40 Jaw-Dropping Wedding Cakes

Wedding cakes have come a long way from the classic, three-tiered creations, coated in white fondant frosting and topped with miniature figurines of the bride and groom. Wedding cakes are now considered to be an expression of the bride and groom's personality, hobbies, and taste. As a wedding centerpiece, these cakes are given as much thought, attention, and budget, as the dress, the flowers, and the meal. So it's no surprise that every year these sculptured creations become more and more extravagant.

With eight tiers, intricate decoration, and floating wings, this incredibly extravagant cake really does make our jaw drop. This has to be the most ornate wedding centerpiece ever.

If you're having a destination wedding, and will be reciting your vows on a sun-drenched, sandy beach on a faraway desert island, then this is the cake for you (assuming your desert island has a talented baker, that is). And if you just dream of having such a wedding, express your dreams — or maybe just anticipate the sunny honeymoon — with this seaside-inspired wedding cake.

Celebrate your spring or summer wedding with this floral cake. The golden bees buzzing around the sides are obviously as tempted as we are by the delicate, hand-crafted, sugar flowers.

For the adventurous, animal-loving couple, this cake is utter perfection. It's the perfect mix of cute, fairytale-ish, and romantic: We would love to live in this cake world, where giraffes live in campervans, and where campervans have wings.

This royal red cake was incredibly decadent before the fresh flowers were added. But the cascading red and pink blossoms, lime green leaves, and scattered petals transform it into an awe-inspiring wedding centerpiece. It's so beautiful that we can barely believe that it's edible.

This perfect naked cake is given an extra boost of energy and happiness thanks to the fluorescent neon pink, glittery decorations. The balance of bright and natural works perfectly to create a stunning, deceptively simple wedding cake.

For the Wild West-themed marriage of the wannabe cowboy and cowgirl, there could not be a more perfect wedding cake. This gorgeous cake really expresses the wedding's themes, and the real personality of the bride and groom.

At first glance, it looks like this cake appears to be covered in white rose petals — but amazingly, those rose petals are actually edible sugar petals, which have been iced by hand on to the cake. This is truly a piece of cake-decorator mastery.

This striking wedding cake will win every bride and groom's heart. Standing at almost five feet tall, made up of seven tiers, with a gilt base layer sitting on a wooden tree trunk, and decorated with golden stars, beautiful bouquets, and a fairy, this cake speaks of a magical married life in an enchanted forest.

This fairytale inspired cake is perfect for every imaginative couple who, now that they are married, are prepared to take on the challenges of the world together. As a team, this couple will definitely defeat the dragon, and will even be able to eat it too: the ultimate victory.

Embrace your inner child by celebrating your wedding with a tiered funfetti cake. This colorful cake, from Momofuku Milk Bar, is adorned with birthday cake truffles, and balances fun, childish, delicious, and romantic in a way we didn't know was possible.

This cake combines the fashion for a bare, unfrosted cake and an that for an iced metallic cake perfectly. The scatterings of gold leaf on the top two tiers create a vintage look, while the shining base provides a touch of bridal decadence.

It's almost hard to believe that this cake is made of sugar and not of gold. The intricate and subtle details are so perfect, and the simple white orchid decoration adds an extra romantic note to this incredible cake.

We know that you and your other half have just sworn to be lifelong partners for ever and ever, but that doesn't mean that you share the same cake taste. This cake shows the individual tastes of the bride and groom united in one beautifully balanced, and adorably decorated, wedding cake.

This cake gently moves away from the naked cake trend that we've seen so much of in recent years, to a barely frosted cake. It is covered in a beautiful woodland-inspired decoration made up of a thick spiral of leaves, flowers, evergreens, and ferns, which hides half the cake underneath it.

This bakery perfected the fashion for hand-painted cakes with this watercolor-inspired, flowery wedding cake. What would be a simple three-tiered cake is transformed into a work of art, thanks to the striking paint strokes.

This cake could not have been more suited to the Hawaiian wedding which it was designed and baked for. We still can't believe how realistic the bamboo wrapping around the layers is, and those exotic flowers really are a spectacular piece of sugar art.

This elegant wedding cake has been decorated with a stunning marble effect. It's almost impossible to believe that this intricate, swirled decoration is made of sugar, and not liquid dyes, on a breezy white fabric.

