I just wanted to say that all of you who make so many weddingcakes. how do you cope with a stress. i just realised that it is totally not worth it for me.
i start panicking a week before. i cann't think about anything else.
then the delivery ( i really hate that part about it)
i thought every possible way to get my cake to the hotel and assembe it there but that specific cake i couldn't do it. i just added the figures in the hotel. it was soo heavy. to get it in te car i would have needed a trolly. but i didn't have one so i killed my back.
Finally i get to the hotel, set it nicely up...guess what some huge guy comes with a ladder and starts moving my cake table 
i scream, omg careful please. He tells me lamp just burned so i have to change the bulb and he opens up the falce cealing. There is so much rubbish falling from the sky and i am trying to guard my cake. so finally i just leave told the stuff from the hotel not to touch the cake and be very careful with it. but even now i am not sure if everything went ok.
So in short i am just saying that weddingcakes are sooo much stress and I ADMIRE YOU ALL who make so many of them! From now on i will try to run away from weddincake orders.
First off, I don't have much experience with this since I have only done one wedding cake. However, the main thing that you need to do to relieve some of your stress is to LEAVE after setting up the cake. You aren't responsible for what happens to the cake after you set it up and leave. I would make sure that someone from the Wedding sees it and gives it the OK but after that... LEAVE! If some big guy comes along and ruins the cake then it is his fault and he will have to take the blame for it. Not you.
Just my 2 cents...
Lazy_Susan
OMGoodness!!!! What an idiot!!!! 
I would have freaked and screamed!!! Then I probably would have said to myself, "I made it, I set it up, it looks fine and I have the pictures to prove it. I'm outta here!" Then I'd be freaking out on the ride home.
I have only made three wedding cakes and one anniversary cake replica. With my first I panicked. With my second for the following weekend, I panicked some more especially when I NEVER heard back from the happy bride and the bride's mother how it was 
My third cake a few months ago, I enjoyed it so much I still can't wait to do another one. I was antsy just to get the cake started. 'Course I have been doing a lot of sheet cakes for retirements, promotions, and birthdays inbetween so I was able to hone my skills a bit. I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Every cake I decorate is a challenge and I love it! I eat it up so-to-speak 
!
I don't think you have anything to stress about! It's obvious you put so much time into your designs and your modeling! I envy that btw!!!!! I don't have patience one for that!!!!! Well, I just reread that and decided that I can understand why you probably wanted to throttle that guy. It's BECAUSE you put so much time and effort into it that if someone even breathes on it before the reception it's cause for panic.
Amy
Liis
Has this happened to you with every wedding cake you've done? I have made a few wedding cakes, and most have gone of without any problems, there have been 2 or three that have literally had me either in tears, or without any sleep from worry. The topsy turvy cake i made actually made me phisically ill, it just wouldnt turn out, and i had to take it assembled to the reception, hubby helped me to take it (thank goodness for that, no way i could have carried the monstrosity on my own, i wouldnt have even been able to take it out of the car). The night before, i finished it, put it in the fridge and went to bed, and the whole night i kept waking up and wondering if it has fallen into pieces in the fridge, and what i would do if it had, i actually got up a couple of times to check on it. TERRIBLE!!!
My first wedding cake i ran out of chocoalte in the middle of the night, and had to wait till 5.00am till one of the stores opened so that i could go and buy more chocolate, GRRRR.
So dont worry, not every wedding cake experience is going to be like this one. Some will be so good, you wont be able to wait for the next one : ) The cake looks fantastic by the way.
Speaking of silly men doing stuff next to your cake, i had the same experience yesterday. I went to deliver the cupcakes engagement cake, the party was on the second floor of a pub, once again thank goodness for hubby that helped me carry all the boxes up the stairs. Anyway i set up the glass stand, and put all the cupcakes on, and first find this disgusting fat fly walking on the table, i had to swat it away, so that it wouldnt get onto the cake, i think i must have killed it cause i didnt see it again. Just as i was finishing with the set up, this guy comes up to me and tells me he's the DJ, dunno why he had to tell me that. But anyway, im getting all my boxes ready, to get out of the place (I dont want to see my cake eaten by a swarm of massive flies, if they decide to attack as i turn my back) and i see the guy coming up the stairs with this massive black box, and he says "This table is pretty sturdy" and im panicking, cause he's going to put this piece of equipment on the table where the cake is sitting, i said, no, um, aaah. And he just pops it on there anyway. I just turned around and left. Im hoping the cake made it through the night. The girl that bought it was sooo lovely, i'd hate for her cake to have been ruined by flies or a moron DJ.
ooooh, how i blabber, sorry 
Nati 
I get pretty stressed out about wedding cakes too, but I still do them because I get paid better.
