In today’s Lifestyle post we showcase the Top 4 most expensive wedding cakes of our time, check it out…

If you’ve watched Four Weddings SA on Lifetime, then you know some couples just love extravagant and outrageous wedding ceremonies. From designer wedding gowns to ornate flower arrangements, some weddings are filled with extreme costs, with the receptions just as over the top as the ceremony. Special care is given to exclusive locations and one of a kind décor; food is prepared by celebrity chefs and no expense is spared on serving vintage champagne. And while these lavish expenses create a luxurious celebration for all to remember, they come with a hefty price tag. Catering and drinks alone can cost millions. So can the band, the décor, the table arrangements, the giveaways and – of course – the wedding cake.

For some, the wedding cake has to shine just as brightly as the bride’s ring. After all, the wedding cake is often the focal piece for which the entire colour scheme and theme of the reception is based. Some couples choose a cake that is over three metres high, some festoon their cake with thousands of exotic flowers and some even choose to add dazzling diamonds to their confectionery masterpiece. From hundreds of thousands to millions of Rand, these wedding cakes are the four most expensive to date – in ascending order.

4.

Days before the royal couple exchanged vows, cake designer Fiona Cairns was working to transport the cake from her bakery and then assemble it in Buckingham Palace. When completed the architecturally inspired masterpiece consisted of eight tiers of fruitcake that were covered in cream and white icing.  A variety of 17 different kinds of flowers, each with its own symbolic meaning, were elegantly replicated into a sugar-paste flower and then added to the cake. English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil, and Irish shamrock to feature the home nations were displayed on the seventh tier.  Just below, on the sixth tier was a scrolling artistic display of the couple’s initials surrounded by sugar-pasted lily of the valley flowers to symbolize sweetness and humility. When completed, the cake was adorned with a total of 900 sugar-pasted florals and placed in the picture gallery of Buckingham Palace to await the royal couple’s cutting of the wedding cake. The bill – a cool R1.1 million.

3.

In 2010, the Dallas Bridal Fair displayed a nine tiered masterpiece that was created by Dallas’ Delicious Cake in conjunction with the Dallas Gold and Silver Exchange. Covered in ivory fondant and detailed with scrolling lines of silver ‘lustre dust’, the cake weighed over 72kgs. Strings of diamonds were draped along the nine tiers and as a final touch large diamonds and sapphires were placed along the base of the cake. In total the cake was decorated in 1,200 carats of diamonds and sapphires. With a total price of R18 million the cake served 320 people … or about R43, 000 a slice!

2.

The Luxury Bridal Show in Beverly Hills, California displayed a cake created by cake designer Nahid Parsa of La Patisserie Artistique. Thick creamy white frosting covered the top of the cake and heavy ivory fondant covered the lower tiers. The middle tiers were coated with satin like ruffles and pastel flowers and the lowest contained small gold flakes. But what made this wedding cake a million dollar confectionery masterpiece were the large diamonds elegantly placed from top to bottom. While this wedding cake was visually stunning, what it tasted like is still a mystery. The guests of the bridal show were not able to eat, or even come close to the cake as it was surrounded by six armed guards. Final cost R276 million

1.

Created by Cake, a bakery in Chester, England, the world’s most expensive  wedding cake was valued at a whopping R728 million! The edible masterpiece was on display at the National Gay Wedding Show in Liverpool in March 2013, and consisted of eight tiers of white fondant icing, adorned  with 4,000 diamonds.  After the event concluded the guests were able to eat the sparking masterpiece.  Sans diamonds of course!