Climate cakes highlight growing trend of sustainable weddings in Scotland

Posted: 20th Feb

A Scottish wedding cake designer is raising awareness of climate change and urging couples to think about the environment when planning their big day through a series of stunning cake designs.

Motherwell-based, Marie-Clare Cake Designs, will unveil the four-tier masterpieces at The Scottish Wedding Show this weekend (Saturday 22 – Sunday 23 Feb), highlighting a growing trend in sustainable wedding options.

When planning their big day many couples are putting environmental concerns at the forefront of their planning and each of Marie-Clare’s cakes reflects on some of the key issues: plastic pollution; the effects of climate change on rural communities and tribes; global warming and deforestation. 

She could hardly have a more fitting location for her unveiling with the 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held this November at the same location as the wedding show, the Scottish Event Campus.

Marie-Clare Martin, owner of Marie-Clare Cake Designs, said: “Every year we do something extravagant with our cakes for The Scottish Wedding Show, and with the UN Climate Change Conference coming to Glasgow later this year, we wanted to use our platform to draw attention to this global crisis. 

“Each of the cakes tackles an important issue associated with climate change. Our fire cake acknowledges the terrible Australian bushfires and the sea cake shows how plastic is polluting the oceans and killing our marine wildlife. We also wanted to draw attention to the brutal repercussions of droughts and unfarmable conditions on rural communities and tribes as well as the beautiful wild creatures that are going extinct such as the now-extinct Spix’s Macaw.”

The cakes are the latest in a series of grand designs by the award-winning cake company, which follows sustainable business practices, including using locally sourced organic ingredients and incorporating a ‘no-waste, must-recycle’ scheme in the shop. 

“As a business we’re trying to do our bit to be more environmentally friendly and encourage our customers to be more aware of sustainability when planning their weddings”, added Marie-Clare. 

“It’s a growing concern for people planning their big day and they want to be as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible.

“We now only buy ingredients from local suppliers and have made small changes in our shop to make sure we’re doing all we can. We’ve switched to using wax paper instead of cling-film and always recycle materials where possible. We also repurpose any leftover cake trimmings to reduce wastage, such as using excess sponge to make cake pops.”

Tsitsi Lynn Makuni, Show Manager of Scottish Wedding Show, said: “It’s brilliant to see Marie-Clare Cake Designs use the show to raise awareness of such an important issue. The wedding industry has definitely seen a shift in both suppliers and customers being environmentally friendly in their planning choices. More customers are looking to source catering locally, which we’ve always been an advocate for, and opt for recyclable materials where possible. 

“We can’t wait for our visitors to see Marie-Clare’s breath-taking bakes in the flesh and find out more about how they can be more sustainable when planning their big day.”

Marie-Clare Cake Designs will reveal the series of cakes at The Scottish Wedding Show, taking place at the SEC, Glasgow on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 February. Bringing over 200 of the UK’s leading wedding suppliers, under the one roof, visitors can find out everything they need to plan their dream wedding.