I heard that if you order a plain wedding cake with just basic icing and decorate it yourself you can save money cuz the decorating is what costs the most. But my question is- is there a simple way to decorate it? I seen so many pretty cakes with rose petals on the cake, but I heard if you get them from a florist they have chemicals on them that would make them inappropriate to put on a cake without making people sick. So do I use silk petals or flowers? I just am SO worried that if I decorate the cake myself I will have wasted money due to the fact I made it look terrible or not edible. Anyone in the Virginia Beach area that is willing to make me a 50 person wedding cake for a decent price? (doesnt hurt to ask) I know some of you are alot more skilled then I am and might want the practice or the portfolio- I dunno. I am going to attempt to make my grooms cake which if it doesn't fly well then its not a huge deal if I don't have one, but the wedding cake I am really not going to tempt fate and mess up cuz thats the BIG to do.
Aine

You can do this, what i would do is buy a stacked plain cake, don't expect it to be delivered you will have to pick it up or have someone else pick it up. Then either make a bouquet of real or silks and place on top and on a cake that size you may not need much more, just a few flowers to decorate around the base of the cake.

But before doing this you need to price everything out, it maybe cheaper to have a decorator just do the whole thing. If you are willing to take a chance on a new decorator you might find yourself a bargin. If there is a local cake store start there, ask if they know of anyone that may want to take it on.

Good luck to you

Hi Aine,

Welcome to CC and congratulations on your wedding.

We are neighbors of sorts...I'm on the Eastern Shore. I come over there just about every week.

Have you checked out the cake store on Tidewater Drive (south) named the Wine and Cake store. They have alot of things (I mean alot) that you might be able to get some ideas.

I am assuming (sorry if I am wrong ) you decorate cakes. Why don't you make like a 2 round stacked. Then place your wedding color with ribbon on the bottom. I think her name is nati, her cakes are beautiful and she has many examples of this. Just an idea. If I were in the V.B. area I would do it for you....lol...Just to get the expierence

Thank you for the congrats! I don't really decorate cakes- I could in theory if I tried most likely, but I came to this site for ideas and maybe instructions on How to do the cake. Hoping I can find something easy and cost effective. I am a talented artist with paper and pencil as well as my future husband, so maybe between he and I we can maybe decorate a cake with some flowers or something. It doesn't look too hard to stick a flower here and there. Just want something pretty and elegant but yet modest without having to pay alot. I will do a pricing thing like you suggested Stephanie. I can see what silk flowers sell for and the plain cake and then compare it to a fully deced out cake.
thank you all once more for being so helpful.
Aine

The wedding cake in my photo album was made for my son, who at the time lived in Virginia Beach. He now lives in Portsmouth. I flew down from Michigan to make this cake for him, at his request. He always DID like my cakes, plus this one was free LOL. I had never done a wedding cake before, but it was much easier than I thought it would be. I used a very simple, stacked design. My daughter-in-law ordered fresh flowers that were pesticide free. I wrapped the stems in plastic wrap and just stuck in the cake.

Good luck. I hope you can come up with a solution to your problem. Congratulations on your wedding!

An acquaintence of mine works for a professional bakery here in town. He told me that what they do when a bride wants fresh flowers is fill a large bucket or bowl with water and add a few drops of bleach. Then the dip the fresh flowers briefly (a second or two) into the water. Then they rinse the flowers throughly with fresh water to remove the bleach. The bleach itself kills any bacteria or bugs instantly. If you do it quickly the flowers won't get bleached. I saw Alton Brown do this once when working with fresh herbs from the garden. I've done it for the herbs but not for flowers.

Some of the most beautiful wedding cakes can be the plainest of designs, if you and your husband are artists you shouldn't really have a problem with doing this for yourselves.

