Trying to keep everyone happy when planning your wedding can be difficult enough, without having to think about how to cater for different dietary requirements. In this article I will demystify dietary requirements when it comes to wedding cakes, and explain what to ask for when you talk to your designer.
Ask for Dietary Requirements Well in Advance
Planning a wedding is kind of like planning a dinner party for hundreds of people. Actually, it’s exactly like that. Imagine serving up a nutty chocolate wedding cake, only to discover one of your guests is allergic. Or including gelatine in your cake and discovering that your guests are vegetarian or stick to a religious diet. Make sure you’re aware of any considerations well in advance of your wedding so there are no surprises later on.
Religious Dietary Requirements
Most religious dietary requirements are to do with the preparation and serving of meat, so luckily you’re unlikely to run into problems when it comes to your wedding cake. However, check that the cakes are prepared in a kitchen that doesn’t also serve meat as a separate offering if you’re worried about staying Kosher or Halal, and make sure that there’s no gelatine in the ingredients. A good, common-sense rule is: if you’re not sure, ask.
Health and Lifestyle Considerations
We include dairy-free, eggless, gluten-free, vegan, fairtrade, vegetarian and diabetic options for our cakes. While not all cake designers advertise this, many will be able to tailor their ingredients to suit your dietary needs without compromising the taste or quality of your cake.
Allergies
Make sure you ask if any of your guests have allergies, and if they do to check with your designer that your wedding cake won’t be prepared in an area that has traces of the offending substance. If your cake includes something people are likely to be allergic to, like nuts, make sure you label it and let your guests know.
Mix It Up
If you have a gluten-intolerant relative, that doesn’t mean your whole cake has to be gluten free. You can ask for different tiers in different flavours, styles and with completely different ingredients. Just ask your cake designer to create a specific tier for that dietary requirement.
Guest post by Marie Sinclair of GC Couture
Image of Audrey Wedding Cake from GC Couture
