By the way, I live in a very small town and there are only 2 bakeries here. Here the bakers deliver the wedding cakes and decorate the tables. It is not often that we have two weddings that are scheduled for the same time. When I do weddings outside of my town I'm not sure who does what.

In my own wedding cake delivery experiences, 9 times out of 10, the bride has asked if I would decorate the cake table. I tell the brides I will do so IF they have everything they want me to use setting on the table or placed underneath the table, and a note to give me some directions if they want certain things placed in particular spots. Most of the time they just want me to do it how I think it would look best because by that the time of the wedding day it is one less thing they must worry about. I do not charge extra for this service because I think it makes my cakes look better if the presentation is beautiful. If they do not have the supplies they want on the table, I do not decorate it and they will have someone else do it. I also always leave 2 large boxes underneath the table for leftover cake to be placed in and a box for the cake top if they are going to freeze it, along with a congratulations on your wedding card! So basically....always ask the bride what they want and you shouldn't experience too many problems!

I totally agree cindycakes2 ... if the bride supplies all the things she wants for her table, I do not charge to decorate it either ... I would do the decorating for her so that my cake presentation would look it's best ... as far as putting silver/purple with pink/hot pink, I'd go out and purchase the needed supplies out of my own pocket before I"d put those hideous colors together.. that's just common sense to me... and frankly, for someone to put those colors together, you'd have to almost be color blind... I can't imagine any "baker" doing something like that

I think I just witnessed my first virtual food fight!! I love this site!

Yes I would do the table myself. I have not done a wedding cake yet but I was going to do my sil's cake and I hade already picked out the way the table was going to look.

BigEasy Cakes: SmoothC may be a newbie, but her comments are as offensive as her photos. You opened your mouth.........now swallow!!

Aren't you a newbie as well. I am a newbie and I do not post alot because of just what happen pertaining to this particular post and comments made. I think your comments about her photos are offensive. Everyone comes to this site for advice, encouragement, and ideas. I am sure it takes alot of courage to post pictures of the cakes you have done, knowing that thousands of people are looking at them and forming their own opinion.

Pumpkin823, thanks for your comment. I didn't get offended, not even a tiny bit. Everyone has their own opinions. Like I stated before I wasn't trying to offend ANYONE I was just speaking of My pasted experiences...THAT'S ALL.

You're correct smoothc in that everyone is entitled to their opinion... you are a newbie; however, coming to a cake decorating website and making a statement like you did with almost everyone here being a baker or if they are here for ideas and/or to associate with others who do cake baking/decorating, you did step on toes and I feel an apology is in order... you stated before you were sorry, I've accepted that as an apology and I feel we need to move on beyond this .. happy decorating!!

Wow. All the carnage.... I think everyone involved should apologize. Hey, opinions aren't always pleasant (I work at a grocery store bakery, and believe me, in the past others opinions HERE used to upset me), but they belong to the person that stated them. Turning on her and throwing personal attacks at her and digs about her profession isn't any more mature or ok. In my opinion (which you may or may not like), I think both parties were pretty offensive. Reaction can be just as bad as action, and it can often be a reaction to an opinion that drives people away from a site. It's been stated how this site is like a community. Well, I have neighbors that I wish to heck they would keep their personal life personal, but I won't be fighting them over it.

Since this is ,afterall, about cake tables.... does anyone else have pictures or good ideas for table decoration they'd like to share???? This could be a great and helpful topic!!!! I have so many spacy brides that just say "whatever". A nice table makes my cake look better, so what do you guys have you can show me???

Calejo, as I stated before, I accepted her apology and it is over .. now others need to let it go too ... I don't feel I owe her an apology as I did no personal attack on her .. I stated that this is a cake decorating/bakers website .. she's the one that attacked people on here that are "BAKERS" ... as stated before, I've let this go and suggest others do the same

Wow! I go away & more ugly posts get made!!! What is wrong w/ people who comes on CC & blow up the place! smoothc you need to go back & read what you wrote... that was offensive to a lot of people including me!!!

