The Wedding Cake: Origins, Meaning, and Its Connection to Flowers

The wedding cake isn't just the spectacular highlight of the reception. It's a ritual rooted in age-old traditions, rich in symbolic meaning, historical transformations, and profound connections with nature and flowers. In this article, we'll take you on a journey through time: you'll discover the origins of the wedding cake, its symbolic value, and the role flowers play in this sweet tale of love.

The ancient origins of the wedding cake

At weddings in ancient Mediterranean civilizations, wheat grains were thrown at the bride as a symbol of prosperity. Around 100 BC, Roman bakers furthered this custom, using the wedding wheat to bake honey and fruit sweets.

The rite of confarreatio

According to Lucretius (a Roman poet and philosopher), the custom of "confarreatio" (eating together) spread, a ritual during which sweets were first crumbled on the bride's head and then eaten by the couple as a sign of prosperity. This tradition of eating the crumbs of wedding cakes spread throughout Western Europe with the Roman Empire.

The Middle Ages and new wedding symbols

In the early Middle Ages the ritual of the wedding cake changed, raw wheat or rice was thrown to the bride, and the decorated cakes became simple biscuits made of barley or wheat flour brought as gifts by the guests.

Ordinary marriages and excellent marriages

While this happened in “common” weddings, in the more important ones, the invention of new dishes (nougat, tagliatelle) was a fitting way to celebrate a couple.

The birth of the tiered wedding cake

The wedding cake, as a triumphal architectural construction, is said to have developed among the wealthy classes from the 17th century onwards. The custom of piling up biscuits and pastries brought by guests to form a mound, the height of which corresponded to the future prosperity of the spouses, is believed to have been transformed from an ungainly "mountain" into a tiered iced cake, according to a French chef, after the mid-17th century.

Symbolism and codes of the modern cake

The symbolic canons of today's wedding cake originated in the late 19th century in Anglo-Saxon countries. The circular shape represents the celestial protection invoked upon the bride and groom, just as the ring symbolizes a never-ending promise.

Structure and symbolic decorations

The risers that support the various levels, or the layers that overlap, are a sort of ladder of married life, where the spouses face a journey of joys and difficulties together. The swans, usually placed at the top, represent the monogamous bond.

The first cut and the role of the bride

The wedding cake, brought whole before the wedding guests, should have the first cut started by the groom (with her hand placed on his) and finished by the bride. The wife should then serve the cake to her new husband, mother-in-law, mother, father-in-law, father, and witnesses, thus symbolizing her taking on the role of mistress of the new family.

The arrival of the wedding cake in Italy

In Italy, until the first half of the 20th century, the wedding cake tradition was not widely accepted, because the most "in" weddings of the time (royal or high-profile ones) concluded with a simple dessert. But since the 1950s, this type of cake has become the symbol of celebrations across all social classes.

A sweet... and floral ending

If you dream of a floral arrangement that perfectly complements your wedding cake, trust a floral designer who can create a sensorial and coherent design down to the last detail. Contact us today: we'll help you make your wedding unforgettable, even through flowers.