Many couples today are opting for wedding cupcake trees in place of traditional wedding cakes in order to save time and money and add a little convenience to the cake serving portion of the reception. Since Wedding cupcakes don't have to be sliced up since each cupcake is an individual serving in itself. And since each is a miniature wedding cake on its own, guests can choose to take them home as favors and eat them later.
There is such wide array of tiered designs, tree stands and decorations that wedding cupcake trees can be as extravagant or as simple as you would design a traditional wedding cake. Also, each cupcake can be decorated to look like a miniature wedding cake on its own.
But are wedding cupcake trees really a cost savings over a traditional wedding cake? Actually, they can cost just about the same and they can even be more work, especially if you decide to get just as fancy with them as with a traditional cake.
Women who marry early are often overly enamored of the kind of man who looks great in wedding pictures and passes the maid of honor his telephone number.
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
Initially the cupcakes may cost less, as little as a buck or two per cupcake if you do them yourself, versus $3.25 and up per person or per cupcake, since each cupcake would be considered a cake serving. But obviously you don't want the same kind of cupcakes you'd serve at a birthday party.
So now your cake designer must do the work on a smaller scale, and more than once in order to decorate each cupcake individually instead of decorating one large cake one time or a few cake tiers. And then if you want any embellishments like fancy cupcake liners or special fondant icing, it adds more cost to the whole project.
Time and Convenience of Wedding Cupcake Trees
His courtesy was somewhat extravagant. He would write and thank people who wrote to thank him for wedding presents and when he encountered anyone as punctilious as himself the correspondence ended only with death.
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
You're now starting with several little mini cakes that have to be carefully arranged on the tiers versus one cake per tier that sits centered on its tier. And if your cake designer charges for setting up the cake, you may run into some added costs there as well with wedding cupcake trees versus a traditional wedding cake. If there is an additional charge for having the cupcakes set up for you, you can always ask your bridesmaids or family members to help arrange the cupcakes before the reception.
About the Author: Karen Musselman is the owner of Low Budget Fairy Tale Weddings, a site with ideas for couples planning their wedding on a low budget.