A Giant Wedding Cake Cutting... And Advice For Cake Cutting Photos

Make no mistake: cake artists are artists. The better ones - of which there are a few in the New York area - sculpt exquisite masterpieces out of sugar. It's almost a shame to cut into those statues of sweetness.

This (exclusive) photo (below) of New York Giants great Darius Slayton and Olympian Anna Hall cutting into their wedding cake during their OHEKA CASTLE wedding is the kind of [cake cutting] image we love; The couple is gorgeous. You can see their joy. The bride slipped into a different dress (by Oscar de la Renta) for this portion of the wedding. The jewelry - including the brand new wedding rings - are totally visible. And the elegant Lambeth style wedding cake by cake artist Daniel Andreotti is completely in focus.

We love publishing photos of cake cuttings in our magazine. Unfortunately, we see far too many images of a cake cutting that are ruined because the cake - that sacchariferous sculpture - is not in focus. There are several reasons how this pictorialistic perversion can occur. First, sometimes the cake cutting ceremony can be a bit rushed. Not every bride and groom have a good camera sense. Another reason for the blurry is the photographer is focusing on the couple, who are on a plane just behind the cake. There is a simple fix for this: the photographer just needs to back up. However, that is not always possible.

The cake cutting ceremony comes towards the end of the wedding's reception. By then, a large portion of the celebration's guests have had a bit to drink and are quite... happy. And, in their happiness, they rush the bride and groom to get their own pictures, forgetting that their iPhone photos are not quite as important as those captured by the professional wedding photographer whom they have blocked out.

This brings us to the wedding planning lesson of the day: if you love cake as much as we do, and your photographer's images of your cake cutting ceremony are important to you, arrange ahead of time to have one of your venue's staff or a member of your planner's team be your cake bouncer (of sorts) and ensure nothing about that moment is out of focus.