it will be easier for your husband to carry if you could find any kind of box maybe??

but if he's got it ok--that's cool

but a 24" bottom board that's kind of unweildy

You are also too funny!  The mess in the oven I thought I handled pretty well, thanks to YOU!    (and mom's Ativan!  he he he!)  Panicking is NOT a meltdown.  A meltdown is actual tears.   I only cried once and that was today, thank you very much!   All the doweling is in place and I also used 3 pointed bamboo sticks to hold the two tiers together.  I still have to put on borders and flowers in the morning, and help my daughter make bouquets.  And then there is the decorating where the reception is held.  It just goes on and on.  Seriously, PM me when you get a chance, K8Memphis!  I would like to mail you something after the cake crumbs settle.... 

Oh, and I took your advice.  Had hubby cut the board down to 20"!  Much easier to handle.

Ivtig, you are something else.  I hope your daughter realizes what a dear, giving woman her mother is.  I know  mine wouldn't have done a tiny bit of what you have done.  It does explain a lot, although I have to say that there are a lot of cakers who are just as unprepared as you but don't have near as good of a reason as you do.  So now in addition to posting a finished cake pic I would love to see a pic of the dress and maybe one of you and your daughter.  That may be pushing it but I would love to see the dress you remade, even if there aren't any faces showing.  I don't normally look at the gallery pics but would love to see one on this thread, hopefully it would be allowed since it relates to this thread, the dress I mean.  I thought earlier in the week that it would be simpler to just go over and give you a hand but I am in MN.  I will be eagerly awaiting more updates.  Hope it is all smooth sailing now, although you still have a lot ahead of you. 

OK the baking is done YEA.  Frost each layer, if one layer is thicker place that one on the bottom. when filling the cake make sure to place your bead of icing about 1/4 inch from the edge so that when pressed together the icing will come to the edge of the cake. Once you have them iced. Take the clean next size smaller pan upside down; and center it on the bottom tier  the rim will give you a guide circle for placement of your rods. The rods should be 1/4 inch in from the rim circle I usually use 12 roded in a 14 in cake. Remember they need to be even with the cake not to high. Now what I do is take flaked coconut and spread inside the circle. This will make the cake easier to serve. Once your second one is  stacked. Mark where your plate will go repeat the inverted pan and coconut. But before placing the divider plate  cut a dowel 1/4 shorter then your 2 tiers. sharpen one end with a pencil sharpener; take the pointed end and push to the first cardboard then tap with a small hammer sending the dowel into the bottom layer, push all the way down as this secures the cake for transportation. I freeze my cakes at for least 2 hrs before icing as this helps the
with the handling of the big tiers.

When you do your next big cake I suggest that when you are baking your cakes that you strip the outside of the pans. Whet I do is buy a heavy weight towel cut into 3" high strips, make smiling faces at the people I know that have a Serge and have the strips serge on the edges. then pull tightly around pan mark it and have the ends serged together. When ready to bake you prepare the pan with your coating. soak the ready made strip in cold water wring out the excess water pull over the pan from the bottom. these will be tight. place pan in freezer for 20 minutes to really get the strip and pan cold. Measure your cake batter and bake. What I do next is when they come out of the oven I take my cake circle and press the cake level while hot. This eliminates having to cut and level your cakes. and the cakes are so moist people have said they melt in their mouth. Good luck and we want pictures!! I don't know what kind of a vehicle you are transporting it in. But your best luck is not the very back of the vehicle, I have a sheet that i place clean towels folded to make the back seat level sit the cake down on this and it does not slide when some yo yo pulls out in front of you and cushions it from the pitfalls of the road conditions.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and tips!!  You bakers are truely wonderful and giving!  I promise to post a couple of pics on this thread sometime next week.  It is 5 am here, so am preparing to decorate!  Pray for me.  I have all these flowers and icing and am not sure what I will end up with.  Hopefully no more meltdowns.  Love to you all!!

We will wait patiently for the pictures! Have a JOY filled day.
 

