Let Them Eat Zombie Cake

On September 24, 2010, something unusual happened. Dana Yunke and Nate Lange pledged their hearts… to fight zombies.  Well, sort of.  The Lange’s wedding cake featured an unusual cake topper.  The bride wields a shotgun, while the groom boasts a chainsaw. Both are at the ready, defending dessert from the cake crawling, brain-craving best man and bloodthirsty maid-of-honor.  The Lange family took time out of their busy, living dead-bashing day to answer some questions about the zombie wedding cake that made a hair-raising appearance at their reception.

During your wedding planning process, when did the idea for a zombie themed wedding cake arise?  What was the motivation?

Dana: We both love zombie movies, but Nate moreso.  We saw a zombie cake online made by mikesamazingcakes.com. When Nate saw it, his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store (or a zombie at a nursing home), and I knew we had to make it happen.  We couldn’t afford to order one from the original makers, so we commissioned a friend to make it.

Was there any pushback from family and friends?  Did you threaten to eat their brains?

Dana: Nah, it wasn’t really a surprise to anyone that we’d have a zombie wedding cake.  They all know us and actually said they were surprised there weren’t more zombie elements in our wedding.  We did keep it a surprise for the majority of our guests, though, and the reaction was priceless.  People still talk about it 7 months later.

Nate: Not that I know of.  Everyone that knows Dana and I (mostly me) knows I love the zombie genre.  And no, I didn’t threaten to eat their brains.  I haven’t turned yet.  It was more of about zombie awareness, so to speak. So if anyone did have a problem, I would just say, “You’ll thank me one day,” and leave it at that.

Who made the cake?

Dana: Dyan Quinn-Scanlon and Angela Carrion-Elmore, of St. Clair Shores, MI.  They are amateur bakers and did a FABULOUS job.

What was the cake made of?  Was it filled with brains?

Nate: Lots of energy (sugar) just in case we need to run fast.

Dana: It was red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  Also brains, yes.

Did you actually have a shotgun and chainsaw on standby should a zombie outbreak happen during the wedding?

Dana: No, but now I kind of wish we would have.  One can never be too prepared.

Nate: No a chainsaw requires gas, which will run out, and a shot gun needs to be reloaded too often.  So, I had my trusty crowbar on hand.  Great for bashing zombie brains, and it is steel so should never break.

Dana: I’ll add here that chainsaws are kind of loud, which tend to attract zombies.  Not a good idea.

Do you have any advice for anyone who might want to take the leap into zombie wedding cakes?

Dana: Do it!  It’s a chance to fit something in that represents your interests without beating your guests over the head with it.  And plus, cake is awesome, so logically zombie cake is awesomER.

Nate: It’s your wedding.  Do what you want.  I think if you want a zombie wedding cake, the family and the friends you have will know you well enough to have fun and go with it. It’s not a traditional wedding cake, but when did surviving a zombie apocalypse become traditional?

So there you have it. It IS possible to have zombies at your wedding and still have a positive outcome.

Nicholas Ellingsworth is often called “nellingsworth” by his friends and coworkers, though it’s unclear when this actually started. He shares a birthday with Neil “First Man on the Moon” Armstrong and Maureen “Marcia Brady” McCormick, yet the three of them have never met, let alone eaten cake together. He currently lives in Los Angeles and spends his time writing, playing XBox and Wii, and watching way too much TV. You can follow him on Twitter@nellingsworth.

Photographer: Mike Darga of Mike Darga Photography

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