why I {as a baker!} chose NOT to make my wedding cake

This post is a collaboration between myself and The Jenny Layne Bakery. I received free products in exchange for my work. All opinions are my own. #sponsored

I'm a baker and cake decorator, and I'm getting married soon... so it would only make sense that I'd make my own wedding cake, right? WRONG! Come read about why I {as a baker!} chose NOT to make my wedding cake.

Hi buddies and happy Monday! Valentine's Day is approaching quick, and since I'm in the middle of moving and have zero saved up Valentine's recipes for you {BAD BLOGGER!}, I thought we would talk about cake today! More specifically, wedding cake. Most specifically, why I am NOT making my own wedding cake! My wedding is coming up in March, and I have to admit I did initially consider making my own cake for the big day. I'm a baker! Who could I possibly trust to make a cake on one of the most important days of my life?! Well, turns out, that would be another baker. Let me explain...

I went back and forth a lot on whether I wanted to try making my own cake. Initially, I just thought about making a small cutting cake {just like my typical 6" minis} and serving donuts for the guests. So we would have a wedding cake for show and tradition, and I would make it which would be cute. However... I saw how annoying and time consuming it was to just make my own cake for my BRIDAL SHOWER. Which is like, absolutely nothing compared to a wedding. Though, honestly I had already made up my mind before that when my mom insisted we needed a bigger cake. Apparently this is her wedding. ????????‍♀️ But I appeased her. And so I knew there was no way I could make a big, proper wedding cake on the real day and still keep my sanity!

I looked in my area for top-notch bakers I could trust to make my cake, and I found Jenny Layne Bakery! I set up a tasting with her and off we went. She is honestly the sweetest person I have ever met, and absolutely everything I wanted from my wedding baker! Her cakes are absolutely gorgeous {just check out all the spectacular cakes in this post for proof} and most importantly - they taste GOOD. We tried 6 different cake flavors with 6 different fillings at our tasting, and it was all so scrumptious. We had to try really hard to narrow it down to 3 combinations for our 3 tiers! Whatever test had to be passed in order to be my baker, she passed with flying colors!

I requested 6 cake flavors to try from Jenny, but her menu is HUGE! If somehow you don't find anything you like, she can even make a custom flavor for you. We sampled the following: vanilla cake paired with cookies & creme filling, cinnamon swirl cake with caramel filling, coconut cake with blackberry cream cheese filling, lemon-raspberry cake with raspberry cream cheese filling, strawberry hibiscus cake with strawberry cream cheese filling, and chocolate cake with german chocolate cake filling. IT WAS ALL SO GOOD. You will have to wait until the wedding to find out what combination we picked though! 😉

As a fun bonus, she also gave us some of her other signature desserts as part of the tasting! We tried her classic chocolate chip cookies, Hello Dolly bars, fudge brownies {OMG so yum - but y'all know brownies are my favorite}, caramel bars, and turtle cheesecake. It was all absolutely delicious! We didn't need any of these treats for our wedding, but we definitely didn't mind the samples 🙂

So, all in all, here are the reasons why I {as a baker!} chose NOT to make my wedding cake!

1. I want to keep my sanity! Wedding day is already going to be a whirlwind, and I do not want to be stressing out about the cake as I'm trying to get ready and enjoy my day. Also - wedding cake deliveries are THE ABSOLUTE WORST. I know this from experience. I think I'd be freaking out just worrying that someone would drop it!
2. There are not enough hours in the day! The days leading up to the wedding will be super busy, between my family flying in from out of the country, Austin's family coming from out of town, my friends, the rehearsal dinner... the list goes on. I do not want to be holed up in the kitchen trying to bake and decorate a cake!
3. I am learning to delegate! THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT! I am now in the stage of wedding planning when everything is down to the wire, and time is literally money. I don't have to do everything myself. It's really acceptable and encouraged to not do everything myself. It's okay to let go and let other people do things {or PAY other people for their very good services to do things for you}!
4. Other people make dang good cake too! Jenny Layne Bakery is amazing and right in my neck of the woods, but there are incredible bakers EVERYWHERE eager and happy to help! Just make sure you do your research, and schedule a tasting so you can make a good choice and not be disappointed. I had tried some cakes at wedding venue open houses that were super dry, flavorless, and sad, and I was afraid to have a cake like this on my wedding day. There is no better way to find out than to reach out and try different bake shops!

Thank you SO MUCH to Jenny Layne Bakery {and Jenny!} for pairing up with me for this fun blog post and for my wedding day! I can't wait to share all my wedding cake details from the big day!

Check out The Jenny Layne Bakery's website for a full menu of their goodies, and look at all the beautiful cakes she has made!! I'm obsessed!