Symbol
The most conspicuous ritual of a wedding ceremony is cutting of the wedding cake. It is the first task of the bride and groom together as husband and wife and symbolizes the future to be shared between the couple from that day. The early Roman practice of breaking the wedding cake over the bride’s head symbolized the breaking of her virginal state. There used to be demands amongst the guests for eating the crumbs that would fall on the ground with the idea that such consumption would ensure fertility. One old custom involved piling of sweet buns of some height before the wedding couple who had to kiss the pile. Their success in this venture would symbolize bearing of many children by the bride in future. Wedding cakes are usually preferred to be white, a color that represents purity.

History And Tradition
The interpretations of the cutting of the wedding cake normally by the bride with the groom’s help are many. Fertility, first act together, first meal together, beginning of a life together or simply end of the wedding ceremony. The earlier practice of breaking the cake over the bride’s head was gradually replaced with a more sober ritual of cutting the cake. Distribution of the pieces of the cake to the guests is a practice handed over from the Roman era. The first slice is eaten by the couple by feeding one another again as a symbol of committing to provide for each other in the married life.

Photographic Opportunity
The momentous event of cutting of the wedding cake by the couple provides an opportunity for freezing these moments in the photographic frames to cherish through posterity. In modern marriages, photography thus plays a pivotal role in the wedding ceremonies to capture the celebrations an important part of which is cutting the wedding cake.

Songs
Singing songs during wedding cake cutting has also become one of the established rituals. Most popular in this respect is the cake cutting wedding song “Everlasting Love” by Natalie Cole.

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