Gluten Free??

These days it's no big really, there are a handful of gluten free bakers in most cities and push really comes to shove...I mean as in your last resort you could always do the equivalent of a "grooms cake" with a boxed mix and a tub of frosting.

Or as another alternative we have several friends who have various allergies coming to our wedding so we are doing our main cake (for cutting/ceremony) gluten free, a sheet cake for family who can eat gluten and baked apples (apples with cinnamon, brown sugar and margarine) for our friends with other allergies.

I would say it depends on what the selection is where you live. I live in a city that is very dietary restriction friendly. One of my favorite bakeries (as someone who is pretty anti-gf food) is a gluten free and vegan bakery. I would absolutely order a wedding cake from them. My DH who is pretty hard sell on that sort of thing is obsessed with this bakery too. If you have a place that makes GF cake that you love then go for it. I would avoid advertising to all guest that it is just because I feel people will be looking for a reason to dislike it, when if they hadn't known they would love it.

@Vanessa, she is not "doing anything" to her guests, a gluten free cake can taste just like a regular cake with exactly the same texture if her baker knows what he/she is doing.

@HisBeauty, just know that it may be MUCH more expensive. As a mom of 3 girls with difficult diets, I have 1 girl who is SEVERELY allergic to gluten (no celiac Thank God), 1 who is allergic to dairy and is a vegetarian (both are allergic to corn as well), and 1 who is a Vegan by choice, I know sometimes it is a major pain in the ASS to find something everyone can/will eat. However, if you are willing to just be patient and look around you will find something.

If you are looking for something possibly non-traditional "Nothing Bundt Cakes" has gluten free cakes that are AMAZING. They have little tiny bundts called "bundtini's" that are around $1.73 each that are all different flavors. Just an FYI.

Good luck in your search, and you do what YOU NEED to do. As long as it tastes great, and don't advertise it to everyone so they don't get it in their minds ahead of time that it will be gross, then you will be fine.

ETA: spelling

I will also have a gluten free cake but we are eloping so no guests. As the other ladies have said, there are so many gluten free bakers that do an amazing job I would not worry too much about it. My FH can't even tell when I pass him a GF treat and he loves desert! Just do tastings and find something that tastes great!

My fiancé has celiac disease so we chose to have a small two tiered gluten free cake and then did several other desserts for our guests that are not gluten free. I'm not gonna lie though, at the tasting the cake tasted completely normal to me. You just gotta find someone who is skilled at GF baking! The woman who runs our venue told us they had a couple who did an entirely GF wedding and that a lot of the guests didn't eat what they chose so I didn't want that to happen

The problem usually with bakers isn't not wanting to do gluten free the real challenge comes with keeping cross contamination of ingredients from happening. Plus getting the Almond or coconut flours in some areas are just not that easy to do.

We have a few family members that are GF and we opted to get a separate small GF cake for them.

I'm GF due to severe allergies. We are planning to do a much smaller cake on the side for me and a couple of other GF guests.

We are doing a small gluten free cake for me, (more like a cupcake!) I feel you on the stomach issues! But are doing a "normal" cake for everyone else.

@OP I had that a few years ago! Didn't know anyone else who has had that condition. Just keep in mind that there is a 50/50 chance of the condition being "cured". I still have foods that bother my stomach too, and I always watch for them when I cook or eat out. If you have those sensitivities I would absolutely look into having a cake that won't upset your stomach. That's not something you need on your wedding day! Good luck in your cake hunt!

I would look for a baker that will do a gluten feee cake. Honestly I've made and eaten them before and you can't even taste the difference, I doubt your guests would even know that the cake was GF. It's not like your serving faux meat or something.

This is one time where the adage "it's your wedding" is true. Your wedding cake shouldn't make you shit your brains out.

Advice for others:

It's your day (and dollar) so if you want to pay more for food that is already prohibitively expensive (check out the CBC Marketplace: wedding mark-up to see just how much they up prices when they hear the word, "wedding" and you will wish you had said "renewal of vows" instead!) or for a specific type of food, etc, go ahead. Your guests will figure it out and if they don't like it, they don't eat it - no big deal. You can't please everyone.

That said, when my ex-wife and I got married, we (grooms' family) overruled them on specialty diets which included vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, an open bar and a children's menu of chicken nuggets and hot dogs. We paid for a thanksgiving dinner buffet (it was in Oct so it was apt) that included some meatless dishes like potatoes but made no effort to make sure that the pans used for meat and meatless sides were separate. There were about 4 people who said they were gluten-free but as none of them have actual Dx's of Celiac, we told them that they'd have to either break their fad diet for a day or bring their own food. The problem with providing special plates was that A. they were $35/plate and B. if we provided one or two people with specialty plates, we'd be forced to provide everyone who asked with one - just to be fair. It's either all, or none.

As for the kids' menu... we just thought that was stupid. At the risk of sounding old, when I was a kid and you went to an adult function, you weren't given gift bags, a special table, toys to play with, permission to run around and talk or act stupid, it wasn't cute when you ruined the procession with a crying fit or yelled out something embarrassing, and a special kid-friendly menu was unheard of. You were told to sit your ass in a seat, eat what was given to you and say 'thank you', be quiet and act right, or you were punished. There was no reward for this task, either, except for an invaluable life lesson of how to behave like an adult. (Three children known for being terrible were so well-behaved that day that their own parents were surprised! One was autistic, and he sat still and quiet the entire time, without his toy cars which he was prohibited from using on any of the floors. Initially the in-laws and his parents wanted him to be able to play with them on the floor of the site of the ceremony, but I told them very firmly, "no", that's a trip hazard, a distraction and he's 9 - he can sit without toys. He actually had a great time and didn't want this toys even at the reception where he was allowed to use them on the table only after all the food was served. Instead he showed us all up by out dancing us. LOL.)

Point being - if you want to have it for yourselves, do it, but don't break the bank. They really do severely markup everything that has "wedding" attached to it. (Please, watch that clip!) and even the most basic of meals will cost you a min of $1,000 USD. Our wedding cake was a "cheap" $600 and it sucked. I would've baked a box cake had I known how terrible this woman was at making cakes. Most were $800 +. You will pay so many fees that you don't even realize - from the officiant to tipping the DJ, tipping the wait staff, bridal party gifts, insurance if you do have alcohol (open bar means you have to have insurance to cover yourself; if they get drunk and drive, or mess up the venue - you provided it so you are blamed), venue cleaning fee - plus whatever else you're planning that I didn't mention. It's nice to want to offer specialty plates but unless someone truly needs it (i.e. Celiac, diabetes), they need to eat whatever you provide in the way of normal food.