Cookie tables have taken Pittsburgh weddings by storm, but wedding cakes still remain in style. To keep the traditional cutting of the cake alive, these nine Pittsburgh couples opted for a wedding cake at their reception. Below are the newlyweds’ cakes to provide a little inspiration for your traditional dessert:

Madison Andreini and Christopher Bell
Bakery: Sweet Tarte’s Bakerie
Reception Venue: Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Photographer: Ryan Zarichnak Photography

Wanting to stick with her white color scheme, but looking for a “fun” twist, Madison Adreini opted for a funfetti cake filled with white chocolate buttercream and topped with white chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles. For the cake topper, the couple blew up a picture from their engagement photoshoot to make it look as though they are standing on top of the cake.

“I wanted a wedding cake because I feel like it’s just such a traditional staple of a wedding,” Madison says. “When you think of a wedding, you think of the dress, the church, the cake. If I didn’t have a cake, I feel like I’d be robbing myself of a major wedding item.”

Jaclyn Daher and DeVaughn Mitchell
Bakery: Jeanne Dumphy (Bride’s Aunt) and Sarris Candies
Reception Venue: Veltre’s Event Center
Photographer: Alison Mish Photography

What is better than one cake? Two cakes. Jaclyn Daher and DeVaughn Mitchell had a traditional white wedding cake with fresh flowers that matched the table centerpieces; it came in three separate, individual tiers, which made it easier to serve. For their second cake, as a nod to DeVaughn’s love for basketball, a Sarris milk chocolate cake was designed as a basketball topped with a heart.

Talia Tonti and Zac Albright
Bakery: Debbie’s Deluxe Cookies and Cakes, Bride’s Mother
Reception Venue: J Verno Studios
Photographer: Rachel Rowland Photography

On top of the 5,000 cookies Talia Tonti’s mother made for Talia’s cookie table, she also made a six-tier white cake with buttercream and raspberry filling and candied almonds. Special for the bride’s gluten-free diet, the top layer was made gluten-free for the cutting of the cake tradition. The third layer of the cake was a gold, geometrical frame and the other layers stuck to the theme with gold, geometric patterns painted over the white frosting.

“I did not want my cake to look like a typical wedding cake. It had to stand out and be different, and my mom succeeded,” says Talia.

Heidi Cain and Tom Sochacki
Bakery: Bethel Bakery
Reception Venue: Carnegie Music Hall Foyer
Photographer: Abbie Tyler Photography

In order to serve their 200 guests, Heidi Cain and Tom Sochacki opted for a five-tier cake. Each layer alternated between an almond cake with raspberry filling and yellow cake with cookies and cream filling. The exterior of the cake was decorated heavily with gold leafing at the bottom and moved in an ombre pattern up to the top.

Local wedding planner Sapphire & Lace designed flower arrangements of garden roses, spray roses, anemone with textured astilbe and greenery accents to cascade down the front of the cake. At the reception, the cake sat underneath a gold moon arch from Vintage Alley Rentals.

Katy Rosen and Amir Chalak
Bakery: Culinaire, Sarah Campbell
Reception Venue: Carnegie Music Hall Foyer
Photographer: Joey Kennedy Photography

Hoping to create an “elegant Beauty and the Beast ballroom feel,” Katy Rosen and Amir Chalak opted to have a gold and white four-layer cake, with every other layer featuring a spring flower design. The cake was an almond cake with layers of both raspberry and vanilla buttercream and raspberry preserves inside. To tie in the bride and groom, the newlyweds displayed their first initials in gold, sparkly lettering.

“We chose to have a cake because we feel that it is a nice American wedding tradition and we love dessert,” Katy says. “My husband is Iranian-American and in the Persian culture, they traditionally have a knife dance at their weddings prior to cutting the cake. We did this at our wedding, and it was really fun for the guests and to incorporate that aspect of his culture.”

Corinne Nunez and Bob Newman
Bakery: Bistro to Go
Reception Venue: North Park Rose Barn
Photographer: Graceful Fawn Photography

Perfect for brunch lovers, Corinne Nunez and Bob Newman held a morning ceremony followed by a reception with a bloody mary and mimosa bar to go with all of the breakfast foods a guest could desire. To stick with their theme of “everything brunch,” the couple had a waffle cake topped with whipped cream, blueberries and strawberries. In lieu of the cake cutting tradition, the pair drenched the fluffy cakes in syrup while “Pour Some Sugar on Me” played.

Taylor Gensler and Garrett Del Re
Bakery: Bethel Bakery
Reception Venue: Destiny Hill Farm
Photographer: Jessica Vogelsang Photography

For their wedding at Destiny Hill Farm, Taylor Gensler and Garret Del Re opted for a white almond cake with a strawberry buttercream filling and skim coat icing. Destiny Hill’s owner, Nancy Cameron, who’s also a florist, placed eucalyptus leaves, blueberries, black raspberries, and fresh flowers from Taylor’s ceremony bouquet on the exterior.

“Garrett and I both have a huge sweet tooth, so in addition to having a cookie table, which was predominantly made by the groom himself, we wanted to have a display cake so we could participate in the traditional cake cutting practice,” says Taylor. “We also look forward to being able to relive our wedding day on our one-year anniversary when we share in eating our wedding cake once again as a married couple.”

Dina Licata and Andrew Pirollo
Bakery: Bella Christie and Lil’ Z’s Sweet Boutique
Reception Venue: Pittsburgh Opera 
Photographer: Steven Dray Photography

Wanting a “unique cake that no one else would expect,” Dina Licata opted for a three-layer, hazelnut square cake made  with raspberry mousse and Nutella filling. The middle, black fondant layer displayed the couple’s first initials in golden lettering. Gold beads were placed on the first and third layers to tie in the elegance of the reception venue.

“We decided to do a cake to give another element of decor/design in the room as our look was modern Art Deco-inspired,” says Dina. “We had a lot of geometric shapes and patterns with a mix of blacks, whites, golds and emerald greens.”

Maureen Pallone and Sam Taylor
Bakery: Tasty Bakery
Reception Venue: Fox Chapel Golf Club
Photographer: Leeann Marie Photography

Maureen Pallone and Sam Taylor’s four-layer cake was not only designed to match the reception venue’s atmosphere, but also Maureen’s bridal party color scheme. The top layer was the couple’s favorite flavor of cake, red velvet, which they planned to freeze and eat on their one-year anniversary.

The bottom three layers were an almond cake with salted caramel in the middle and chocolate raspberry filling. Each layer had a different exterior design to make the cake stand out.

“I am a very traditional person and the cake has always been my favorite part of weddings,” says Maureen. “The cake is also a dessert that everyone likes, including my husband and me, which I think is very important while planning a wedding.”