Ok guys, I need your help. I'm making my first wedding cake for a friend next weekend (March 31). She wants something very simple - yellow cake, bc icing, white chocolate filling, pink ribbon around the bottom of each tier & small pink dots just above the ribbon. She requested 3 tiers & a the rest can be a sheet cake. She's expecting 186 people for the reception. Should I plan to make for 200? I was thinking 14, 10, 6 for the tiers & then a half sheet. Does that sound like enough/too little? Also, does anyone have any advice re: baking, assembling, delivering? I'm not really sure how to display the cake either. She says she has total confidence in me & I can do what I want. I'm excited to have the opportunity to do this for her, but I feel like I'm walking into this without a clue as to what I'm doing. I'm starting to panick a little! 
Any advice/guidance would be appreciated!
P.S. - I still haven't found the white chocolate filling recipe I want to use. I've tried making a few, but I haven't liked them. Does anyone have a fave they would be willing to share?
The amount of cake sounds about right to me.
For the display its up to you, i would place on a thicker board that is done in the same colors as the cake, or use a silver plateau if you have one.
I think for the table i would do a yellow table cloth if available, then sprinkle the table with pink rose petals.
First welcome to CC!
Have you done tiered cakes before?
Is the cake recipe you are using dense enough to be stacked?
Are you making the cake from scratch or mix?
What serving chart do you use? I use wilton because with my cakes everyone gets a good slice but others don't like the wilton chart because they don't feel the slices are big enough. If a reception site is serving they will probably use the wilton method to slice but if it's a family member/friend you need to make sure they know how to slice and how many servings they should get from your cake. The 10/14 and a 2 layer 11x15 will give you 190 servings.
I like to assemble on-site because then you don't have to worry about any problems in transport but if you are comfortable and have transported tiered cakes before you could stack the bottom two tiers and then add the 6 when you get there. If you do that stabilize the cake with a dowel hammered thru the tiers. Just make sure you can carry the weight of the two tiers together.
You will do great!
Make sure to find out information on how to put dowels in your cake! This is going to make sure that you have enough support to hold your tiers. Then you wont have sagging.
Where is this chart everyone talks about for cutting tiered cakes?? Is it how you cut before you put the frosting on? Could someone give a link!??
Here you go:
http://www.wilton.com/wedding/cakeinfo/cuttingguide.cfm
or
http://www.earlenescakes.com/cakeservinst.htm
Two different schools of thought. I prefer to cut my cakes like earlene but I use wilton's serving guide. Just comes out a bit neater imho!
The white chocolate frosting with this cake recipe makes a great filling.
hth
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/White-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx
Dodibug - The only tiered cake I've made before is the 8, 6 that I did for my Wilton Course III. She wants the basic butter cake from the Cake Mix Doctor. Do you think that will dense enough? If I use dowels will it support the weight without destroying my cake? I'm definitely planning on assembling the cake there - I'm too scared to travel with anything tiered already.
Deani - Thanks for the recipe. I'll try it tonight!
I just made the basic butter cake this weekend. I think it would work. Proper construction is essential with any tiered cake so make sure you read up on the tutorial on here and ask any ??s that you have! Make sure all your dowels are cut to the same height. The one time I had problems is when I rushed to cut the dowels and they weren't right and I had a leaning cake! 
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