Hi everyone – your guest blogger again…
I wanted to follow up Anjani’s previous post with one that focuses on a specific aspect of the weekend, and a significant decision resulting from it – THE CAKE.
As she mentioned, we went to 2 cake tastings over the weekend. The first of them was fairly forgettable while the second was a great experience. If you’re a cake aficionado and care about “spending more to get more” in the SoCal area, I would strongly recommend working with Linda at The Cake Studio. Anjani, myself, and her parents had a great experience there – she is truly an artist and her cakes are phenomenal. Anjani and I both agree that the reason her cakes taste so wonderful is that she admits to never being trained in classical bake tasting. She just works with what tastes great, and boy did they taste great – and this is from 4 people who really don’t love cakes at all anyway. Especially fondit – oh man, why did they create this atrocity???
Anyway, she is also a truly creative person, which worked so well for us and our approach to everything. She immediate took out a pad of paper and started sketching ideas for not only the cake, but the table as well. We were truly having a great time working with her.
Her price was quite expensive, but in this case I feel confident about saying “you get what you pay for.” Seems truly worth the cost.
But that’s just it. It is a high cost.
When we got back in the car, I looked at Anjani and here was our dialogue:
Saurab: Can I ask you a hard question?
Anjani: Yes…
Saurab: Do we really need cake at all? Indians prefer Indian desserts anyway and none of us even like cake. Wouldn’t it just be a waste of money?
Anjani: No. We need cake. I want the picture.
Saurab: You want to spend $XYZ for a picture?
Anjani: Ummm…
Well, now the door was open for a full-on discussion! Anjani’s father then made a great point – why not find out why people have cake and cake-cutting at weddings in the first place? If it makes sense to do it, then we should do it. But if there is no real purpose, then why waste the money?
…Anjani was still skeptical, but I knew I had a chance…
I immediately pulled out my trusty Blackberry and got to work. Besides finding a history of cakes which includes breaking cake over the bride’s head for fertility purposes, we found two main purposes behind the cake (beyond just being dessert):
1) The cutting of the cake is the first real “task” that we do together as a married couple
2) The feeding of the cake signifies the act of “providing for each other”
Ok, something to work with. In terms of item #2, well, Indians do that on the mandap as part of the wedding already (we feed each other a sweet). So no need for a cake ceremony to do that!
In terms of item #1, was it really worth $XYZ, or could we come up with another “task” to take its place – one that could result in an equally interesting picture and a significantly reduced cost. And one that is more meaningful to us.
I could tell Anjani was starting to be converted, if we could come up with a great idea.
Which…we did.
Which is…sorry, I won’t share just yet.
When we reviewed this whole discussion with Amy, she seconded the motion, suggesting a few things:
1) In her experiences, there are several Indian weddings without cake, and, provided there are Indian desserts, no one noticed
2) Even when there was cake, she mentioned an occasion in which the cake was set on a table next to the Indian desserts, and not one person took cake!
Wow, truly not an effective use of money indeed!
…Anjani was finally sold…
NO CAKE FOR US.
We’re just going to have to be happy with GULAB JAMUNs, RASGULLAHs, and RASMALAI. YUM.
And we couldn’t be more excited about our surprise activity in lieu of cake.
So, to our readers (especially Indian couples), I would say this – ask yourselves why you want a cake. If you truly love cake and think your guests will as well, then, by all means, follow your heart. But our experience (and others’, evidently), show that you don’t really need a cake – don’t spend the money just because you think you have to!
Hope this helps…stay tuned for more posts from your guest blogger!
I wanted to follow up Anjani’s previous post with one that focuses on a specific aspect of the weekend, and a significant decision resulting from it – THE CAKE.
As she mentioned, we went to 2 cake tastings over the weekend. The first of them was fairly forgettable while the second was a great experience. If you’re a cake aficionado and care about “spending more to get more” in the SoCal area, I would strongly recommend working with Linda at The Cake Studio. Anjani, myself, and her parents had a great experience there – she is truly an artist and her cakes are phenomenal. Anjani and I both agree that the reason her cakes taste so wonderful is that she admits to never being trained in classical bake tasting. She just works with what tastes great, and boy did they taste great – and this is from 4 people who really don’t love cakes at all anyway. Especially fondit – oh man, why did they create this atrocity???
Anyway, she is also a truly creative person, which worked so well for us and our approach to everything. She immediate took out a pad of paper and started sketching ideas for not only the cake, but the table as well. We were truly having a great time working with her.
Her price was quite expensive, but in this case I feel confident about saying “you get what you pay for.” Seems truly worth the cost.
But that’s just it. It is a high cost.
When we got back in the car, I looked at Anjani and here was our dialogue:
Saurab: Can I ask you a hard question?
Anjani: Yes…
Saurab: Do we really need cake at all? Indians prefer Indian desserts anyway and none of us even like cake. Wouldn’t it just be a waste of money?
Anjani: No. We need cake. I want the picture.
Saurab: You want to spend $XYZ for a picture?
Anjani: Ummm…
Well, now the door was open for a full-on discussion! Anjani’s father then made a great point – why not find out why people have cake and cake-cutting at weddings in the first place? If it makes sense to do it, then we should do it. But if there is no real purpose, then why waste the money?
…Anjani was still skeptical, but I knew I had a chance…
I immediately pulled out my trusty Blackberry and got to work. Besides finding a history of cakes which includes breaking cake over the bride’s head for fertility purposes, we found two main purposes behind the cake (beyond just being dessert):
1) The cutting of the cake is the first real “task” that we do together as a married couple
2) The feeding of the cake signifies the act of “providing for each other”
Ok, something to work with. In terms of item #2, well, Indians do that on the mandap as part of the wedding already (we feed each other a sweet). So no need for a cake ceremony to do that!
In terms of item #1, was it really worth $XYZ, or could we come up with another “task” to take its place – one that could result in an equally interesting picture and a significantly reduced cost. And one that is more meaningful to us.
I could tell Anjani was starting to be converted, if we could come up with a great idea.
Which…we did.
Which is…sorry, I won’t share just yet.
When we reviewed this whole discussion with Amy, she seconded the motion, suggesting a few things:
1) In her experiences, there are several Indian weddings without cake, and, provided there are Indian desserts, no one noticed
2) Even when there was cake, she mentioned an occasion in which the cake was set on a table next to the Indian desserts, and not one person took cake!
Wow, truly not an effective use of money indeed!
…Anjani was finally sold…
NO CAKE FOR US.
We’re just going to have to be happy with GULAB JAMUNs, RASGULLAHs, and RASMALAI. YUM.
And we couldn’t be more excited about our surprise activity in lieu of cake.
So, to our readers (especially Indian couples), I would say this – ask yourselves why you want a cake. If you truly love cake and think your guests will as well, then, by all means, follow your heart. But our experience (and others’, evidently), show that you don’t really need a cake – don’t spend the money just because you think you have to!
Hope this helps…stay tuned for more posts from your guest blogger!
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