Unusual Wedding Cake Toppers

Tanya-I agonized over the name for ages then it just popped into my head! I wanted a name with an English/French combination as I am English and live in France.

Lorelie-I have seen unusual wedding cake toppers before and even jeweled crowns, but not quite like yours. I absolutely love the idea and would like to know if you could tell my readers how this idea came about?

Tanya-A new interest of mine was making collages using metal leaf, sequins, glitter, crystals and playing with and exploring other luscious materials that were new to me.

I saw a collection of beautiful wedding cakes at a wedding fair and I was hooked! I could see the potential for unique decorations to “crown“ these splendid cakes using my collage making techniques.

Lorelie-I see that you are an artist, can you tell us more about your creative endeavors prior to starting this business, or of other similar interests?

Tanya-I have been a professional artist for more than 20 years, going to art school as a “mature” student when I was thirty. I left as a botanical illustrator but this did not come naturally to me so it wasn’t long before I was painting big floral watercolors with very decorative back grounds.

My work was noticed by CCA galleries London who gave me my first solo show and published my work as fine art silk screen prints. I continued to exhibit in the UK in both solo and mixed shows as well as supplying a Japanese gallery and traveling extensively throughout Japan exhibiting my work, meeting the Japanese people and having my photograph taken !!!

My work has been published as greeting cards, calendars, book covers and posters amongst other things.

Lorelie-How exciting to be commissioned to do the Marie Antoinette inspired cake. It certainly is a unique and unusual wedding cake topper. Can you tell us about it?

After this, armed with sketches and notes I felt confident that I could capture the essence of Kelly’s brief. I roughed out a couple of ideas and via the internet Kelly and I arrived at the final design.

Lorelie-Do you have a favorite or most memorable cake crown topper? Why is it special?

Tanya-Commissioned by Squires sugar craft I think Millefleurs is one of my favorite designs. I had the idea for it but wasn’t sure how I was going to achieve it and I spent ten days solid resolving the design getting through lots of tulle in the process!!! The back view of a Crown Topper is as important as the front view and both sides of the design need to work together. This was tricky with Millefleurs as the addition of tulle (netting) stands above the Crown support and combining the two parts neatly to arrive at a seamless “join” at the back of the topper was critical.

Tanya Does More Than Just Unusual Wedding Cake Toppers

Tanya-These came about when I was making the Taj Topper for Helen Penman, an English cake maker. She wanted to divide the cake to give it an architectural feel by using cake pillars so it seemed natural to disguise the cake pillars with a matching design to the Topper.

I think cake pillars and divider covers are going to be popular as they can add another dimension to a cake and you can use any existing pillars you already have as I can design covers to fit so endless possibilities there.

Lorelie-Can you give us a little tidbit about your self personally, something that my readers would find interesting.

Tanya-This is not that interesting! But it’s a fact I am a very very untidy worker! I have a huge table top to work on and I always end up working in a tiny space surrounded by a myriad of materials. We all carry glitter on our clothes or our fur (three cats) - it’s everywhere……….. which is nice. Hugh my husband doesn’t agree!

Lorelie-Is there a reason that you chose to live in France?

Tanya-France has space! In the UK we were very cramped and our studio space was small but here we have three studios - one each and a spare! We also have a big garden where we grow vegetables and house two hens. France is a beautiful country and this part of the Loire has a gentle landscape covered with vineyards ………….need I say more.