At my Nieces request I am making her wedding cake this next month. She wants a THREE TIER SQUARE CAKE WITH ROSES BETWEEN THE LAYERS, not too big, but also not too small. In addition to the wedding cake she requests enough sheet cakes to server 250 guests. Im not very experienced, so Im asking for help.

I really need some help with the wedding cake. I will be using Polystyrene Square Separators between the layers to place silk roses, and possibly another one under the base with more roses. I want it to look balanced, not too overdone. My biggest problem is I have a tendency to go overboard and overdo. (Remember Jan-more is not better!) I get so carried away! Please help!

I have round pans but its a square cake she wants, so before I go shopping I need to know what size cake pans I should purchase.

The number it will serve is not an issue.

Question: What size cake pans should I use?

Should they have a difference of One inch in size?
Or
Two inches:  
16 x 14 x 12
15 x 13 x 11
14 x 12 x 10
Three inches:  
16 x 13 x 10
15 x 12 x 9
14 x 11 x 8
Four inches:  
16 x 12 x 8
15 x 11 x 7
14 x 10 x 6
Or different varying inches?  

Depth of pans:  
2 deep?
3 deep?

What should the separators between the layers measure? I plan on using 2 Polystyrene Square Separators four inches smaller than the tier above to place the silk roses. I could use 3" separators if necessary. Or whats best.

For better eye appeal should the rose placement on the three layers be an odd number (3) or even (4)?

There are two initials for placement on the top layer. Should roses be placed with the initials on the top tier?

Also if roses are placed underneath the bottom layer should roses be placed on the top tier with the initials or not?

In transporting the cake should it be assembled or not?

Oh yes I forgot to mention the venue is 500 miles away.

I hope Im making sense and asking the right questions. Im probably forgetting to ask other important questions. If they come to mind I will definitely be posting back!

Any other tips and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all so much!!!
Jan

Well first of all, Wilton has a set of four square pans that include a 14, 12, 10 and 8" pans. I bought those a few years ago because I had a large square wedding cake and did not have the room in my oven for a 16" pan. My advice to you would be this. no bigger than the 14" for the bottom. If it doesn't matter how much you feed from that cake, I would go even smaller and have no more than 2" difference because if you are going to have to haul that much cake that far you have to also think of your vehicle and are you going to have enough room to haul the sheet cakes also. When you are going to be hauling 3 separate tiers and the sheet cakes to feed that many you are going to have to have a lot of square foot space to put the cakes. the smaller the 3 tiered cake is the more room you will have for the sheet cakes. I don't even have the vehicle to do all that, but if it were so I would probably see if I could do a 12", an 8" and find a 4" pan. if you want the 4" between the layers sizes. It also depends on what size sheet cake or cakes you are going to do. YOu can look up on Wilton.com the sizes and how many they say they will serve and see what you can get by with and like I said you will also have to figure what your vehicle will be able to carry. Hopefully, there will be a lot of others that can give you answers on a lot of the other questions you have. God Bless.

Thank you jules5000 : You gave me some good things to consider.
In regards to traveling with the cakes, I do have some room to work with, thank goodness.
I'm going to make and box up 3 double layered half sheet cakes (But I'm thinking about making a 4th just in case - but that may be somewhat over kill). I realize sheet cakes that size may not be that traditional but I think it's going to work out just fine. The servings of cake may not be the usual shape but there tastes will more than make up for it.
Thank you CWR41: It's good to know that the typical size for a top tier is 6"
The 14 x 10 x 6 does sound like a good idea!

Whoa...that's a lot of cake. If you look up the Wilton serving chart a square cake with 14/10/6" tiers will serve 166 people. Add to that your sheet cakes (not sure what size you're planning). If you do a 12x18 that will serve 98 people and one 11x15 will serve 74. If they're keeping the 6" cake topper then deduct 18 servings from the above.

Given the distance you've got to transport all of this, I would advise stacking the cakes when you get there.

I agree with part of that. I believe that if you make 3 double half-sheet cakes as well as the 14 and 10" cake you are going to have enough without the 4th sheet cake. With just the sheetcakes you are going to have plenty. I never thought to ask, but is this going to be a cake, punch, mints and nuts reception or is there going to be food there as well? If there is going to be food there as well as the cake and the normal nuts, mints and punch you may only want to make 2 half-sheets. I have found that when there is going to be food at the reception that a lot of people end up not having any cake at all. much less going back for seconds. I am glad that you are going to have enough room for your cakes in your vehicle, but if you make a 4th half sheet cake you may be bringing part of it home with you. Since they are double sheet cakes you will definitely not have to cut them any bigger than the wilton size for wedding cakes. The person that wrote in under me and you said that the half sheet, according to Wilton served 98. That means just with 3 sheet cakes(double) you have almost 300 servings. WIth the 14 and the 10 inch. you will still have cake left over. I would re-assess the situation before you do all that work and all that baking. Good luck and please let us know what you decided to do.

Whoa! I guess that is a lot of cake! Its just like me to go overboard! Thank you for putting things in perspective. Realistically, 2 double layered half sheets would be okay. But knowing me I'll probably end up making the 3. I would hate to come up short.