If the thought of standing in front of your wedding guests with your perfectly coiffed hair, flawless makeup, and stunning gown, and having your new spouse smash cake into your face sends shivers down your spine… a wedding cake smash is most definitely not for you.
Usually relegated to the realm of first birthday photography, where the birthday boy or girl is let loose on a brightly iced cake and the delightful results are captured, more couples are requesting an extra cake from their wedding cake supplier, specifically to do a wedding cake smash with.
The results are hilarious and add another dimension of fun to weddings by surprising guests, who might be expecting the more subdued ‘feeding’, where couples offer each other a bite from the first piece cut from wedding cake.
Because it takes place when the cake is cut, towards the end of the formalities of the reception before the party starts, it’s the perfect time to let loose and get a little messy. But is a cake smash for you? Ask yourself these questions.
Is your partner on board?
Cake smashes can be a lot of fun, but ONLY if both parties know that it’s coming and are both prepared to participate. Try smooshing cake into the face of someone who is not expecting it – especially at an event as important as their wedding day – and it could go one of two ways. They could roar with laughter, once the shock wore off, and then chase you with an even bigger piece of cake. Or, they could get red hot mad at you, feel humiliated, and you can kiss goodbye to romance on your first night as a married couple. (But we all know what REALLY happens on your wedding night anyway).
Can you have your makeup messed up?
If you want to remain looking the picture of perfection from the start to the very end of your wedding day – a cake smash is not going to help you reach your goal. Remember, though, that you can always keep an emergency makeup kit in one of your bridesmaid’s handbags and excuse yourself to the powder room for a little touch up once the smash is over.
Would you laugh at photos of your partner palming you in the face?
Cake smash photos can be hilarious to look at, and even more fun for photographers to take, but inevitably there is a shot where your partner has their hand spread across your face, while your head is as far away from your body as humanly possible as you try to escape the incoming cake. There are a lot of cake smash photos online that illustrate a double face palm, where you’ve both gone in for the attack simultaneously. Yes, they make people giggle, but you need to first be prepared for those photos to be seen by other people!
Can you agree on the level of smashing?
Not all cake smashes have to involve the aforementioned face-palm attack. If you trust each other, you can agree to a more controlled cake smash, where you might just smear a little buttercream around each other’s mouths or pop some on each other’s noses.
Do you have someone who is prepared to be on crumb duty?
This duty may fall to your maid of honour or best man, but you will need to have someone on hand who agrees to give you the once (or four-times) over to make sure as many of the cake crumbs and clumps of icing are off your face and out of your hair. They may also need some paper towels and a bowl of water if you managed to get cake all over your wedding gown or suit as well.
Are you prepared to let loose and do a wedding cake smash?
A wedding cake smash is all about unleashing your inner child, so you need to feel relaxed enough to roll with it and have fun. If you’d rather stick with the more civilised and traditional sharing a bite of cake, then go with what you are comfortable with.
What happens at a billionaire’s wedding? 
The world’s most expensive weddings 
14 paper gift ideas for your first anniversary