Hi all...need some advice.  I've been asked to do a 3-tier wedding cake for September 26th.  This is my first time doing a tiered wedding cake.  I'm pretty sure I have the steps down as to how to ice, support, and stack the cake.  It's going to be pretty simple.  Iced in white buttercream with chocolate buttercream between the layers and decorated with the wedding date cut out in black fondant attached to the cake.  My questions are:

1.  When I have the cake completely iced and decorated, do I just store the cake in the refrigerator until I take it to the venue?  Or, should I leave the cake out the night before?

2.  The cake will have fondant numbers and ribbon around the base of each layer...will those items be okay if I put them on the night before then put in the frig?  Or should I add those the day of the wedding or at the venue?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated...thanks Cindy

my first thought is that you should do a white icing dam around every layer you fill so that when you smooth the icing you will hit the white only kwim? y'know so the chocolate will be surrounded by white --

then y'know the old Kenny Rogers' song "...you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run..."

well that's like this performance area -- i know what i do but you set your own 'rules' and this is accomplished by what you test out as best for you --

i fridge all my cakes and deliver them cold sealed into corrugated boxes -- fondant and buttercream alike -- I know my fridges don't drip inside I know what size boards/boxes fit my fridges, freezers and the different sections of my car --

but some peeps never ever fridge their wares and that works for them so...cue the Kenny Rogers music " you gotta know when to fridge 'em know when to thaw them, know when to torte & fill know when to ice you never count your servings when you're passing out the invites there'll be time enough for counting when the RSVPs come in"

apologies to mr.rogers

best of the best to you

Store it in the fridge and deliver it when it's cold and your life will be much easier. Tiered cakes are far less likely to shift and slide when they're cold. The fondant cutouts should be fine.

oh and same with your letters and decor whether to put the the night before or day of -- this is why God created cake humps that we have to trim off and why we make extra decor pieces -- so ice up a bunch of the trimmings and set some of the extra decor on it -- fridge it overnight like Thursday night and if you like what you see in there Friday afternoon it's a go 

please post a picture if it doesn't raise your blood pressure

If you have room to store it in the frig do so. I would leave the ribbon off until delivery time. K8s advise to try putting extra fondant decorations to a test is very good :) I made 100s of b'cream wedding cakes as much as 2 days in advance and almost never friged them It does depend on the weather in your location. Is it hot and humid? Frig the cake. Is it cool and nice? Don't need to but it's o.k. if you want to.

 thank you kakeladi 

Thank you...that's what I wanted to hear.  I want to deliver it cold!!!

Kakeladi....I live in Denver, CO.  It's still in the 80's right now, but very dry.  I think I will err on the side of caution and still refrigerate the cake overnight before delivering.  And I will take your advice about the ribbon...I will do that at the venue!!  Thanks so much!!