When I started cake decorating I learned the techniques.. then learned to bake better... now I've learned how to decorate a table & to be a florist!!! I'm sure there's other things I do too but at this time I can't think straight because I am still in awe at this post!

Cake Decorator's have many, many, many titles under their aprons!!! To say what you said through your experience didn't make any sense!! If you were truely a cake decorator you wouldn't have said such a thing!

If you have ever seen any of the cakes on CC you would know that most of us decorate tables & backgrounds etc & do a beautiful job!!!

You are the reason some newbies are afraid to make posts. You come onto CC like a ball of fire & think everything is ok to say. NOT. You give newbies a bad name~ Nuff SAID!!!!!!

Too all you Newbies..... we don't blame you for someone like smoothc. I would be upset if an old member said what she said!

OOPS Sorry Ntertayneme... I must have posted right when you posted!!!! LOL!!!

Ok... I know some of you are mad... but I'm still waiting for pictures and ideas!!!!! I know you all can help!

Organza, tulle are great on the top of the tables.. I usually rent the skirts that go around the table and the linen table cloth for the top of the table .. I'm not sure if you're doing the backdrop for the bride too?? If so, you may want to check into renting those too .. for the one I post on here in this topic w/the roses, it was grecian pillars and the cake columns were in the same theme .. the rental store where I got the grecian columns from, also rented the draped effect material you see in the background .. I can't remember how many yards each piece of it was .. I also purchased additional roses and laid them on the table .. I tore petals from some of the extra roses I had and spread them all over the table.. also rented was a silver champagne holder .. the bride had chosen her glasses and these also were on the table .. she had her cake cutter to which I made a bow and tied onto it ... it's all really into what the bride wants and what her budget is.. the wedding I'm referring to that I decorated the brides table was a very expensive wedding that she had catered.. her parents spent over $25K on the wedding

LOL Peacock!!!! Gotta love you!! Ask Ntertayneme... she's good at decorating tables LOL!!!!!! Me, I'm a newbie at that!!!

My deco of choice is usually white tulle and white flowers for the table itself, something neutral that will go with any color scheme. The long swags of flowers are great for the front of the table. I usually add ribbons or tulle to the serving pieces and toasting glasses. Set up the napkins in a pretty pattern, sometimes drop ivy leaves all over the table, or rose petals! Or if the bride provides fresh flowers I work with those. Hope that Helps! Cheer up people! Don't let a offhanded comment ruin our good time on this board! Especially when it was talking about one person in particular not any of us! I love it here!

Find out what decorations the bride will be using on her other tables. It may be something that you can pull over on to the cake table. If not all, at least some of the decorations. Or they might even have extra items from decorating tables, or other areas of the reception. Hope this helps!

Leily

okay, even through all the uglyness i've learned something about table decorations! i havent done a wedding cake, but i finished my wilton course 3 and am waiting for a cake order. i would not have thought about the table before this, i would have assumed the bride would take care of it, but now i know to ask and be prepared!
melody

Just to clarify that I was not referring to the comments made by ntertayneme. I thought she expressed herself well and showed a lot of grace by letting it go. To avoid further conflict, I will not be mentioning who I WAS referring to, I just wanted to make that clear.

Also, I too, would like some ideas for a simple, but elegant table for a well to do family. I'm not sure what their idea of "simple" is...

I suppose finding out the dimensions of the cake table ahead of time is a good thing to do. It can vary a lot from place to place and will impact on how you decorate and how much you need of things.
I guess I am a bit anal, but I always ask for samples of the wedding colours, even go so far as to purchase a few flowers that will match the bouquets, if that is part of the theme. It makes it a lot easier to actually have the correct colours on hand because one person's idea of orange, teal or red can be totally different than what colours are actually being used. There are so many shades and hues.
Raising some cakes up on a platform, makes a lovely display. Many things can be used to acheive this effect. You just always want to insure that the items used are sturdy and stable. Wooden or plastic boxes or crates and such work well.
Fabric, candles, flowers, vines, ribbons, puffs, all sorts of things can be used to stage a cake table as a display centre piece.
I guess some of us like doing these kinds of things and others do not. I like crafts and sewing and such, so it is fun for me.
You have to have a feel for the look the bride is going for. So it is important to see samples of what the other tables will be decorated with and such.
A little knowledge about design principles helps, usually groupings of odd numbers look best, with an emphasis placed on the number three - an old design principle. Making things appear to look like a grouping of three gives a good uncluttered look. Then you need to decide if you want asymetrical or symetrical design. Basically one is where the cake will be in the middle with decorations balanced on both sides. The asymetrical would be more to one side or the other, with the balance more on one side - sort of an offset appearance.
Hugs Squirrelly

