I have been asked to do a wedding cake for a friend of a friend. But here is the catch....the couple that are getting married had decided not to have a cake, due to them being so high priced. (come on who doesn't have a cake at thier wedding?!) Anyway, my firend has asked me to do their cake as a surprise thing / gift for the couple, he'll be paying me. Now here comes the trouble-some part. I am trying to ask him the normal questions one would ask to find out what they want....flavor, colors, fillings, icing type, ect. But is a guys guy, and says it's all up to me. I am stuck. I personally know NOTHING about the couple, never met them. So I have NO earthly idea where to start. The wedding isn't until August, so I guess I still have a few months to stress, and ring out some kind of information out of him.
I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone. If so what did you do?
Never happened to me. I was going to do my sisters wedding but she decided to have her date when my husband & I were out of the country. She is a penny pincher & did the cake but did not want to pay for the grooms cake. So a friend of hers paid for it. My sister knew about it so maybe you will be able to talk to the bride & groom. If not I would go with something classic. French vanilla, raspberry filling keep it traditonal nothing funky. Hope this helps.
Regular vanilla cake with vanilla or creme bouquet buttercream, no filling (except the icing) or do vanilla custard or vanilla bavarian cream for the filling. I know, sounds so, well, vanilla, but that's always the safest!
Traditional, simple, and elegant - stacked tiers with ribbon or roses around the bottoms of the tiers are both very in vogue right now.
The idea of talking to the MOH is brilliant! She definately should know this stuff and is in a good position to ask questions about anything that she doesn't know right off hand without looking suspicious!
Can't wait to see what you end up doing - I know it will be fabulous! 
excellent idea Holly the maid of honor is certainly the ticket, that should make it a lot less stressful, but I agree with the others go simple. Good luck don't forget to post.
I had a similar situation happen to me. Someone else was paying for the cake but at least I knew a little bit about what the bride wanted. All she asked for was a square cake to resemble a present. The rest was left up to me. I enjoyed being able to put my own "twist" on the cake. Also, if you pick the design, you don't have to worry about messing up and getting the design wrong. 
I understand the reasoning behind keeping the cake and frosting flavors simple, as suggested in other responses, but the bride's preferences in food should be something the maid of honor would know, too.
A vanilla cake is a safe way to go, but if the bride loves chocolate or strawberry (etc), she might be thrilled to have her cake in a different flavor or flavors.
Why is the brides preference important? She won't even get a cake for her guest. TackYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
Not everyone has much money for a wedding! I'm actually impressed by people who do without certain things rather than go into debt for their weddings. Weddings are a bit out of control these days--if only people put as much effort into the actual marriage! 
I'm sure that there are some people who are just plain cheap, but others genuinely can't afford much.
It's very nice that this friend of the bride is giving them a cake as a gift.
Why is the brides preference important? She won't even get a cake for her guest. TackYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
I know it's hard for 'cake people' to believe, but not everyone thinks the cake is an important, or even essential, part of a wedding. When I got married (before becoming a 'cake person'), we got engaged at Easter and married in June (and no, I wasn't pregnant). With so little time to worry about the details, when I saw that the banquet hall could include a sheet cake as part of the dinner package, I jumped on it. One less thing for me to do/worry about.
That's right. I had a sheet cake at my wedding. And not just a sheet cake to hide in the kitchen for additional servings. It was right there, out in the open and we did the traditional cutting ceremony on it. It just wasn't that important to me...and I truly don't think it was the slightest bit important to my guests. They were there to see me and my husband be married, not to eat cake.
Melissa in KY
I had a $60 cake from a grocery store bakery at my wedding. It was plain white and my grandma arranged some fresh flowers on it. It's not what I wanted at all, but we just didn't have the money for a fancy cake. (This was before my cake decorating days, too). In fact, nothing was fancy at my wedding! The marriage has been great, though...11 years and counting.
