Ever wonder where the iconic wedding cake shape came from? Well, some say it came from St. Bride’s Church. A few years ago, my husband and I got to do whirlwind tour of London as part of a cruise. One of the things we saw was this church, built by Christopher Wren, a noted architect of places like St. Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court Palace. I could write an entire blog just on his buildings. Wow.
This blog is about one church, though. Named after St. Brigid, who was also called Bride, it’s known nowadays for it’s shape, but has real staying power. I was reading through the history and it’s been around in some form or another for about 1,000 years. It was destroyed many times, most notably in the Great Fire of 1666 and the bombings of 1940. It was gutted then, but the main structure was saved and then rebuilt.
So how did wedding cakes get designed after this church’s spire? The story goes that in 1703 a baker’s apprentice named Thomas Rich fell in love with his boss’s daughter and asked her to marry him. In designing an extravagant cake for the occasion, he used St. Bride’s Church for inspiration.
How cool is that? The only picture I got was a bad one, so I’ve linked the picture above to the main site in case you’re interested in reading more about it.
Over The Backyard Fence 
Romanic, I took a look at the website.
I should have probably linked to the Wikipedia site, but I chose the main church site. It’s a cool story, though. Wish I’d had more time to blog more about it.
Fascinating. It’s always interesting to find out facts like this. I always get a little tingle when passing St Paul’s Cathedral on the bus when travelling through London. It’s an amazing building.
St. Paul’s IS amazing. I loved being there, even if it was only for a short time. To stand there, with all the history steeped in those walks and walkways…it’s awesome.
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing the history. I like learning new things!
Have you been to London, Valerie? If not, I hope you get to go one of these days.
No, I have not, but we really want to go there and Rome and Scotland. Maybe one day!
very cool little factoid. I Love it and I’ve seen that bldg. gorgeous! Jillian