Ants in my Wedding Cake

Yes, I had ants in my wedding cake. Not many people can say that! I told you weird things happen to me all the time. It should have been a sign. (Grin.) Of course that is easy to say now that the marriage is over. Truthfully, it was my pride that took a hit that day. I’ll tell you what -- if there is anything that you are proud about in your wedding, that is probably what is going to be attacked! I heard a story about a gal who loved her wedding veil. Unfortunately, she didn’t hold onto it when she and her groom blew out their candles. Whooosh! The veil hit the flame and went up in smoke. I have a friend who was very proud of the music in her wedding. I believe it was when the Maid of Honor was about to go down the aisle, the music stopped. Oops. The quartet had finished the song and didn’t realize that she was not up to the front yet. When they did realize their mistake, she was almost at the front of the church. Instead of letting it go, they quickly played one stanza -- it was very awkward. For me, if there was one thing that I was the most proud about for my wedding, it was my cake. I remember actually drawing pictures of it in letters that I sent to my friends. (This was before email was available.) This cake was going to be big, beautiful, and have a fountain! Oh, I was so proud.

On the day of my wedding, the bridal party and some of their spouses came to help us decorate the fellowship hall for the reception. The cake lady arrived, and we helped her move all of the different cakes into the area we were decorating. (If I remember correctly, there were eight different cakes -- three round and 5 heart-shaped.) The ones that I helped carry were on the floor of her van, but I didn’t think much about it. She had more than one wedding cake to deliver that day -- other cakes were on a second level in the van. As the cake lady was starting to assemble the magnificent cake structure, she realized that she had left a couple important pieces at home. I had made the trip to her home when I helped design and order the cake, so I knew that she wouldn’t be back for over an hour. We were either done decorating or taking a break at some tables near the table that held the individual cakes. Suddenly one of the gals jumped up and yelled, “Ants!” There were ants on the cake table. The deal was, they were not going to the cakes; they were walking out from between the cakes and the foil-covered plates. They had their fill and were leaving! Yuck!

Flashback to my childhood -- I was a kid and was dared to eat an ant. I did, and ever since then I have hated ants more than most insects. For ants to be crawling out from my wonderful, beautiful, prized wedding cake was more than I could handle. I left the fellowship hall, fled to the dressing rooms, and gave in to some tears. I left everyone else to take care of the mess. (And how thankful I am that they did!!) I don’t remember being there when the cake lady came back over an hour later. She totally didn’t believe it. I learned later from a friend that she blamed it on a dirty tablecloth (said that the ants must have been going into the cakes), but the table cloth had been washed the night before. Some of the other details are a bit hazy, but I know that one or both of my parents ran to the local grocery store. The bakery had just pulled out two very large sheet cakes. The cooks weren’t sure what they were for, but they had made them. This was perfect! (Thank you, God!) My parents bought the cakes. They had to cool for a couple hours, but when they were ready the cakes were frosted with the wedding colors and cut into little squares. The heart cakes were the only cakes where ants were seen leaving the premises -- they may have been the only ones that were transported on the floor of the lady’s van. With that said, though, we could not try to serve our guests from the remaining cakes. Oh how horrible if someone bit into a piece of cake and found an ant!!! (They would have a “Jen Story” to share.) The circle cakes were set up in a tier with the fountain underneath. (Yes, at least I got my fountain. Grin.) Our guests walked past the pretty setup and then were served from the local grocery store’s sheet cake. It worked.

By the time we were taking pictures, I was cool about the whole thing. In fact, while we were taking a wedding party picture, someone shouted “Say Ants!” We all laughed. Fast forward to our first anniversary. My husband and I had kept the small cake that topped the wedding cake structure to eat on our first anniversary. How nervous I was about possibly seeing a dead ant in that cake! We didn’t see one, though. Whew! Of course, we didn’t eat all of that cake. It actually tasted horrible! Ha.