You can get silk petals from many wedding favour websites and you can buy ready made gumpaste flowers and wedding toppers. I don't know if you bake regularly but you would want to try a few recipes to get the baking part right. If the cake bakes correctly, you will have a good base to cover and go from there. These cakes below have just been covered in sugarpaste and decorated plainly with ribbons, etc.


from cakemyday


from icingandthecake

And somebody put a beautiful cake in the gallery this morning it was just plain with a white/cream ribbon around the base of each tier and one simple lily on the top, I have a feeling it was Boonati but I'm not sure, the flower was gumpaste but you could buy a silk one instead.

I forgot to say along with getting the recipe right, check out some of the postings here about balancing stacked cakes and make sure you have your tiers supported and dowelled correctly.

Thank you Sparkly for boosting my esteem. I love that petal cake you posted! Exactly what I was thinking of honestly. The bleach dip doesn't sound so bad either if I can pick the roses from a neighbors yard. I will look up some butter cream recipes later today and get to thinking! 50 people would require how many tiers? 1-2-3? I was thinking 2 but I am not sure. I know AC Moores has some cake pans for a decent price I can hop over there. Maybe they have a gum paste flower thingy too. OOO this is exciting. I did post in the general forum asking if someone local wants to make the cake- I am up for either or at this point. I have not much time to goof off.
Thank you again everyone!!
Aine

aine, i have seen lots of people on here & elsewhere that got into cake decorating just because they wanted to save money on their wedding cake. with lots of planning ( never hurts to sketch your design on paper), you should do great. you may develop a passion for it! i seen this cake on the internet & saved it. not sure who's it is.

congratulations on the wedding !!!! when is the big day??

from the design you liked I don't think it would be hard to do .. plus ... you have all of us here to walk you through it ..( isn't this place awsome??)

Congratulations on your wedding!! You must be very excited! I wanted to agree with Sparklycakes in that sometimes the less-is-more method can turn out to be the best looking cake. Sometimes I am drawn to the simplicity of cakes like what you're talking about....a simply decorated cake with some flowers strategically placed can be stunning. Also, you may want to check with a florist or two in your area and see if they offer or can order organically grown flowers or flowers that are grown without pesticides, etc. and that are safe for cakes...that way there's no worries about the petals coming in direct contact with the cake. It may cost a little bit more, but it may still be something your budget can afford. You never know until you ask. Here's a few cakes that I have saved to my pc that I thought might be helpful. (**These are not cakes that I have done...and I'm not sure of who made them all ...if I did save the info on the cake designer it's noted in the filename usually.) Good luck with your cake and please let us know what you end up doing and post a pic!! Best wishes for the wedding!!

I am still learning how to work forums so I apologize if I don't name everyone specifically. But Wow you guys are great! All these cakes give me so many options as to how I'd like it to look.
My big day is May 6th and its a semi formal- ivory gown with red roses on the front done in beads and embroidery and the groom is wearing a very nice black suit. He's paying for it all so we can have it our way- I heard too many horror stories about others paying and running the show. We still have so much to do still- any ideas for food for a reception?? I am sure most of you have seen some nice lay outs. It will be around 4pm so we are thinking of horseduvs (sp?) to keep it simple and cost efficiant but I have no idea what to serve. I'd love any input since I never been to a real wedding before this is all silly to me but I know its proper ettiquette. Gosh I can't spell today...
Aine

I definitely think you could make your own if you're going simple. That cake with the rose petals is beautiful!

We did our wedding this past October very cheaply - and it turned out beautiful! We served hors d'eouvres at 2pm, but the location provided the catering to us. We had stuff like chicken salad on croissants, ham & cheese on biscuits, chocolate covered strawberries, a fruit platter, a veggie platter, hawaiian shrimp, spinach-artichoke dip, and stuff like that. We had friends who got married in north carolina and they served sandwiches cut in triangles and choc. chip cookies! Very simple, but so them! And we loved their wedding! Just be creative and serve food that you would enjoy eating, ya know?


Hope some of this helps! Good luck!