Cake topper spans 78 years and 8 weddings
A tiny bride and groom live in a white bucket up in the attic of Betty and Jim Kasdorf ’s Wauwatosa home.
They wait there so patiently for someone else in the family to fall in love seriously enough that a wedding cake will be needed.
And then they spring into action, providing the perfect topper for that celebratory pastry.
Well, action may be too strong a word. The porcelain couple poses perfectly still atop the frosting, an elegant link to weddings that have come before.
Their first appearance was at the Pfister Hotel, where Frank and Catherine Wick partied on Oct. 12, 1940, after exchanging vows. The foot-tall cake topper has the miniature bride and groom standing on a base under a frilly framework of ribbons and silk flowers. A bell dangles over their heads.
It would be 25 years before they emerged again, this time for Betty and Jim’s wedding on April 24, 1965. Betty, eldest daughter of Frank and Catherine, didn’t know her mother had kept the topper all those years, but she jumped at the chance to resurrect it on her cake.
Then, after 14 more years in the protective plastic bucket, the topper saw daylight again for the wedding of Betty’s brother, Tim Wick, and his bride Lori on June 30, 1979. Sister Mary used it in 1982.
From there it was on to the third generation. Two Kasdorf children, Dan and Katie, perched the topper on cakes for their weddings in 2001 and 2005 respectively. Then it was break time again until the back-to-back weddings of Tim and Lori’s daughters — Kaitlyn last Aug. 19, and Kristin this year on Jan. 27.
If you’re scoring at home, that’s eight weddings spanning 78 years. The names and dates are memorialized in marker on the bucket’s cover.
“There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to use it,” said Kristin, who took the microphone during the reception and shared the history of the cake decoration with her guests. Frank and Catherine have passed on, though Catherine lived to be 100.
Before the night was over, the topper was safely back in Betty’s hands. “It went right in the bucket and she took it home,” Kristin said.
Betty loves the bride’s 1940-era wedding gown and the attention to detail. The bride holds a floral bouquet in one hand and the arm of her tuxedoed groom with the other.
“Both of them have delicately painted faces. You can see the eyes and all the features on the faces. It’s just exquisite,” she said. “It’s a very important heirloom because it shows tradition and reflects the care my mom and dad had to preserve family history and pass this down.”
Over the years, fresh ribbons and lace have been added. The white bell looks like it was changed out at some point. It’s yellow in the photograph from her
parents’ wedding, though the picture may have been colorized.
The cake topper offers no guarantee of wedded bliss. Two of the eight couples who used it are no longer together, but that’s still better than the national average.
Several of Betty and Jim’s children are not married, but the topper’s next appearance may jump yet another generation to her grandchildren. The oldest is 15, so it seems the little bride and groom will be hanging out in bucketville for a while yet.
But they’re ready when love strikes again.