The cutting of the wedding cake is one of the premier events at any San Francisco wedding reception. It is quite often the culmination of the various activities that go on at a typical wedding. Usually the only thing that comes after that is the garter and throwing of the bouquet. As a wedding photographer I find that there are a number of ways to approach the cake-cutting picture. You have the choice of placing the bride and groom with their backs to the wall and the cake in front of them or you can turn it around and show the guest in the background. Both of these approaches have merit. One of the reasons I like to use a assistant wedding photographer is that we can capture both angles at the same time. On one hand it's nice to get a clear shot of the bride and groom with the cake and no distracting items in the background. On the other hand it is also nice to show the guests watching the process and eagerly awaiting their slice of cake. In the photo above, we chose to display an image that shows the guests watching the process of the cake cutting. I will let you be the judge of whether you think this is an effective angle to photograph this very important wedding reception event. If you have guests that look disinterested, bored and not really watching it can actually backfire on you and the image may become one you can't use. However, if the crowd looks fully engaged in what is going on it can be one of the best wedding reception photos that you end up obtaining from the event. This slight risk is one of the reasons that we try to get both angles whenever we can. This particular wedding was a Walnut Creek location and the name of the venue is Boundary Oaks. Boundary Oaks is a great venue with a very cooperative event staff. The are a joy to work with as a wedding vendor. in addition, I like the location they choose to set up the cake table. It works well within the confines of the reception area and it allows all of the guest access to peer at what is happening. The wedding coordinator at the venue is always willing to help with the cake cutting set up, but we as wedding photographers tend to like doing it a certain way also so we politely ask if we can intervene. We never rudely involve ourselves, but instead we gently make some suggestions on what would look better for pictures ultimately.