I'm doing a wedding cake this week & the couple wants fresh lilies on their cake. I was planning on putting flower spikes into the cake to hold the lilies... Do I need to put water in them? I was thinking yes, and then no... Now I can't decide which I should do! help please!

Also if I place the lilies the day before the wedding, will they be ok on the cake if it's refrigerated? Or will they wilt?

Don't put them on the day before, that's way too long far advance.

Where are they going on the cake, on the sides or on the top, or both?

On both top and side

You shouldn't need to put water int he picks, just put the flowers in a couple of hours before the reception at the most. If they're calla lilies the cut stems can drip sap and they're toxic, so watch out.

I would wait to put them on the cake till you're setting it up at the venue.

You can 'prep' the flowers the day before though if you want. You can cut each stem to the length you want and wrap the end of the stem completely in floral tape. The florist tapes keeps the moisture in the flower so the cut flower lasts longer out of water.

Florist tape comes in green, white, or brown. You stretch the tape pulling it tight as you go around the stem, and it sticks to itself as you go. You can also wrap a few flowers and greenery together with the tape if you want. (This is the method florists use in making corsages.)

Then keep the flowers in a large Ziploc or Tupperware container and spritz with a tiny bit of water. Keep them refrigerated until you're ready to put them on the cake. For lilies you may wish to use a little crumpled up newspaper or shredded paper under them in the container so their pretty petals don't get bruised.

Then when you set up the cake, your flowers are all ready and you can place them easily in the picks without worrying about water, and the flowers will last longer since they're wrapped. Another option instead of using picks: dip the ends in chocolate and let it harden. Then you can put them right in/on the cake.