Ok, so I make cakes and have recently become engaged in the Hampton Roads area. My reception is at Waterside in Norfolk and I want this cake made for me but I am trying to figure HOW! Do I contract an artist for part or DO I try to find someone to do it alone? Do I do it out of fondant or have a artist do it out of clay to keep. Oh gosh, this is going to be hard.

I want:
Cake to feed appr. 100 People. Tiered/Stacked. Pretty plain except there are to be fondant people actually decorating the cake. Representing, myself, my fiance and our three children. We are all to be using piping bags, trowels and other cute decorating props. Nothing TOO detailed, just cartoonish or whimsical. I also liked the idea of having hanging from thin fishing line 2 angels to represent my grandmother with a coffee cup in her hand and his granddad with a Airline Captain's hat on. Then I had a son that passed away and would want him over my shoulder watching me decorate. Perhaps parts of the cake could still be "under construction" like exposed brick or some similar effect.

Any ideas on how to make this happen and be able to afford it?

Welcome to Cake Central. congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I think you would enjoy having the characters to save. I would recommend having them made from clay, with the understanding they would be a display piece after the wedding.

very cute idea!!

under construction area could be a fondant interpretation of undecorated cake w/ husband figure using spatula to "spackle" it.

since your one son is now an angel too, might not he also be suspended and playing some kind of prank, such as looking like he's just finished sticking his finger in the icing to both grab a blob to eat and draw a heart with monogram initials in it???

i also vote for the permanent clay figures.

depending upon when the wedding is...

check w/ local craft stores for clay artists and if after school reopens, could even check w/ local colleges and high schools for talented student who could do it.

Oh I wish I lived in Virginia! I love this idea. My son just moved from Virginia to California--drat that anyway!!

Gumpaste dries hard and lasts a long time. Perhaps you could make your figures out of it. I did a quick search for books on how to make people out of polymer clay (same techniques could apply to gumpaste, I assume) and found a book called "How to Make Clay Characters" by Maureen Carlson at Amazon.com. I'm sure there are others.

Doing this yourself may be more than you want to take on, but if you have enough time, doing at least the characters yourself will save on costs.

I have no idea on how you could achieve this affordably, but I just had to say that this sounds like the cutest/sweetest/funest cake. I hope you post pictures of it after your wedding

search gum paste on youtube