what size cakes do i make to feed 700 people..... and need to know the best way to set them up at reception... tia

Here's a link to Wilton's site. http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/ If you click on the link Wedding Cake 2" deep pans in the right column it will tell you how many servings w/ each size pan. There's also links for tiered cakes in the left column at the bottom ( but they don't go up to 700 servings)

ETA:
I've never made a cake for 700 & those who have may have a better suggestion. But you could do 4 cadi-cornered 10" squares for the base; 18" square; 15" square; 12" square; 9" square; 6" square--giving 604 servings. If you changed the bottom 10" squares to 12" squares you would have a total of 692 servings.

Do the 700 servings have to be all in one cake? If not, then you can have a few 10" squares or rounds on elevated stands.

Is there going to be a grooms cake to be calculated in the servings?

Maybe someone else will be more help

The above is a good suggestion (creating a 20" or 24" square base by using 10" or 12" cakes). I dont' have a scanner or I'd scan some pics for you, but some of the older hardback wilton books ("older" means 70's and early 80's) show cakes set up like this that serve over 500. They also have satellite cakes .... maybe 2 or 4 2-tier cakes set to the side of the larger cake.

I am SO envious that you get to make a cake of this size!! I would KILL to make a cake this size again!!

I'm not at the shop right now (I called in a sick day!) so I'm not sure which book has the really big cakes, but here are some ebay links to show you the books I have ... one or two of them will have cakes like I'm talking about .... (Yeah, some of those "dreaded" stairs in the design but they will give you ideas )

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-WILTON-Wedding-CAKE-DECORATING-Book-Celebrate_W0QQitemZ390022124247QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item390022124247&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Wedding-Birthday-Retro-Cake-Decorating-Wilton_W0QQitemZ140247606549QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wilton-Beautiful-Bridal-Wedding-Cakes-Patterns-Grooms_W0QQitemZ220340185870QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item220340185870&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Does the bride want the wedding cake to serve all 700? Does she want it round or square or other shapes? Does she care if there are satellites? If you're not bound by any particular desire of the bride, then it all depends on what you want to do. If I were doing a stacked square cake, here's what I'd do: 8-tier to serve right about 700... 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20". If you drop the bottom tier, you're dropping almost 200 servings, so you'd have to make it up in either sheet cakes or satellite cakes. If you choose to do a round cake, you would actually have to go larger because round serves less than square.

I think I'd get some more information from the bride and find out what she can live with and without. Doing a smaller (yet still very large) center cake and some satellites (or even kitchen cakes) would be easier. Good luck and I'd love to know what you end up doing!

Wow, 700! The largest I've done is 500 people, I cannot imagine for that many people. I wish you well on this, going to be a major undertaking! Wish I could help you out, call me if you need a hand!!

Never mind a cake for 700...Can you imagine the cost!!!!

I like Indydebi have the Old Wilton books, (showing my age here) from the 70's and 80's if you need pictures scanned email me and I'll send them to ya. Have fun, wish I could have that money from that cake!!!!!! Good luck to you

thank all of your for answering... i understand all that you say... i have been decorating for 13 years.... never done a cake this size either... it is actually for a student of mine... she is really sweet. she asked me to help her ... this is a wedding cake for her sisters wedding coming up.. she is so nervous..... i have lots of wilton books, etc... i just needed you c/c'er help to get me there to help her... thank you again... i will look at everything you all have posted ,myself... and then give it to her also. yes, she did mention satelite cakes also...

It seems to me the Wilton wedding book w/a yellow hard cover is the one that has the biggest layouts. I made one of them to serve something like 500+ many yrs ago, but don't have pix of it anymore.
Remember, very few oven will hold an 18" round or sq much less a 20 or 22"er.
I have one in my pix on here that served about 275. You could surround that w/sattilite cakes to to increase the #s.

kakeladi, I think you're right, it is the yellow book. the diagrams I remember on the assembly showed the base being made of four 10" cakes or four 12" cakes pushed together to make a 20" or a 24" base.

When I first got the book, I was fascinated with this configuration! (I had no life, then, either!)