I have a wedding cake that is coming up the May 4th and they are expecting 200 people.  The bride is one of those brides who is very comtemporary.  She had a picture and she wants her cakes to be supported by  vases with flowers in them.  If anyone has ever done this PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. 

1. I need to know how do I keep the vases from sinking?   I thought about supporting them with dowel rods and Im sure that would work. 

2. when I place the next cake on top how do I keep the cake board under the cake from bending or folding?

3. I noticed they used a very thick cakeboard, but what type of board is it and can you order them?

Thanks,

TJB

ADo you mean cases as the base or between tiers? Oh no! You would need major SPS system like made of pipe not just plastic. I would even make certain to test the support structure with filled vases before committing.

Thanks

I remembered seeing this cake a while ago:

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/1933602/a/1934602/made-this-as-a-show-cake-for-our-very-first-bridal-fair-booth-it-was-huge-hit-people-where-gathering-and-taking-pictures-all-weekend-what-do-you-think-br-br-br-wow-i-wasnt-expecting-all-the-comments-thank-you-soooo-much-to-everyone-for/

and thought it was so impressive!  In this cake they were champagne glasses to support the tiers, but there is a description of how it was done (with the champagne glasses) in the description.  Maybe you could do it similarly with the vases?  I would love to see the final product, it sounds really spectacular!

Thanks this is really helpful here is a picture of the picture she gave me.  What is that thick board under each tier?

This is the exact picture I have been given from a bride, although she wants round tiers. I have sourced round vases and I had planned on dowelling the base and middle tiers to take the weight of the vases. The vases are to be filled with rose petals. My concern is how do I secure the rim of the vase to the cake drum which is supporting the tier above? Would glass glue stick to the board. Royal Icing? I even wondered about sticking a thin cake card to the top of the vase and then using RI to glue the cake drum to the card.

I have this nightmare of someone knocking against the cake table and the cake coming crashing down if the tiers are not secured!!

AI have done this a couple of times: glue a drum board into the middle of the underside of each main drum board; it then slots into the top of the vase, a snug fit adds more security and you can wrap the rim with ribbon and stick white paper to the underside so it looks nice and pretty if people look underneath.

You must tell them to cut the bottom tier and advise the upper tiers only be cut once disassembled otherwise it could very well topple if they try to cut the top/middle tiers!

Thanks for that suggestion - that makes perfect sense.

AYou're very welcome :-)

This works well for those annoying metal ring cake stands too as I always had a fear that cakes would just slip off!