The History of Wedding Cake Toppers

The wedding cake is one of the most memorable aspects of the glorious day. Small, medium, or even 3-Tier, there is a desire to find the perfect “topping” for this beautiful cake. Enter the “wedding cake topper”. What started as a very simple idea and design has developed and evolved over the years. In the article we will be discussing a bit of the tradition and background of wedding cake toppers, the various types, and where you can obtain some of the most popular ones.

To start, how about a “formal description”? A wedding cake topper is a small figure or model, often made out of light-weight plastic, that sits on top of a wedding cake. It normally depicts the bride and groom, often in formal wedding attire.

Now that we know what they are, let’s look into the history of how these little items came to become situated on top of a wedding cake. While we have no validated records of the actual first time that either a figure or a model were put on top of a wedding cake, it is known that the tradition dates back to well over 100 years ago.

One possible rendition goes as follows… The daughter of a baker was getting married, and she asked her dad to make a token of the love that she and her future husband felt for each other…one that the whole world could see. Her dad thought and thought, and tried several things, but then came up with the idea of putting two small figurines on top of the wedding cake he was baking for the glorious event. These figurines, depicting his daughter, and her future husband, would be a testament of their love.

As previously stated, there are no records to verify this actual event, but around this time, and possibly from such humble beginnings, the idea of putting a topper to a wedding cake started.

Let’s fast forward to the 1950’s. The war was over, the future “baby boomers” were being born, and the topper was as popular as ever. In the years since then they have continued to grow in popularity, and with the modern era new types and styles have developed. For example, you can now get wedding cake toppers where the bride and groom are of different races, and same sex wedding cake toppers as well.

A little cottage industry that develops “humorous” wedding cake toppers has developed and grown as well. In one figure, the bride is grabbing her groom by the leg and dragging him back to the altar. In another model she is grabbing him by the coat as he tries to flee for his life.

In yet other examples of variations on the theme, it is possible to locate toppers with the initials of the happy couple, and even those that have special sayings such as “Two Hearts Beating as One”.

If you would like to see examples of some of the more popular toppers, or where you can obtain these wonderful little items, check out the blog: www.specialweddingcaketoppers.com