I've been seeing some really nice wedding cakes online that use varying cake heights with one cake 2"H and the one on top 4"H and interchanging heights throughout. Is this a choice by cake designer or bride? How does this work out when standard wedding cake sizes are 4"H? Does your bride mind serving 2"H cakes to guests as well as 4"H cakes? I'm trying to figure out how this works out when serving the cake on the day and varying cake heights for guests.

........Is this a choice by cake designer or bride?.....
It can be either. It is just basically for visual enjoyment.
......How does this work out when standard wedding cake sizes are 4"H? Does your bride mind serving 2"H cakes to guests as well as 4"H cakes?.......
You just have to explain to bride about the differences in servings sizes. They are just a difference in looks - if you cut a 2x2x2 cube in 1/2 and repoisition it you get a 1x2x4 - the same as the usual wedding serving size.
Does bride mind?? Who knows! Maybe some will - so then they don't order that cake arrangement.

Well! Look how you just answered all my questions in one shot. Thanks Hopefully one day I'll get to do one of these varying height cakes. I really love them. Now I am more educated on it and what it is really for.

I only did a cake like this once, and I'm anal about all the slices of cake being the same, so I just did the 2-inch high tiers in styrofoam and the rest were the servings of cake.

Oh well that is an option then. I do like this 2"H look interchanging with 4"H cakes.

Also remember that if you do something taller than 4" you should dowel and use boards so that when the catering staff cuts the 6" tall cake, it doesn't end up falling apart and not fitting on the dessert plates. A bunch of venues have recently complained to me about the taller cakes not being built to actually cut and serve and it makes their lives difficult. Which can then make your life difficult if they won't refer business to you because they hate you. One guy thanked me for building the taller tiers the right way and not making them struggle with it!

Thanks for this tip. Do you mean to put a cardboard at the 3"H mark to separate the 6"H cake? Also, put dowels in each of 3"H cakes that make up the 6"H cake? Just want to make sure I understand fully. I've never done a double barrel cake but I love them a lot and would like to do them.

Well, the one that I did was 8" tall, so I just stacked it
I ike a normally stacked cake, two 4" tiers. If I was doing a 6" I'd be tempted to just stack the three layers, but after talking to the guy at the venue I'd do a 4" and stack the 2" on top with a board between. No need to make someone else's job more difficult.

Thanks costumeczar I understand what you mean. Sounds like the best way to do a double barrel. Great advice on this.

I've done several 1/2 tall tiers - I just instruct the person cutting the cake to cut 1" strips into 4" pieces instead of cutting 1" strips into 2" pieces. Most of my cakes are 4" to 5" tall, my 1/2 tiers are 3". I calculate the 1/2 tiers to have 1/2 the amount of servings per Wilton. Works out just fine.

Any double barrel cake I do is always doweled at the 1/2 point.

Interesting points here. Thanks FromScratch. Good advice on how to do this.