Ole Miss Groom's Cake

A perfect cake for University of Mississippi alumni, such as the groom of this Biloxi wedding reception held at the Slavonian Lodge. Groom's cakes are a great Southern tradition. While the main cake is usually instantly recognizable as a wedding cake, groom's cakes generally are given much more design freedom. The cake will typically represent something significant about him, such as his interests, occupation, hobbies, or, as in this instance, his alma mater. As a wedding photographer in Mississippi and New Orleans, I get to see a great number of groom's cakes, and I love seeing these bakeries outdo each other on a regular basis as they craft increasingly stunning creations from one wedding to the next.

Though this example is clearly a cake, there are others that are so outrageous looking, that they prompt comments of disbelief from guests who are not used to seeing something a cake in the shape of a football stadium, tackle box, shotgun, pot of boiling crawfish, audio mixing board, and so on. Two of the most outrageous examples over the years that come to mind are a detailed rendering of a set of human lungs (for a doctor who was a pulmonary specialist), and a 3-clawed sloth (for a groom who was in the exotic animal business).