These towers of metallic macarons are definitely the chicest, most elegant variation on the classic wedding cake that we've seen this year. So understated, so simple, and so striking.

This stunning, colorful, hand-painted cake adds a touch of fiesta to your elegant wedding. If you're getting married in Mexico, or have even a hint of Mexican heritage, then you need this cake at your wedding reception.

This flower-covered, tiered wedding cake looks as if it's stepped straight out of a fairytale. Amongst the detailed bright flowers are hidden stunning, and tiny, butterflies and fairies. Cutting into this cake and destructing its dreamy exterior must have been challenging.

This seriously talented cake decorator has managed to deceive our eyes, and make us believe that the icing on the cake is actually delicately embroidered threads. The Mexican-inspired pattern is so pretty: No cake could be more suitable for a special summer wedding.

Wow your wedding guests with this bright, startling wedding cake. The blue ombré coloring means that this bold color is never too intense or over the top, and the ruffled decorating technique makes this cake resemble the rippling waves on a golden, sandy beach.

For the couple obsessed with star-gazing and the wondrous planets, this outer space cake must have been a dream come true. Sugar crystals and caramel popcorn make up the planet-inspired exterior as they sit on the lightly striped and marbled buttercream icing.

For the refined newlyweds, who only want a hint of fun at their grown-up, sophisticated wedding, this cake is perfect. The traditional white tiers are adorned with golden polka dots and perfectly crafted sugar purple roses, to add a modern touch to a beautifully classic cake.

This pretty, delicate cake was inspired by Disney's Cinderella. The blue colors and layers reflect the design of Cinderella's famous blue ball gown. This is the perfect cake for every woman who still dreams of living life as a fairytale princess.

The typical rainbow cake-colored interior has been transposed on to this cake's exterior tiers. With its intricate and bright stripes, this cake decorator has made a fabulously colorful wedding cake.

Ombré cakes tend to fit into the trend of rustic, boho-chic weddings, but this regal beauty uses the colorful trend to a very different affect. The monogram, clean lines, engraved floral pattern, and narrow shape, transforms this ombré cake into a wedding cake fit for a queen.

The fact that this cake is decorated with rhinestones is enough to make our jaw drop. These sparkling stones hang so elegantly on the buttercream frosting that it's hard to believe that this cake is real.

Cakes inspired by wedding dresses tend to be absolutely stunning, but this bejeweled wedding cake, which was inspired by the glittering sari this bride wore to walk down the aisle, really is perfection.

This wedding cake doubles up as a magic trick. The upside-down creation defies gravity as it swings from a chandelier suspended from the ceiling. It must have been tricky to cut into, but was definitely worth it for such a fantastic spectacle.

A slice of cake and a cup of tea are a match made in heaven, as this cake demonstrates. This carefully balanced cake takes us down the rabbit hole to the magical world of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatter's tea party.

For every couple having a winter wedding, add a touch of the season's festivities to your celebrations with this gingerbread-decorated cake. The smiling gingerbread men on top will make all your guests smile, and will be as tasty as they are cute.

This cake is all wrapped up like the most perfect wedding gift. The incredibly realistic, giant ribbons are so striking, as they seem to hold this textile-inspired, springtime wedding cake together.

The angled ridges and seemingly magically balancing decorations on this cake make it look like it really is defying gravity. Bright, neon colored tiers, and Technicolor '70s-inspired flowers give this cake a retro, festival feel.

This cake is so extravagant that it will make anyone's jaw drop. There couldn't be a more spectacular centerpiece for any wedding reception than this intricate, floral, nine-tiered cake.

This cake decorator deserves to win multiple awards for their incredible craft skills. A towering wedding cake has been transformed into a beautiful tree, with the couples initials engraved into the side. As if that wasn't enough, this cake appears to be balancing magically, as the layers zig zag unevenly from side to side.

This couple is literally tying the knot across the wedding cake, binding their two separate families together forever. We love the reverse colors on each cake, and the piped cake interior is simply brilliant.

If you're having a small, intimate wedding, a towering centerpiece can be just too much. This chic, stunning, single-tiered cake shows that simplicity is sometimes best.

It remains a mystery how this bride got into this edible dress, but despite its obvious impracticalities, we can't stop being in total awe of this strikingly beautiful, and tasty, piece of clothing.