I've been asked to do many, many different wedding cake designs in my life – it's what I do. I own the most successful bakery in this town. But when it was time to create this wedding cake design with this specific Bible verse requested from the bride, I can truly say I've never, ever, done a cake like this before.
Bible verses are a common thing couples like to add to their cake – whether it's their favorite verse as a couple, one verse they thought would fit into the wedding scene or one they just thought would look pretty – I've pretty much seen and done it all. Some of the most common ones we've done have been 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Romans 12:10 and Song of Songs 8:6-7 – the "typical" love Bible verses. The cake design? Gorgeous, one of my best works yet, including eclectic elements of painted buttercream florals and faux-stained glass sugar pieces. The bride? The sweetest they come, but a bit nervous and scatterbrained. How was the wedding? Simply stunning with a soft rustic feel and moody ambiance. Everything was ultimately perfect, until it came to everyone seeing the cake at the reception.
I'm going to stop right here to do a little clarification. Yes, before you ask, we did call the bride a week before her wedding to be absolutely SURE this was the verse she wanted on her cake, asking her if she specifically wanted that exact reference. And yes, we were actually very hesitant to even make the cake and bring it to the wedding, if I'm being honest.
About two months ago, back in April, the bride I've been talking about (we'll call her Mary, for privacy's sake) walked into our bakery nervous, fearful and looking for any way possible to help put her mind at ease. She sat down with one of my top bakers to discuss all of the details of her cake – flavors, color palette, overall design, and yes, even that Bible verse reference that quickly led to the verse that became the star of the show at her wedding reception.
When it came closer to her wedding day in June, we started constructing the cake, mixing colors and getting everything prepared to execute this edible masterpiece. I looked up the Bible verse reference that she gave us and instantly started laughing when I read it out loud, thinking to myself, "There's no way the bride wants THIS verse on her wedding cake." Like I said, we called her, clarified the reference and then proceeded with making her wedding cake, but she was acting very rushed and not intentionally listening to what we were telling her.
What is this infamous Bible verse, you ask? The verse we ended up putting on the cake was John 4:18, which says "For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband" – yikes.
What was the Bible verse she actually wanted on her cake? In an order to calm her nerves and fears about her wedding, the bride wanted 1 John 4:18 on the cake, which says "There is no fear in love; for perfect love casts out fear" – makes more sense, right?
What was the bride's reaction to it all? Considering the anxiety-filled journey she had to planning her wedding day, it's safe to say that she didn't take the news very well when one of her bridesmaids pointed out the verse reference to her. She instantly was able to detect the wrong reference because she was the one who helped the bride pick out the original reference in the first place!
How has business been since we made this cake? It's been pretty normal – we've actually seen a growth in humorous wedding cakes entering the wedding scene since this story went viral on Instagram after a post from a random guest, leding to local headlines and blowing up on all social media platforms. We've done a toilet paper cake for COVID-19 weddings, made Corona beer bottles for elopements, and even got asked to put this same Bible verse on a birthday cake for the bride as a prank from her now-husband (I'll just let you guess how she reacted to that).
A small word of advice: don't rush through your wedding planning, as every detail matters! Also, listen to your vendors, because we ALWAYS have your best interest in mind. From a baker's perspective, always tell us the text of your Bible verse, not just the reference, to avoid any confusion or wrong reference mishaps!
Author's Note: This story was based off of a fictional wedding urban legend called "Embarrassing Wrong Bible Verse on Wedding Cake," about a nervous and terrified bride that tells her caterers the wrong Bible verse she wanted on her wedding cake. In an attempt to calm her nerves, the bride wanted to put 1 John 4:18, which says "There is no fear in love; for perfect love casts out fear." Instead, in her rush and stress, she mistakingly told the bakery only the reference to John 4:18, a passage of Scripture where Jesus is rebuking an adulteress, which says "For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband." This legend illustrates the power of nomenclature, and how saying a wrong name of a book of the Bible led to a completely different outcome for the bride than intended. The intended passage of Scripture was supposed to come from 1 John (first John), instead of the Gospel of John. For my story, I chose to keep the storyline and Bible verses of the original legend the same, but I wrote the legend from the perspective of the owner of the bakery that made the wedding cake, rather than just talking about the legend. I wanted to make it first-person and kind of like they were writing their own blog about the experience in a narrative, with a little bit of humor, creativity and a unique perspective – I hope you enjoyed it!
Cover photo of a cake – Taken by Natallia Nagorniak on Unsplash
Story based off of legends taken from Snopes.com, "Embarrassing Wrong Bible Verse on Wedding Cake"