff
55. Big, Big Plans – Chris Lane
56. Cut The Cake -Average White Band
57. Starving – Hailee Steinfeld
58. Sweet Thing – Keith Urban
59. Candy To Me – Eddie Holland
60. Silly Love Songs – Wings
61. Clarity – Mac Miller
62. Brand New – Ben Rector
63. Brighter Than The Sun – Colbie Caillat
64. Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations
65. Cake By The Ocean – DNCE
66. Honey Bee – Blake Shelton
67. Honey – Mariah Carey
68. How Sweet It Is – James Taylor
69. I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow
70. Love And Marriage – Frank Sinatra
71. Love On Top – Beyonce
72. Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard
73. Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith
74. Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran
75. Yummy – Justin Bieber
76. 1, 2, 3, 4 – Plain White T’s
77. Good Day for Marrying You – Dave Barnes
78. I Choose You – Sara Bareilles
79. You & Me – Dave Matthews Band
80. You And I – Ingrid Michaelson
81. When I’m Sixty Four – The Beatles
82. The Way You Look Tonight – Michael Buble
83. The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson
84. That’s Amore – Dean Martin
85. Sweetest Thing – U2
86. Sweet Pea – Amos Lee
87. Sweet Honey – Slightly Stoopid
88. Stuck Like Glue – Sugarland
89. Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
90. Say Hey (I Love You) – Michael Franti & Spearhead
91. My Best Friend – Tim McGraw
92. Kiss Me – Sixpence None The Richer
93. I Do – Colbie Caillat
94. Homegrown Honey – Darius Rucker
95. Good Life – OneRepublic
96. Cuts Like A Knife