One of the most personal aspects of any wedding can be the wedding cake topper. With some creativity and ingenuity you can craft a wedding cake topper that is unique to the couple. Best of all these wedding cake toppers do not have to be elaborate or expensive to be highly effective. The first step in creating your own personal wedding cake topper is to really determine what the couple getting married is really like. What are their interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes? What do they do for their jobs, in their spare time or where do they like to travel? Do they have pets, kids or other significant figures in their life that should be included in the wedding celebration? What is the theme of the wedding? Are they having a traditional wedding or is this a unique and modern celebration? When you have determined a clear picture of who the couple really is you can then move on to design a wedding cake topper from one of the many crafts available. Here are some great ideas for wedding cake topper crafts-
• Fresh flowers-This is perhaps the most traditional wedding cake topper but there are many different ways to use fresh flowers on top of the wedding cake. You can choose flowers that have specific meaning to the couple (many online sites offer definitions of each flower) or choose flowers that reflect where the couple is from or where they like to travel. After choosing the appropriate flowers check out your local craft store for the floral wire, lace, ribbon, pearls (many can be bought in pin form and simply inserted into the arrangement) and floral oasis. Simply cut a piece of oasis large enough for the top of the cake. You can dampen the oasis to keep the flowers fresh but be sure not to overload it with water as you don’t want water seeping into the cake. Begin arranging the flowers into the oasis working to cover all of it. While you are placing the flowers work on weaving in ribbon, lace and even pearls for an opulent look. Do not worry about having everything perfect as flowers often look better in a more haphazard arrangement. When finished store in the refrigerator until time to place on top of the cake.
• Painted porcelain-This is a great way to easily make a unique and personalized wedding cake topper. Most wedding supplies companies offer unpainted and unfinished porcelain brides and grooms. And today you can even select brides and grooms who are in a variety of poses or are doing a variety of activities (golfing, tennis etc.). After selecting the figures that best reflect the couple than you can proceed to paint them. Craft stores carry a variety of paints that are appropriate for painting these unfinished figures. You can then personalize the figures with accurate hair and eye color, give them wardrobe that reflects the wedding attire and even make them lifelike with facial expressions. While this topper does require basic painting skills with only a little practice you can come out with a great result. Be sure to add a finish after the paint is dry so that the bridal couple can keep the topper as a memento of the big day!
• Clay-Another option for creating a great wedding topper is to use clay. Clay is easy to work with and best of all is very forgiving. You can simply start over if you are not happy with the resulting product. You can use clay to craft traditional bride and groom figures or go a step further and add things that are special to the couple. One couple recently had a wedding cake topper that had clay golf clubs (to reflect the groom’s favorite sport) and a replica of the couple’s dog (who they both loved). Clay can be easily painted and finished after drying and best of all shows off all colors really well.