My Wedding Cake Is My Choice
When I told my mother-in-law I was baking my own wedding cake, she laughed like I’d just confessed to planning the reception in a parking lot. “You’re baking your own cake? What is this, a picnic?” she snorted. Then, with a pitying tilt of her head, added, “Well, I suppose when you grow up poor, it’s hard to let go of that mindset.” This, from a woman who’s never worked a single day in her life. Weekly salon appointments, designer handbags for “errands,” and the kind of person who calls Target “that warehouse.” Her husband bankrolls every whim. But my fiancé? He’s nothing like her. He’s proud, grounded, and has never wanted a cent from his father. So when he lost his job three months before the wedding, we made a pact: no loans, no handouts, no debt. We’d scale back and make it work. That meant I would bake the cake myself. Three tiers. Vanilla bean sponge. Raspberry filling. Smooth buttercream. Hand-piped florals. It took late nights, aching hands, and more test batches tha...