hi everyone!
I'm getting married in October, and I'd really love to try making my own wedding cake. I've taken all the Wilton classes, made some cakes for birthdays and such, but I've never done a real-life wedding cake. Since it's April now, I would be able to do some practice before making the actual cake. The whole wedding is going to be pretty simple, and likewise the cake would not be too elaborate. Anyway, I would really love to make the cake myself, but my mom doesn't think I'm going to have any time for it. What do you all think? Would it be too much work for me, or should I go for it?
It depends on how organized you are. For my wedding, I did all the cooking, decorations, invitations, make-up etc. Well, I didn't do the cake since I wasn't into decorating then. I'm pretty sure I would have made it myself if I knew then what I know now 
It was a small wedding and mostly family so it wasn't too much of a deal. Goodluck! 
Well, as far as skill - you can do it. I made a wedding cake that everyone LOVED after just three classes of course 1! (Our teacher didn't show up for the last class!)
But time... that's something altogether different... How big is your wedding? how much of the other stuff are you doing/responsible for?
My best friend had just 50 guests, but she was doing the flowers herself (with her sister), She was making the meal herself (with her mom and sister's help) and she and I were making the decorations for the wedding and I made the three tier wedding cake. I'm telling you, it took me one day to bake it, and make up the frosting, and then it took me several hours to fill, ice it and make the roses and borders. I wasn't able to do ANYTHING else the day before the wedding - just that...
I "suppose" you could freeze your iced layers already complete and premake your decorations too.... and then just assemble it the day before and then stick it all in the refrigerator ready to go for the big day...
but still, if you have a friend who can do it, it might take a LOT of stress off you!
Melissa
I say go for it. I was only engaged for about 2 months and I made my own cake. I wouldn't have done it any other way. I will tell you though that my actual wedding cake was dummies and we had sheet cakes prepared in the back to be served. That was so much easier!!! I would definitely recommend that to you. My reasoning behind that was that I had only done a few simple cakes and I could not take the embarassment of my own wedding cake that I made falling over in the middle of the reception. Since I wasn't quite confident in my wedding cake skills yet I thought that was the best way to handle that. My dummies turned out beautifully and the servers loved that the sheet cakes were so easy to cut and serve.
I'm currently contemplating the same thing! Though I'm not getting married until fall of '08 but I'm thinking ahead to see where my budget is!
I've had mixed thoughts as well. I think it depends on how elaborate your wedding is in terms of size. My best friend's getting married in July and is having a $100,000+ affair! So no, haha - she won't be making her cake b/c of all the "hoopla" around the event. However, for me, who's having a less than $10,000 wedding with less than 75 guests, I think I may do it. If you plan ahead in terms of making the frosting and refrigerating/freezing it as well as the cakes (which I've never done but I see people who post that they do on CC) then I think it's possible!
And if you practice you will get better and better at making it more efficiently which will hopefully take out the "kinks" the week of. Don't forget if you have room in your fridge you can make it prior to the day before!
I'm interested in what you ultimately decide though so let me know! 
I'm planning on doing my own cake for my wedding in July. Our wedding is going to be small, with only close friends and family, so if it isn't perfect, they will still love me!!! I think it really comes down to how much time you will have to actually put into making it VS. time to prepare for the actual wedding. As I said before, ours is VERY low key, so I don't have tons of prepartion to do before hand. I also have lots of family and girlfriends that are ready and waiting to lend a hand if needed.
If you choose to do your own cake, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you'll post a pic! 
Yaya
My best friend's getting married in July and is having a $100,000+ affair! So no, haha - she won't be making her cake b/c of all the "hoopla" around the event. However, for me, who's having a less than $10,000 wedding with less than 75 guests, I think I may do it.
100,000???? WHY!?!?!?!? That's just... I don't know... a good portion of a house (in our area, homes are expensive!) or, think of how many vacations that is?!?!?
My wedding 13.5 years ago - with rings and honeymoon - EVERYTHING is counted was, $500! LOL We just did gold bands (no engagement ring). We got married by a judge, had two friends take photos, took those two friends out for lunch, spent the night at a little hotel - decent, but not FANCY... and had a decent dinner...
next day I went back to school! LOL And DH back to work! and no, we didn't "have" to get married... we just wanted to keep it simple. Plus, all of DHs family was in Croatia and at the time, going in and out of croatia was difficult because of the war. So, he would be able to have his mom there maybe, but no one else. well, I didn't want to have just MY family and friends there, so we decided just to keep it mainly between ourselves and I've never regretted that - honestly!
Melissa
I say that if it's something you're capable of, and something you enjoy, why not go for it? I would say that it would probably be better to use decorated dummies with sheet cakes to serve, if you're going to do the cake yourself, just because it gives you the extra time and breathing room to get your cake done a little early so it's not added to your last minutes stress. Do a couple of practice cakes before you decide, and above all--enjoy your wedding! 
The key word here is ORGANIZATION b/c as women we can do everything.
Let me share with you: We planned our daughters quinceanera for 1-1/2 years. I started buying all non-persihable items way back. But there are A LOT of things you have to make or prepare the week before the event. I baked and decorated 160 butterfly cookies we served as favors, baked about 12 lbs cookies (biscochitos) to put in the tables. I diced and pre-package cheese and ham and prepared cheese balls for the appetizers, I made 5 gal punch for a fountain we put up. I baked and decorated the cake (for 250 people) with fresh flowers arrangements (I made them too). I had to set up the cake and finish detailing the ballroom. My family helped with this too. Of course we got to church 5 minutes before mass started (we were to be there 30 minutes prior).
And I'm not even counting the make up, the helping my daughter to get dressed, the finishing ironing her dress, the hair, etc. I had a lot of help from my husband and my son and my family, but I was very tired next day, because we got home at 5:30 am. and had to get up at 10 am to take my cousins to the airport.
Sorry this is too long, but I'd like you to know there are a lot, A LOT of little details that take time away from you, even if it is a small event. You need everything to be perfect. I don't think I looked tired at the party, but people were looking more at her, not me. But in your wedding you're going to be the center of attention so you have to look perfect. Adding stress to your event may not be such a god idea.
That is great. I did my own wedding cake and it was therapy for me-people left me alone. Wonderful, beautiful day!
You can definitely do it.
Bake your cakes a month ahead-one day for cake baking-wrap and freeze.
Thaw-Ice and decorate Thursday evening so icing can set (Saturday Wedding).
CONGRATULATIONS!
HAPPY BAKING AND DECORATING,
Chef Angie
You guys are AWESOME!! Thank you so much for wonderful, honest advice. I really want to make my own (and now that ChefAngie said people left her alone while she did hers, well...that may be a bit of a bonus lol!) I'm going to do some practice cakes (some dummy cakes) and see what happens! And hopefully you won't see me posting about this in the "Cake Disaster" forum!!
Thanks again!
Solecito, you are a Wonder Woman! Rock on! And thanks for the encouragement!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%