When a couple gets divorced, their friends might admit they saw red flags popping up throughout the relationship. However, some wedding industry professionals can tell if a marriage is going to last from day one. According to several wedding photographers and videographers, the longevity of a relationship depends on how newly married couples cut their cake. Yeah — seriously.
At the beginning of April, Reddit user HHS2019 asked their fellow Redditors who work in the wedding industry if they have developed a “sixth sense” for being able to tell which marriages will last. And boy, did the wedding photographers and videographers of Reddit come through. In fact, HHS2019’s post has received over 6,600 comments and over 50,000 upvotes in under a month.
More than a few wedding industry professionals said that the majority of couples who smash cake in each other’s faces usually break up soon after the wedding.
“Photographer here,” Reddit user kylesford said. “I swear that all of the couples that have split up have smashed the cake in their SOs face. None of the nice cake couples have. Just my weird anecdotal experience. Maybe it’s a sign of respect for each other.”
It’s the unexpected cake smash that usually dooms couples, as kylesford notes in a response to their initial comment. “The blatant smash in the unsuspecting other seems to derail a happy persons special day,” they write.
Marriage/engagement photographers/videographers of Reddit, have you developed a sixth sense for which marriages will flourish and which will not? What are the green and red flags?
byu/HHS2019 inAskReddit
And kylesford isn’t the only wedding photographer who has noticed this. The surprise cake smash seems to be a running theme in many not-so-happily-ever-after stories.
“I’ve found that the microcosm of how the couple feels about each other comes usually comes out during the cake cutting,” Mojoyashka, a wedding videographer, wrote. “When I see a new bride or groom aggressively smush cake into the other’s face I usually feel like that’s a strong sign of an unbalanced relationship.”
“Sometimes they’re both having fun with it and you can tell it’s cool,” Mojoyashka continued, “but most of the time you can tell that the person with cake on their face is either shocked or angry about it.”
“To me the biggest sign is the cake cutting,” Reddit user MorgaseTrakand wrote. “Sometimes one of them (usually the groom) will force cake all over the others face and embarrass and upset them. I’ve seen this happen a handful of times and all of those relationships that I have kept up with have ended in a divorce.”
A couple Redditors even vouched for this theory based on their own cake-cutting-gone-wrong experience. “I warned [my husband] multiple times before the day NOT TO FUCKING DO THIS,” _My9RidesShotgun responded to MorgaseTrakand. “We lasted 2 years and he’s now my ex-husband. So I can definitely attest to the accuracy of this lol.”
Another Reddit user commented, “Not a wedding photographer, but my parent’s wedding video is a tell-all story.” They said their mother specifically told their father not to smash cake in her face, and yet… Dad did just that.
“Mom smacked him across the face, dad said “f*ck this” and stormed out of the reception.” Nice going, Dad.
If your partner explicitly says, “Do not smash that cake in my face,” listen to them. They’re probably not willing to destroy the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars worth of clothing, hair, and makeup they’re wearing.
Or, like, the priceless piece of heirloom jewelry they’ll never get back. Cake smashing without consent is just plain bad!
Listening pays off, people. Just respect your partner.
But, of course, there are those people who are fine with getting a little frosting all up in their nostrils. Let them eat — er, smash — cake!
Or, turn the whole tradition into a game of chance. You may just make back a little of the money you spent on your big day.
Honestly, if you’re feeling the need to smash cake for some reason, there are better ways to do it. Smash it in the kids’ faces.
Or heck — smash it in your own face! Why not?
The moral of this story is to make sure your spouse is chill with cake smashing before you do it. Otherwise, you’re looking at surefire divorce — at least according to this handful of wedding industry professionals, that is.
