Modern Ombre Blush Pink Rosettes Buttercream Wedding Cake

The wedding cake is one of the most fun elements of any reception. It allows you to be creative and to express your point of view stylistically, and oh yeah, it also tastes great! Every year, intriguing new approaches to wedding cake design emerge. One of the hippest new trends right now is modern mixed pattern wedding cakes.

The mixed pattern wedding cake is a simple enough concept. Rather than having each tier of the cake look the same, couples are opting to do a different design on each layer. The result is fresh, fun, and funky. It looks absolutely contemporary, yet can be used with very retro or classic patterns. The best part of a mixed pattern cake is sitting down with your baker to decide which designs you would like to combine.

A wedding cake with a few different patterns on the tiers will allow you to put your own personal stamp on your reception, much like custom bridal jewelry does for your wedding attire. Just like with custom bridal jewelry, you can choose to go for a design which is classic with a twist or one that is totally unique. In fact, the bride's attire can be a great inspiration for the cake design. If you were wearing a lace gown, the top and bottom cake tiers could be decorated with a fondant “lace” design to match your dress, and the middle layer could be a crisp stripe design.

You can create something truly unique and exquisite when you combine patterns on a wedding cake. Inspiration can come from many sources, such as this mixed lace design cake based upon a very special lace dress.

Mixed pattern wedding cakes can also draw their inspiration from the wedding colors. Let's say that you were having a wedding based on one of this year's hottest colors, turquoise. From there, think about the overall tone of your wedding. If you want to make your cake more elegant, choose a turquoise and cherry red damask design mixed with medium width stripes. Or go with a summer tropical flavor, and make one tier a turquoise and fuchsia hibiscus print, one with lime and turquoise surfboards, and a third tier with a turquoise and white graphic wave pattern. The three designs are all funky and unique, yet will still have a nice flow based on one shared color and a common theme.

You can really have some fun using a mixed pattern wedding cake to represent both the bride and groom. For instance, if the bride and groom are graduates of rival colleges, they could each have one tier of the cake dedicated to their alma mater, and a third that combines the school colors of the newlyweds' colleges. If the groom went to Michigan and the bride to Ohio State, one tier could be done in the blue and gold of the Wolverines and another in Buckeye scarlet and gray. The third tier can be made using all four colors together. A great design concept would be to do horizontal stripes on one tier, vertical stripes on another tier, and then a plaid combining all of the colors for the final tier. Talk about unity!

Preppy gals have long adored combining different patterns in similar color palettes, so a mixed pattern cake is a natural for the preppy bride. Picture a cake created all in pink and green. You can have an argyle tier, a striped tier, and a polka dot tier. Or have one of your favorite Lilly Pulitzer designs used as inspiration for the largest tier, and accent it with a striped middle layer, and a monogrammed top tier. Sheer bliss!

The mixed pattern cake trend is so much fun that it is destined to become a big hit. The possibilities for creativity and personal expression are truly limitless. Why not get in on the fun and design a mixed pattern cake for your wedding this year?