I'm making my first wedding cake in a couple weeks for a friend of mine. I have done a tiered cake before, but it was just a small 2-tier cake. The bride wants a 3-tiered cake to feed about 100 people. I've looked at charts but I'm still a little confused on what size pans I should use. I don't think she wants to keep the top tier, so that makes a difference. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Here's a link that gives you pan sizes and how many "wedding" sized pieces (1" wide x 4" tall x 2" deep) can be served from each pan size: http://www.beautifulcakesandbridals.com/FAQ.html
Here's another excellent link for Cake Serving Size Samples that you can print out on paper: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6895971.html#6895971

If it was me, I'd make a 14" bottom, 12" middle, and 10" top. I too have only made a few two and three tier cakes and recently cut a 3 tier fondant over BC cake I made for a funeral reception (my first time cutting one of my cakes). Unless a professional caterer who has cut a LOT of cakes is cutting, it is hard to get a nice looking 1" wide x 4" tall x 2" deep piece of cake, especially with fondant!!! (The fondant crushes the softer cake beneath as you are cutting it.) It is much better to have TOO much wedding cake than too little, and if someone is cutting who cuts the pieces too large, you are in trouble. Personally, I don't know how anyone could cut a nice 1"x4"x2" slice out of a fondant covered cake.

Another CC suggestion (I don't remember who to give credit to) said she always bakes and boxes a 6" honeymoon cake to send with the B&G to eat on their honeymoon as a surprise. Perhaps you could make two extra 6" cakes, box them nicely and give them to the B&G as an extra gift; one for their honeymoon, and one to freeze for 1st anniversary.

If I was doing a cake to serve a 100 servings, I would do a 14, 11 (or 10) and 7.
The proportions always look better if you can have a size difference of at least 3" . I usually try to do a difference of 4".

I think a 10" top tier is way to large. Good luck!!!

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/serving-amounts-100-150.cfm

a 12-10-8 will give 118 servings. a 14-10-6 will give 128 - can look better with the bigger difference between tiers as well.
a 14-12-10 will give 172 - do you think the bride will really want to pay *that* much extra? plus a 10 inch is a big top tier, even 8 inch is maybe a little big, most cakers prefer a 6 or 4.
(and square cakes gives different options too!)

it is not difficult to cut a nice slice of cake if you have the right knife, and know what your doing - which most professional caterers do. somewhere on here is a diagram of how to cut a cake properly - the grid pattern needed - some people print out a copy for who ever is cutting the cake.

part of your contract is 'cake X inches, X inches, and x inches will serve Y if cut properly (as per instructional sheet, if you include it). then if its cut improperly its nto your responsibility. there are some good draft contracts kicking round in the business forum and maybe the template gallery if you need them.
xx

6/9/12 = 102 servings. And yes, 10" is way too big for a top tier on a tiered cake. If the florist is providing a floral topper, s/he will expect a 6" top tier. It's standard, unless you tell them otherwise.

My apologies, OP, for some reason I was thinking you were providing the cake at no charge (I must have been reading a similar forum where a woman was baking the wedding cake for a friend as her gift to the friend). After I woke up this morning, I hurried to check this link because I wondered if I was way off with a 10" top tier; I was. See, OP, I learned something too!

Darn, but this cake making is complicated stuff. I wish you well with your first wedding cake. Please post a picture in this forum and let us know how it came out and how you did the cake. Thanks

Thanks everyone for the help! I'm excited to get started! And I will definitely post pictures

I made my brother wedding cake a couple of months ago for the same amount of people. They didn't save the cake topper as I told them that I would make them a fresh cake for their anniversary next year. I made a 12,9,6.

Made the cake this weekend and it went pretty well! There are some things that I think could have been better, but considering it was my first wedding cake (and only my second attempted tiered cake) I was pretty happy with it. And the bride loved it!

I'm having trouble uploading a picture, but hopefully it'll be up soon so you guys can see it.

I agree with ramacake. 10" would be very large for a top tier.

Finally got the picture uploaded! I'm still having trouble posting it as an attachment, but here is a link to it...let me know what you think!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1786320

I think it looks lovely You did a great job!

Very nice. Love the dark burgundy color.

Kristy

Thank you! Yes, I did really like the color. It matched perfectly with the color of her bridesmaids dresses! I did have some problem with the ribbon though. If you look at the picture, you can see that the ribbon got pretty spotty. The grease from the icing soaked right through the ribbon...once I got it to the venue and put it together I had to wrap around a few more layers of ribbon. I know that probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I was short on time and getting nervous so I thought that was my only solution at the time. Even with several layers of ribbon, it still soaked through. What can I do to prevent that? I thought about maybe lining the ribbon with parchment paper next time...

Nice job! thanks for sharing the pic!

Thanks!

Any advice/suggestions about my ribbon fiasco?

I had the same question a couple of weeks back as I was making a SMBC cake with ribbon and was concerned with soaking. I would have loved to hear about the wax paper, but noone mentioned that last time. What they did say was to wet the ribbon, take as much water out of it and then place it on the cake and I have to say it worked, water is a natural repellent to fat. HTH

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll try the wax paper thing.