Ack! I'm Making My Own Wedding Cake...
Decorating By DoniB Updated 11 Jul 2007 , 4:04pm by Aliwis000
I think what your doing is fantastic!! I envy you! I hadn't done much in the way of cake decorating when I got married(2 yrs in 4-H as a kid) so it never crossed my mind that I could/should do it myself. My DH and I paid for our whole wedding ourselves and it would have saved us even more money if I knew then what I do now! Funny thing too is that we had our photo album out last week for something and we were looking at the cake, we loved it at the time but we both realized I've done some pretty descent, more creative work myself and I've only been at it a little more then a year. You won't have that problem, you'll look at that cake and feel nothing but love and pride!! No matter how it turns out!
Sounds like you and your future DH have had some bumps in the road along the way (as we all do) so your cake will be a true tribute to your love and relationship. You'll have some bumps in the way but with his help and support you will have a beautiful cake in the end....much like your marriage will be!
Best of luck to the two of you!!
PS I agree with the listed posted....sorry I got off track 
There is an upside and a downside for DIY, just wanted to make sure you were getting the whole "Murphy's Law" version and covering your bases so you're PREPARED for this project. By having the quotes this is a "cover thy buns" if you end up with the flu the week before your wedding (hey, it helped me lose 18 pounds in 3 days to have my dress on the edge of too loose!).. Didn't want to have you only thinking that this project is going to be puppy dogs and rainbows if you weren't experienced with tiered cakes outside of a Wilton class.
I wasn't trying to be snarky or saying "you can't do it", the reality is you can, but you've got to be ready for the worst case senario to happen just as everyone here who makes wedding cakes for a living is. Not having all of the details at our disposal with your post, we simply don't know all of the details behind where your skill level is with cakes in the first place, if your reception site is at a location that you cannot bring a DIY cake in (even with my license I've gotten grilled by reception sites trying to refuse delivery on cakes to the extent that if I were a bride I'd be PO'd with a site), and on and on and on.
Don't take my advice the wrong way, it's meant to make sure that you have gone through all of these things first. There have been post after post after post of brides who haven't done their research who have made birthday cakes for friends so a wedding cake can't be THAT much harder and find themselves scrambling because of the physics of the situation. I also work with reception halls and I see bride after bride after bride who don't think of the behind the scenes details of their DIY projects and find half of their decorations on the ground by the time they get there for the reception or half of their chocolate favors completely melted from the sun amongst the laundry list of "Murphy's Law of Weddings"..
Have a wonderful time making your cakes, just remember to keep food safety as the most important detail (leaving the cake out overnight at your reception site may not be the best idea on earth, so at least have a box tall enough to cover the cake so no "critters" can get at it!), same goes for the RI items, make sure you're using pasteurized eggs or pasteurized meringue powder to make them. Cover thy buns!
I just want to wish you both congrats...and I bet its going to be spactacular..just do as much as you can and with all the advice from the pros on this site you will do fine! you already have the talent, Tina
thanks! I appreciate that you're trying to make sure I CTB. 
I don't want to get into any legal trouble, of course. And you did bring up some stuff that I added to my 'just in case' list, to be prepared for.
As for leaving it out at the site... that's only if I have to. I think I'll be able to decorate everything before-hand, and simply set it up the morning of. That's what I'm shooting for, anyhow! That would be a lot less trouble for me! LOL The hall where the food will be is free of pests and would not be open to anyone but me once the cake is there. But covering the cake somehow would be a grand idea. Thanks for reminding me of that!
As long as everything is ready to go with spare parts and extra supports you shouldn't have a problem. The reason I mentioned having a box to cover it if you do set it up the night before is to keep not only mice and bats out but bugs as well (like noseums). Even if a site is "pest free" those darn things sneak in there every once in a GREAT great while. It's why my inspector doesn't even want me having cake dummies with sugar anything sitting out because it's just bait even though I keep everything in and around my licensed kitchen white glove clean 
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I'm a beginner so no real advice for you. I just wanted to say congratulations on your upcoming wedding, good luck on the prep work and have a ton of fun. Not too many people can say they've been able to do their own wedding cake! You're definitely more woman than I am! Please post pics so we can see how it turned out.
I haven't been able to read through the entire post yet, but just thought I would share with you that I too made my own wedding cake and had to drive it 3 hours to the beach where we were getting married!!! I couldn't stand the thought of someone else making my cake!!
Remember that you are the bride -- if something doesn't go quite right with the cake, you can change it to fit what is happening -- not a luxury we usually have when it is someone else's cake!!
My only other advice is to start assembly earlier than you originally feel you should. I spent so much time getting my cake setup and making final touches that my hair and makeup people had to rush to get me done in time, which isn't good!
Good luck to you and congratulations!!
i made my own cake and was sorta happy with how it turned out.....i ended up leaving out details and cutting corners to save on time tho and wished i had instead made a dummy.....luckily, the reception location allowed me to come in and set up the cake the night before......no one else was allowed in the hall after i locked it up and it was still fine the next day but of course not fresh (my guests still raved about the taste tho)......my advise is the dummy cake as well......u can make it way ahead and u can decorate it up as detailed as u want......u'll have plenty of time then to make the kitchen cakes and no stress on ur big day!
I can see the point of it being a lot of work/stress and that is a big thing to consider doing. But if anyone could do it it sounds like you can. Its a small wedding at a friends so no big production, and after being together so long I imgaine you are both very mature adults who can appreciate the day for what it really stands for, the two of you pledging to love one another for life, and not ( like some of my friends who are getting married) consider it just a big stage show to impress people. Good luck with the cake and congratulations!
~Alicia
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