The New Wedding Trend: Smaller Cakes, Bigger Personality

For years, the towering multi-tier wedding cake was considered a staple of the wedding reception. It was photographed, admired, ceremonially cut, and often left with plenty of leftovers at the end of the night.

Today, couples are switching it up.

Across Chicago and beyond, more couples are choosing smaller, more intentional wedding cakes instead of the traditional three-tier centerpiece. Rather than spending hundreds (or thousands) on a large cake designed to serve every guest, many couples are opting for a simple 8" or 10" cutting cake and supplementing it with sheet cakes, cupcakes, cookies, or multiple small cakes in different flavors.

It's a shift that reflects a larger trend happening throughout the wedding industry: couples are focusing less on tradition and more on creating experiences that feel authentic to them.

Why Couples Are Moving Away from Traditional Wedding Cakes

The modern wedding couple is asking a simple question:

"Do we actually want this, or are we doing it because we're supposed to?"

For many, the answer is leading them away from oversized wedding cakes.

Smaller cakes offer several advantages:

• More flavor variety for guests

• Lower overall cost

• Less food waste

• Easier logistics for venues and caterers

• A more personal, customized experience

Some couples are even skipping the formal cake-cutting ceremony entirely. Instead, they're enjoying dessert stations, family-style sweets, or casually sharing a slice together without stopping the entire reception.

Just like weddings themselves, wedding cakes are becoming more relaxed, more personal, and more reflective of the people getting married.

A Chicago Favorite:
Jennivee's Bakery

One Chicago bakery that's become a favorite among couples is Jennivee's Bakery.

As a queer-owned and operated bakery, Jennivee's has built a loyal following through creative flavors, beautiful custom cakes, and a welcoming approach to celebrating all couples. During Pride Month especially, it's worth highlighting businesses that help make Chicago's wedding community more inclusive and vibrant.

Rather than pushing couples toward oversized traditional wedding cakes, bakeries like Jennivee's embrace customization. Couples can choose smaller cutting cakes, multiple flavors, cupcakes, and desserts that better reflect their tastes and their guests.

It's exactly the kind of flexibility modern weddings are embracing.

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The Same Shift Is Happening With Wedding Photography

The move toward smaller cakes is part of a broader trend.

Couples are increasingly moving away from wedding traditions that feel obligatory and toward experiences that feel meaningful.

We're seeing it with guest books, seating charts, and we're definitely seeing it with photo booths.

For years, photo booths have been a popular reception activity. But many couples are finding that standing in line for posed photos doesn't always fit the energy they're trying to create.

That's one reason roaming instant photography has become such a popular alternative.

Instead of guests leaving the party to stand in a booth line, an onsite event photographer moves throughout the reception capturing candid moments as they naturally happen. Guests receive real instant film photographs they can hold, save, and take home before the night is over.

The experience becomes part of the celebration rather than a separate attraction.

Why Couples Love Onsite Instant Photography

Just like the trend toward smaller wedding cakes, onsite instant photography focuses on experience over tradition.

Couples love that:

• Guests receive physical keepsakes immediately

• Photos feel candid and spontaneous

• There are no lines or waiting

• The photography happens naturally throughout the event

• The memories feel more personal than a standard photo booth strip

At Instant Photo Chicago, we often hear couples say they wanted something unique that their guests would actually remember.

The same way couples are choosing wedding cakes that reflect their personalities instead of wedding expectations, they're choosing wedding photography experiences that feel genuine to them.

Pride Month and Celebrating Authentic Weddings

Pride Month is a reminder that weddings don't have to follow a traditional blueprint.

Queer couples have long led the way in creating celebrations that prioritize authenticity over expectations. Today, many of those ideas are influencing weddings across the industry.

Whether it's choosing a smaller cake from a queer-owned Chicago bakery, skipping traditions that don't resonate, or replacing a photo booth with an onsite instant photography experience, modern weddings are becoming more personal than ever, and honestly, that's what makes them memorable.

Planning a Chicago Wedding?

If you're planning a wedding in Chicago and looking for a unique alternative to a traditional photo booth, Instant Photo Chicago provides roaming onsite instant photography for weddings, rehearsal dinners, cocktail hours, Pride Month celebrations, and corporate events.

Guests leave with real film photographs in hand, and couples receive an album full of moments that happened naturally throughout the celebration.

Because the best wedding trends aren't about doing less.

They're about doing what feels right for you.