I am making a 3-tiered stacked wedding cake for a family member next month and I have a few questions.

1. I need to serve 50 people without using the top layer. Is a 6/8/10 my best option? (I thought each layer should be 4" difference to look best but not sure how to do it with only 50 serving)

2. When placing ribbon around cake with buttercream doe sthe ribbon discolor from the shortening in the icing or do you treat the ribbon with something?

3. When using silk flowers do you pull the blooms off of the wire stems and gently press into the buttercream so they don't shift in transport, or do you decorate with flowers at the venue?

4. Do you just use cardboard rounds between each tier or am i supposed to use something else?

I have made 2 wedding cakes LONG ago but they were both elevated with columns between each tier.

thank you so much for your help!!

Triplicate post, for responses, please see:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-665705-.html

HTH