A wedding cake can be as simple or as extravagant as you like and accordingly can be relatively inexpensive or enough to break the bank.
The reason wedding cakes are often so expensive is due to the intricate work that is involved and the many hours of labor that are required to create the decorations.
For some people this is an expense that they feel is unnecessary and a simple cake or alternative form of 'symbolic food' such as a favorite dessert or something similar can be used.
More often than not however people prefer a traditional wedding cake and in keeping with the rest of the theme of the wedding it is generally decorated in colors similar to those of the flowers and any other decorations at the reception.
Certainly by reducing the size of the wedding cake it can help to keep the costs down and also by keeping the cake less intricate in its decorations you can save yourself a lot of money.
You can also use your flower arrangements or other forms of decoration that are more cost-effective to enhance the look of the wedding cake and keep the cake itself relatively plain and simple.
It really is a case of weighing up the expense with the importance that you put on the style of cake that you prefer and whether you can save money elsewhere to get the cake you desire.
Once again do your research and get some prices from various different suppliers of wedding cakes and also consider asking your friends and family if they know anybody who does cake decorating as many people do it for a hobby and will be only too willing to help out on the special occasion.
Often you can get somebody to create your cake for the cost of the materials alone and this can be their gift to you for your wedding rather than paying for something else.
One important thing that you must remember however is to check their work to see if it is up to a standard that you would be happy to have at your wedding and don't feel obliged to use their services if you aren’t satisfied.