Couples are trimming wedding budgets at the bakery counter, with Publix and Costco cakes standing in for custom tiers

The story

A custom wedding cake from a specialty baker can easily top $1,000. A half sheet cake from Costco runs about $30. For a growing number of couples, that gap is hard to ignore. The average wedding costs around $36,000, according to the planning site Zola, and inflation and tariffs have pushed up everything from catering to imported flowers and gowns. When couples sit down to decide where to save, the cake is often first on the list. About a third told Zola they would consider spending less on it. What they will not do is skip it. Lily Alana Stewart, who married in central Alabama last year, ordered hers from Publix and had the bakery work baby's breath into the design to match her venue. Her coworkers could not believe where it came from. The numbers back up the trend. A typical wedding cake slice costs about $5.50, while a Publix slice comes in roughly $1.50 cheaper. A chocolate fondant cake that serves 94 people is $388 in the Birmingham area, and stores there sell about half again as many wedding cakes as they did before 2020. Costco does not even market its sheet cakes for weddings, but they work out to around 70 cents a slice. You do give up some choice in flavors and decorations. Anna Holleran, who served Costco cake at her Bay Area wedding this year, says that was never the point. To her, the cake is about sharing something sweet with the person you love.