Traditional Bride's Bread a Piece of Art

Before we had wedding cakes, people celebrated with wedding bread. I mentioned this in my post about the Evolution of the Wedding Cake Tradition and how the bread was thrown at the bride for good luck during the ceremony to encourage fertility! 

Later as this custom evolved, the groom broke the loaf over the bride’s head and showered her with crumbs for good luck. While many cultures transitioned from bread to sweet confections, wedding bread is still a beautiful tradition in places like Bulgaria, Russia, Ukrainia, Poland and Romania. When I say “beautiful,” I’m not just talking in a theoretical sense. This bread known as Russian karavay, Ukranian korovai, karavai, korowaj or kravai holds deep symbolic meaning, and unlike wedding cakes of today, can’t be bought (or at least not for those holding to tradition). 

Symbolic Meaning of Korovai Wedding Bread

For the sake of this post, I’ll choose the korovai spelling for this traditional bride’s bread. This ritual bread is the main symbol of the marriage ceremony no matter the order of events or the format of the wedding (church or civil). Its shape and decorations all hold symbolic meanings.

• Round shape represents the sun. In the ancient Slavic culture, the god of the son was the main deity and so the round loaf was one way to curry the sun god’s favor for a new family.
• Decorations adorning the loaf: Korovai loaves are decorated with dough decorations like leaves and flowers and traditionally included two rings or a pair of swans which represents loyalty in love. While it baked, wheat stalks and tiny viburnum twigs were added. The wheat symbolized prosperity and the viburnum represented love and children. And since the bread was thought to bring happiness, many times bigger was thought to be better because the larger the loaf the more happiness would be bestowed on the newlyweds.

Today, decorations include braided strips of dough, spiral shapes, and cutters are used to create flowers and heart shapes, and little bits of rolled dough form berries, along with other creative touches.

Eating Korovai

Traditionally the bride and groom were the first have a bite of the korovai, and then it was shared with all the guests. This distribution of bread to others represented sharing their happiness. As for the decorations, they were normally doled out to unmarried girls as a way to help fulfill their wish for family happiness in their own lives.

Who Makes the Bride’s Bread?

Traditionally, making korovai was a process that combined a number of ceremonies that could take days to complete. Singing songs and prayers were part of this ritual, and the use of specific tools like a traditional ceremonial millstone to grind the grain were all essentials. But besides the ceremonial rites and tools the thing that hasn’t changed is who makes the bride’s bread. The answer is: only married women…and not just married women, but married women who have children and strong family bonds. Only these women were trusted to make the dough because through the process it was thought that they were sharing their family happiness with the newlyweds..

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Photo credits: pixabay, mazovia.pl, garnek

From Bread to Tiered Cakes: The Fascinating History of Wedding Cakes

(Updated December 2025)

Wedding cakes are a centerpiece of modern weddings, but their history stretches back centuries. From humble loaves of bread to elaborate tiered confections, the evolution of wedding cakes is steeped in tradition, superstition, and symbolism. 

Karavay (bride bread) is still a Russian tradition.

Roman and Medieval Beginnings: Bread for Good Luck

Before sweet cakes became the norm, weddings were celebrated with unsweetened bread. In Roman times, bread was broken over the bride’s head during the ceremony to encourage fertility. Guests would scramble for crumbs, hoping for their own share of good luck.

In medieval Europe, this bread evolved into the Bride’s Pie, a mincemeat or mutton pie sometimes containing a hidden glass ring. The lucky finder was believed to be the next to marry. These early wedding foods emphasized luck, fertility, and social customs rather than sweetness.

The First Sweet Cakes: 17th–18th Century

By the 17th century, sweetened cakes appeared. Known as Bride’s Cakes, these were often simple flat plum cakes. Guests rarely ate them at the reception; instead, portions were saved for future celebrations, such as the bride’s anniversary.

During this era, two cakes were common: the bride’s cake (served to bridesmaids) and the groom’s cake (often rich fruitcake eaten by men). Customs like sleeping with cake under a pillow to dream of one’s future spouse were widespread.

The first sweet wedding cake was a flat one-tier plum cake.

Victorian Innovations: White Cakes and Tiered Designs

The 19th century brought dramatic changes. Queen Victoria popularized white icing when she married Prince Albert in 1840, establishing a symbol of purity that remains today. Wedding cakes began to take on tiered designs, sometimes with multiple layers for guests to admire.

Victorian traditions also included:

• Groom’s Cake: Rich, dark fruitcake often boxed for single guests.

• Bride’s Cake: Simple pound cake with white icing for the bridesmaids.

• Cake Pull: Ribbons with charms placed under the cake for guests to pull, predicting fortunes

“It's a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!”

In Victorian times, the wedding cake as we know it today became popular. It was at this time that the first white wedding cakes covered in white icing appeared. By this time, white had become the color that represented purity. However, they weren't called wedding cakes. Instead, they were known as the "bride's cake" with the bride elevated as the focal figure at the wedding. Charles Dickens' used this term in Great Expectations, which was written in 1861, when describing Miss Havisham's wedding cake.

Modern Wedding Cakes

Today, wedding cakes come in endless flavors, colors, and designs. Couples can choose multi-tiered masterpieces, personalized themes, or simple single-tier cakes. While the superstition of lucky crumbs may have faded, cutting the cake together still symbolizes a couple’s unity and shared future.

From bread thrown over the bride to elaborate tiered confections, the wedding cake has evolved into both a culinary delight and a cherished tradition. Whether you prefer classic white icing or a modern creation, the history behind the cake adds depth and meaning to every celebration.

 
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