A few things I have learned about the wasc - make sure eggs and sour cream are at room temp if not a slight bit warmer. Make sure to use the batter amounts in wiltons measure it out. Use a flower nail in anything over 8". When it says mix for 2 min that is on a low seep if you have a Kitchen Aid. Pound the pans to get some of the air bubbles out. I also use baking strips - my cakes never rise with a big dome, in fact I have to lower my temp to 320 and they come out perfect.
 

where's the pictures?

how was the wedding?

Thanks to all of you, the cake turned out fabulous!  People raved and raved about the taste, too!  I wish I would have made more of the chocolate with the Oreo filling, as that is the one that people wanted seconds of and asked for the recipe!  I was so pleased how it turned out (for a rookie, at least).  I was going to include the veil picture, but the rules say no people photos.  I will see if I can crop a segment later.  

Again, Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!  Those of you who offered your help, had a part in my success! 

 Cake closeup bottom edge:

Cake table  The picture below shows the filling showing, but to the naked eye, I never saw an issue

The candle on the table was in memory of my dad who passed away last year.

Looks like if you click on the picture you get a bigger view.  

It looks beautiful.

It turned out fantastic.  I will admit, I was really wondering for a while there what kind of mess you would end up with.  It was a little crazy there for a while in cakeland at your house.  But I am so glad it looked so good and tasted so good and survived stacking and travel, etc.  I was worried about a disaster there too.  So glad it worked out and all your labors and problems paid off.  Well done.  If you hadn't posted pics I think K8 and I would have hunted you down for pictures!!  Thanks for sharing the end result.  By the way, your shimmery flowers are just lovely.

Thank you, Denettbe and cazza1.  The doweling worked perfectly.  Nothing budged after a 20 mile ride with lots of twists and turns.  I had attached the whole cake to the board with lots of double sided tape, then dowels on each level and three bamboo skewers through all layers.  Whew!  I really do appreciate and totally understand the bakers that do this all the time and WHY they charge so much for a wedding cake!  I wouldn't do it again for then than double the going rate.  LOL!  You all are amazing!

wow you did amazing!!!

that's a stunning display and a beeautiful cake omg

and for a first wedding cake--get outa here

that dang camera did like x-ray vision that's the choco tier huh

it picked up the difference in the icing coverage from the choco cake to the filling

the whole table is so elegant, loving and bridal--motorcycle and all!!!

so everything went good/great?

how did you feel did you get enough rest? (no ;)

is it all a blur?

and the candle for you dad-- a treasured and sweet sweet touch

Part of the little dark things are the body of little butterflies I think.  You can see one on the close up pic.  There are more, a couple on the bottom tier.  Yes, I spent too much time looking closely at it also.

Yayyy you did it! It looks great. I love your flowers!

I wanted to reiterate that the WASC recipe was the best choice, I believe, and thank you for encouraging me to continue with it.  After the overflowing mess, I was afraid to go forward with so many layers left to bake.  I made each layer twice, so 6 recipes (only have one pan of each size) and following advice on here, I cooked only one layer at a time and carefully watched it.  No more fiasco after the first one!  The taste of the WASC was wonderful, especially using the "chocolate fudge" Betty Crocker one.  With the oreos mixed into the buttercream, it was beyond yummy!  Any newbies reading this thread, I agree that the WASC recipe is the one to use!  Yummy, easy to handle (even with having to flip over larger cakes!)

Beautiful What a gift of love! My Daughter included pictures and candles of her brothers and Grandparents of both the groom and hers. People had never heard of that but I see it more all the time.

I think you did an awesome job and wedding cakes will be in your future for sure!
 

Can I post pictures of the veil with the bride and the groom?  (side view)  The rules say no actual people in the picture.  Will I get in big trouble?

i get confused about that--i'm not sure

but i've got a picture of me in my avatar

and i just don't know

hey--you could send it to me in a pm ;)

you just hit the 'insert image' button first

it's right next to the right & left arrows

hey what are the arrows for?

oh they are undo & redo arrows--cool!

I think you should post the picture, it was directly related to the content of the thread.  And I really want to see what teeny little sewing project kept you from baking cakes and making icing for a trial run.  K8, you are a blond?  For some reason I was picturing you with dark hair.  Funny how that is.