The Best Pacific Northwest Wedding Cakes & Desserts | Getting Hitched
Photo by Cast + Forge Photography
When thinking about our someday wedding, we always knew who we would be trusting with our delicious cake… there was only one name that came to mind: Sift + Gather! Sift + Gather is the best Pacific Northwest wedding cakes & desserts bakery / studio run by Amber Markland in Olympia, Washington. I’m sad to say that Amber will soon be closing up shop a couple weeks after our wedding come October 2023, but who knows what the future may hold! Be sure you follow her on socials and stay tuned for her next adventure. :)
The Best Pacific Northwest Wedding Cakes & Desserts: sift + gather
When thinking about your wedding desserts, you first have to decide whether you want just a traditional cake or a dessert table with various goodies. Initially, we only wanted a wedding cake, but the more we thought about it, the more we couldn’t resist incorporating Amber’s delicious sweet buns (cinnamon rolls) and spiced cider mini doughnuts. Trust me when I say: They are next level!
Amber was communicative and helpful throughout the entire ordering process and adjusted our order over time to better suit our needs. Ultimately, we landed on a two-tier sweetheart cake that feeds about 20 people, added on a kitchen cake (not designed, just cut) that will feed an additional ~20, and a collection of sweet buns + doughnuts. Our event designer created a unique dessert table concept with wood-turned doughnut stands and raised trays of different sizes and shapes and she absolutely killed it - it looked so pretty!
Photo by Cast + Forge Photography
To kick things off, Amber got to know us and our inspiration for the cake’s design and was incredibly helpful in answering all of my miscellaneous questions. Then, it was time for the cake tasting! Sift + Gather goes above and beyond with everything but the tasting is worth noting. Amber prepared three mini cakes (like… FULL mini cakes!) with cute design touches and delicious fillings to give us an idea of three of her most popular flavor combos. We ended up going with the chocolate cake with cookie butter buttercream - to die for!! The black pepper chai was a close second and of course you can’t go wrong with anything berries & cream. Jared is definitely a chocolate guy so it was a no brainer for us.
Watch our experience doing our cake tasting in this video!
Sift + Gather curated the best dessert lineup for our guest count and our autumnal theme. Our guests absolutely loved enjoying these rich, cozy, fall treats!
Photo by Cast + Forge Photography
Here’s a few of the questions we asked Amber:
What is your travel fee to our location?
About how many items would we need to feed our guest count?
How should the cake / other items be stored? Refrigerated or left out?
By what date do you need the final order confirmed with any changes?
What are the rough dimensions of the other desserts so we can plan our dessert table design?
What do you need from us as far as vibes/inspo goes?
This was a super easy, streamlined process, but I also have an advantage considering Amber and I were already friends and I had ordered many cakes from her in the past. So while our planning experience may differ from her brand new clientele, I can assure you that you would have the same sweet and attentive customer experience. The shop will still be open through the end of October, so order some cake now if you want a sweet treat! :)
Vendor Rec:
Sift + Gather
@siftandgather on Instagram
www.siftandgather.com
About the Couple
We’re Jared and Kathryn - Olympia, Washington natives that have dated since April 2013 (a whole decade in, baby!) and have lived together a majority of those years as well. Jared is launching into his career in IT, and Kathryn is the owner of a freelance content marketing agency serving clients across the country. Together we’re tech nerds, Pacific Northwest travelers, the ultimate foodies, and drag show lovers. We’re so excited to share our wedding journey with you + hope to provide some insight that helps you along the way!
