The ins and outs of the wedding industry can be difficult to negotiate, especially on a limited schedule. Unless the bride and groom have a raging sweet tooth finding a wedding cake often falls to the bottom of the list of priorities. Unfortunately, bakeries often have stringent requirements regarding wedding cake orders. With a little creative planning, however, you can usually find a wonderful cake in record time.

If you go to a bakery that specializes in wedding and specialty cakes it’s most important to drop the word wedding from all negotiations. Many bakeries want people to place wedding cake orders months in advance. If you say that the cake is for an anniversary celebration or a similar party you can get a similar style and quality cake in a fraction of the time. This will also bring your price down. For example, many wedding cakes are $5 a slice. You can easily find a cake that feeds 100 guests for under $200 if you do not specify it is for a wedding.

Getting a single tier cake. They take less time and bakers are more open to taking orders for them last minute.

Check out the bakery section of upscale supermarkets. You can find a perfectly good cake and add some extra decorations or fresh cut flowers.

If you get desperate call around to bakeries to see if they have a leftover wedding cake stored in their freezer. Make sure you do this at least 4-5 days in advance to allow you time to locate the cake and give it time to thaw.

Worse comes to worse, forget the cake. Not all of the guests eat wedding cake anyway. Cupcakes, brownies and sorbet have become increasingly popular wedding deserts.