I have a few new stipulations in my contract because of some really stressful moments and I'm considering an additional charge when busy-body moms are involved.
It's very hot in July here in Oklahoma, and one bride insisted on having an outdoor wedding reception at a winery. This place was advertised as fancy, but the road to it was barely gravel! It was a 5-tier, fondant covered cake with gumpaste parrot tulips and a 2-tier chocolate groom's cake.
The "tent" was providing some shade, but the wind was blowing so hard that most of the flaps were flying. The table was bare strong enough to hold the cakes AND was on un-level ground. I couldn't level the table, so I used the table cloth that had been bunched to level the cake. Boy, do I hate bunched table cloths! Then there were bugs!!! My husband helped me set up the cakes, straighten the table, and take pictures. Before we left, I found the person in charge to verify that the cake was standing when I left and what needed to be done to prevent a crash if the table turned out to be less strong than I thought. I was a wreck.
A few days later, I heard from the bride that everyone loved the cakes. I was very glad because many times I never hear from the bride.
Sooo, now in my contract, there is a paragraph that must be initialed that states that I take no responsibility for outdoor weddings and heating/cooling conditions for indoor weddings must be at a proper level to protect the cakes. It also states that a proper table must be used that will be able to hold a very heavy cake. The customer is also required to be sure that the cakes are protected from other people, kids, bugs, etc. Once I set up the cake, it is no longer my responsibility. So far my contract has held up pretty well. I have never had anyone come back on me.
Well, I'm through with one of my nightmare deliveries. Sorry it was so long.
Michele
i was just reading your stories and i could imagine it in front of my eyes.
and yes Nati, i have panicked with each and every one of them. (the tall ones.)
I have only done 3 but there has always been complications and happenings that are not up to me. I think this is the reason.
The first one i hated to do and her style was so not me. second one ...hmm my baby boy broke his forhead the same night when i was supposed to be decorating and we were running in ER.
and the third one i never expected it to be soo heavy. i was actually scared that the base would break. because every tier consisted 1 1/2 cakes not only one. but i learned again something new.
thanks for your posts and it is pretty cool to read your stories with the wedding cakes. keep them coming. 
I have no idea how all of you deliver cakes already assembled. I'm in awe of those who do that. I assemble ALL of my cakes on site. They are always transported in separate boxes sitting flat in the back of my van. The weight alone of a pre-assembled cake is enough to deter me from even trying to transport it assembled.
Although transporting non-assembled is no guarentee either! I was heading to one reception where I was doing the cake and catering, and whoever helped me load the van didn't secure one container of silverware. I was half a block from my place and the HEAVY container of knives slid over and landed on top of the bottom tier! (It was too large to put in a box, so I just had it loosely covered in saran wrap.) I heard the crash and pulled over, threw open the back door of the van and almost had a heart attack then and there!
Fortunately.......I had already put the wooden dowels in the bottom tier and the silverware container landed mostly on those dowels, preventing it from smashing the bottom tier! (So if those dowels stopped a 25-lb container of silverware from collapsing the cake, then I know they will work just fine holding up the rest of the cake!)
One corner of the cake was "kinda scrunched" but salvagable. When I got to the site and started the assembly, I was able to re-do the icing and borders. The bride had left lots of florals for the cake decor so the bad part of the cake was in the back and covered with florals. The cake looks "perfect" in the pictures.
I now have one of my staff drive the smaller delivery van with the cake alone, while all catering equipment goes in the big van.
If I had to stress out over delivering an assembled cake....... lord help me!
I don't know how any of you do it - the huge, elaborate cakes OR the delivery. I'd be so stressed out!
Cheers, from
SwampWitch
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