Recreate celebrity wedding cakes looks

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Experts say it is possible to recreate the look of a celebrity wedding cake for a bride on a budget.

News 4's Melissa Holmes talked to the experts and got some great secrets to getting a beautiful wedding cake without breaking the bank.

Take a look at the cakes from Butterwood in Williamsville, that are in the attached picture. They look similar and both feed about 100 people, but one is a couple hundred dollars, and one is more than a thousand. The difference? Beautiful but inexpensive fresh flowers vs. delicate gumpaste flowers made by a sugar artist.

Owner of Butterwood, Claire Bacon said, "She creates each by petal by hand and then paints them. Wires the flowers together into these beautiful bouquets. It's a painstaking process and they truly are a work of art."

Two other cakes also have a similar look, but one is more simple and budget friendly and Claire Bacon says the detailed piping on one makes it much more expensive.

Bacon said, "The more intricate the designs, the more time consuming it is, that is what you're paying for. You're paying for people to really spend a lot of time to create an edible work of art for you."

This is the cake Holmes wanted Butterwood to create for her and this was my real cake created for a fraction of the cost. The savings came by going round instead of hexagon, using buttercream frosting rather than pricey fondant, and buying the sugar snowflakes online rather than paying a lot to have them made by hand. Finally, rather than adding expensive layers to the cake, we used sheet cakes to feed our guests.

"That is the most popular way to save money on wedding cakes," Bacon said.

One more piece of advice, dressing up the table, will dress up the cake.

Bacon said, "We tell brides to treat the cake table like an whole vignette. Especially because that's always going to be a vertical shot of you and your new husband cutting the cake."

How much did Holmes spend on her cake would you believe $150? Her reception site, the Millennium, actually includes the Butterwood wedding cake in the package. She knows Rich Renaissance does the same.

She just had to pay for the sugar snowflakes and a few other minimal charges for the cake. So the deals are out there, you just need to look for them.