OK girls, I would agree that the fountain/stairs are pretty outdated, but if used in a modern design, they can still produce a "wow". (Don't make fun of me! )

Just last year I had a bride use both in her fall themed wedding and I though it was really pretty. I used a deep red/orange water and the flowers all coordinated well. We tied ribbon around each pillar.

Even antiques in the right setting can look nice.

There are several different views on my website but here are 2 samples:

Hi Hawkette nice cake - how many did it feed ?

I would have been scared the cake would fall or the stairs would!!

It still amazes me that we have all this tulle that we would never use for anything else and yet for every wedding there it is. I never noticed the cakes at weddings till I started doing this back in oct when I decided to learn to do my daughters wedding.

I am so glad I talked my daughter and son-in-law into a black and white wedding. No outdated wedding photos.

peach and tan and baby blue in the 70's

blue and pink in the 80's

I dont remember what the 90's were but

Starbucks coffee, latte, chocolate were pushed hard the last few years.

is it just me or...

do brides always look beautiful and the grooms like they're sick to their stomachs/hung over?





(and someday I'll learn to type and spell!)

Brenda, you look so pretty! Your cake is a Lady Windemere with hearts sucha classic, so well done.

Would you have preferred the cake decorator to not have called you and then just done the best she could? That's how I set mine up--you commission me, I do my best. I make the executive decisions for you, no extra charge.

Doug you cant be looking at my photo!! I was so hungover that I had to have 3 different shot to stop throwing up!! Thank god our DR was invited to the wedding. I spent more time with him that day than with anyone.

After the rehersal dinner the guys decided to have a bachelor party so all the girls took me out. We got back to my place at 4am, the guys were all sitting there and had been back since midnight!!

Which probably explains why I could not remember what my cake looked like.

Sorry, an antique (like 18th Century) chair in a modern setting can be carried off successfully - you won't ever be able to convince me that fountains and stairs (and hearts...) can truly work other than for a recreation of a 70's or 80's wedding cake for an anniversary/vow renewal.. But then, should I ever do a wedding cake, it will be something very non-traditional. If I put a staircase in a cake, it's because it's a dollhouse or something... Fountains and staircases...please pass the pepto...STAT!!! I just can't stomach that and my clients will know that. Once I get my biz started, I will find some locals that do do the fountain/staircase/tuknruffle so that I can farm those out... 'cause they are not crossing my threshold.

Oh, and Minorfan...Love your pic - and LOVE the story as to why you cannot recall the cake...Huzzah!!! Hey, the absolutely important thing is your marriage is still going strong after 30 years! Many more happy years to you both!!!
Namaste
Wendl

Sunlover00--I love your fountain cakes, updated and still making dreams come true! Lots of girls like the fountain.

Doing a fountain or not is like piping roses or strings. It's a matter of paying dues which of course is one of the things this profession can get away with Not doing. We can jump right in and sink or swim because we can lassoo it and make it what we want from the get go.

'Course if you need to pay the light bill...

SL00--lovely and beautiful work <applause here>

Here's another one

I live overseas and the umlaut is already on my keyboard.

alicia.... that topper is just the KING of tacky toppers! I think my eyes might be bleeding.

I have to say.........having just gotten into cake decorating in the past year, and being pretty young......I have always thought that staircases and fountains and basketweave were TOTALLY "ubertacky" as chutzpah so aptly said. However, just a couple of months ago I had a bride contact me and she wanted a basketweave wedding cake and I thought to myself "Here we go.....something really outdated." But the design we came up with was very updated and I ended up loving the end result! So, I am now a firm believer that some of the old "classic" cake decorating styles can be incorporated into a chic modern cake. (Don't know that I will ever be sold on the tuk-n-ruffles, though........ewwwww!)

You have to remember that not only did the cakes have lacy tuk-n-ruffle around them but, in your home the table lamps and vases all had hand crocheted doilies under them. It was a look which people were expecting. Things just looked plain without that bit of lace. I never liked the cheapness of the plastic staircases. I think that was a Wilton thing. They could have been made of something nicer. I guess the plastic went well with that, "wood paneling" on the walls behind. The fountains brought in that, "flowing water" which meant, happiness for you.

I sometimes miss some of the drama and "over do" of the past. I love the old theaters, the massive cars of the 60's, houses with big tall ceilings and yes the days of the hats both for men and women. It so made their outfits complete.

We used to be a proud people and dressed and acted that way. Down for me are: Fast food, skin tight clothing with no flow of fabric, compact cars, houses which are all one big room with no personality, theaters which look like a little room with a big screen T.V. Language which sounds as though they have no vocabulary of appropriate words. We have lost a lot of the glamor and excitement of the past. I even heard this week that there is talk of doing away with capitalization in our written language because no one uses it in emails.

I for one, am very happy that I was a part of the past generation.

I am okay with laughs about how strange these things look today and don't mean to put a damper on them. I just don't want you to feel sorry that everyone in those days lacked for artistic abilities.

No those days will never come back and we don't want everything to look the same our whole lives and some of it is funny to remember how we loved it. I used to sew in the 60's and 70's and when polyester came out I was in Heaven. I made swimsuits, underwear, and a leisure suit for my husband. I hate man made fabrics today.

I also have no pictures to show because it is all on that outdated photo paper. I love my digital camera.

I've really been enjoying reading all of this...except the minor argument (although I did learn a new acronym).

I always thought the Wilton look with the fountain and the stairs and all the little plastic attendants to go on the stairs was designed by Wilton to sell more Wilton.

I think the tuk-n-ruffle was Wilton's simplified version of Australian extensions on the cake...a way to get that pretty lacy look without the complicated work. Just my guess though.

I love the old theaters.BCJean
. I must say I love them to ! Its like you really went to a movie !! Im so excited when we happen to run across one !

still funnest post i've read in a while....
i'm sure this isn't the place, but how are you guys posting photos IN your post? i have mine at the ready....
dang tacky, it is.....

sally

Actually, the thought behind the staircases was more because I was trying to keep costs down by using sheet cakes, but I wanted to somehow incorporate them into the tiered cake. I don't remember how many it was supposed to feed. I think around 200. I had thought about using the bridesmaid and groomsmen figurines, though! Ugh. Looking back at these pictures, there are a lot of places where I've said, "What was I thinking?!?"

type your post then look at the bottom of the text area and there is another darker purple border line that says Attachment posting control panel with a box that reads - Add an Attachment - just hit that button and it will promt you to browse for your photos just like uploading a photo to the gallery.

Sally, instead of using the "Quick Reply" box, click on the "post reply" button at the bottom of the posts on the left side. There is a button for attaching pictures. Click it and wait a minute while it loads the box for you. Then use the box to find the picture on your computer. We can't wait to see it!