I agree with Holly. My hubby and I had a very simple and small wedding. We got married in a church but I wore a simple dress (no wedding dress),and my husband wore a suit. We did not have a reception or a wedding cake. The family gathered after the ceremony at my parents house for homemade desserts. We saved quite a bit of money and we were able to put a downpayment on a house within 6 months. Sometimes I think it would have been nice to do the big fancy thing, but then I look around at my beautiful home and my family, and I know we made the right decision.
Sorry to hi-jack the thread...just thought I'd throw that out there!!
Woohoo for Holly PJ! I agree wholeheartedly with the 'effort' statement.
My Ex-husband was right in there planning our wedding day, all the while subscribing to a phone dating service, which after the wedding was costing US over 200.00/month that I didn't know about. And picking up prostitutes just a month before our 1st anniversary.
Anyway, back to the topic here....if you are sensible about a wedding budget, and stick to it without going crazy, you can have your version of a dream wedding without having to pay for it for the rest of your life.
And it's so nice of this friend to offer to pay for the cake. That's a true friend!
The MOH sounds like the way to go, and if that doesn't pan out, how about getting the number for the Mother of the Bride?
Why is the brides preference important? She won't even get a cake for her guest. TackYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
Not everyone has much money for a wedding! I'm actually impressed by people who do without certain things rather than go into debt for their weddings. Weddings are a bit out of control these days--if only people put as much effort into the actual marriage!
I'm sure that there are some people who are just plain cheap, but others genuinely can't afford much.
It's very nice that this friend of the bride is giving them a cake as a gift.
I can attest to the high cost of todays weddings. My daughter is getting married June 16th and though we have been do-it-yourselfers this whole year and a half, we're still forking out a chunk. We made the formal wear, all the invitations and corrosponding stationary, the favors, and I'll be doing the cake and the flowers. All I keep thinking is this money could have bought a house 30 years ago!!!
Oh, this is a perfect topic for me. (sorry for the length of this post)
My mother told me when I got engaged, "You'd better start saving because I can't afford it". My mother was never married and we lived with my grandparents who helped her financially from the day she was born until their deaths. Of couse this led to other problems, but that's another thread....
For my wedding my in-laws paid for the reception hall as my father-in-law knows a lot of caterers. In an effort to save a lot of money, I ordered the invitations directly and did the calligraphy (thankfully I know how) myself. I bought all the supplies for the centerpieces and made them myself (my hubby helped a little). Hubby and I went to the Mikasa outlet and bought lead crystal photo frames and then used copier paper to wrap them along with ribbons and the printed ribbon that his sister bought us (with our names and the date) for our favors.
As for the cake, I heard so many good things about Alba's (in Brooklyn) that I said we'd get the cake from there. I never heard or spoke another word about it - as the reception hall mgr. was "taking care of it" (just asked me the flavor, I think). Anyway it wasn't that great and on our anniversary it was even less great that after two bites or so we threw it away!
And the limos. My father-in-law kept saying he was getting the limos. Well I just found out about two weeks ago (I was married 14 years three weeks ago) that the limos were done at the very last minute. I already knew that hubby and I paid for them. I had always wanted a horse and carriage as my one extravagance, but my father-in-law got us a Rolls Royce. Whoopie. And we paid through the nose because it was the last minute.
All in all it cost me and my hubby a little over $12,000. And again, that doesn't include the hall. And my mom paid for my dress and veil which cost her $880.00 ($530 for the dress and $350 for the headpiece/veil).
Wedding prices are ridiculous. Remember this was 14 years ago, too!
Back to the topic at hand, I would make the cake just however you want to make it. I would definitely go traditional (no wacky, topsy-turvy cake)! But something that you feel is pretty should be more than fine, after all it's a gift. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
I might be in the minority, but I like to be given complete creative control! In this case I would stick with traditional and I like the white on white suggestion since you don't know the color. Since this cake is a present, maybe make it a "present cake"? Just a thought! THere must be a pic in the gallery somewhere using white and ivory? There is a cake in the Wilton Yearbook 06 that I like using white and ivory and it could go with any colors I think!
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