Thanks squirrelly! Those are great suggestions, especially about the cake table size. I don't know why some brides use such huge round tables. It makes a big 4 tier look tiny!

I would think that a nice, large rectangular table would be best with all things considered.

Haha, it appears you cannot win! Most of the hotels match the shape of the cake table to the table shapes they use for the dinner tables. Although here, I just say, the cake tables usually are round. Funny thing is here I find some of them quite small, so there is not much room to decorate the table. So this is likely a regional thing, depending on where you live.
Haha, yes, I think rectangular or square are nice too, especially with a square cake. We don't see them here often. Actually though any shape will go with any shape of cake. I think that was more the norm, years ago - using square or rectangular tables, at least here it was. In fact having the cake on the head table directly in the centre was the norm for many years.
I also like the idea of the cake being on a pedestal, those concrete or plaster type ones, with something on top as the table part. However, I guess you really have to make sure these are stable too. Plexiglass with two or more pedestals underneath (columns) makes a stable base and you can cover the plexiglass with material.
But honestly, some folks could make a cardboard box look elegant, haha!
You brought up am important part, balance. There are ways of making a too large table look more balanced with a smaller cake. Ways of adding around the base of the cake to make it appear larger, or raising it up so it looks more balanced in proportion and this is important too. Puffing up material around the bottom will make it appear that the cake is larger. Putting bowls of flowers or candles or other decorative items around the cake base help too.
I rather like having control over the cake table, mainly because I have made cakes for a few celebrations where the cake was a very elegant design, and was placed on a banquet table that was covered with a sheet of vinyl with all all of the creases showing. Now for some folks, the table set up is not important and budget and time and taste all enter into the decision, but honestly I would rather do the display and set up for free than put an elegant design in a setting like this. I suspect this is what the wedding coordinator meant when she said it should be left up to the professionals, she has likely seen some displays like this too. But some folks without any expertise or experience do an absolutely fabulous job!
I think that setting up a nice display table is like anything else. Some folks are naturals at it, some can learn and some don't really see it as important and perhaps don't take the time to do it as well as they might. We all have different talents and degrees of design abilities.
I find that a lot of folks think tulle is too old-fashioned or boring, but personally, I think you can do a lot with it, it is reasonably priced, it adapts well and doesn't wrinkle up or crease, you can attach it easily and it is readily available in a variety of colours. Organza has similar qualities too. But then, you can use almost any fabric and do a lovely job. There are some wonderful fabrics that are meant to be used for curtain linings that have a beautiful sheen and design. You can buy remnants at good prices, you can use curtain laces and fabrics and these are nice and wide as is tablecloth fabric and sheeting. Most fabrics can be bunched or turned under eliminating the need for hemming the ends to finish them. You need to see if a fabric will drape well, will hang or bunch of nicely. The weight of the fabric and type of fabric determine this. Some fabrics are just too stiff for this use but might be great for covering a cake board. And you can do a fantastic job on a dime or hundreds of dollars.
Also, if you can try to duplicate the setting at home and do a dry run, it is usually a good idea. Sometimes I mark off the diameter of the table in question, with a piece of fabric or a board cut to the size. Then I play with the set-up.
Hugs Squirrelly

My experiences here in Houston is that many bakers will work with the florist when decorating a table. I know for 2 weddings the florist and I both decorated the table. In all the weddings I have done...the bride has always told me how she wanted things done. Here is a picture of a cake I did that was at someone's house...I decorated the table...but I did it like the bride asked me to.
traci