I'm getting married in two months! This was decided LAST WEEK and I am so overwhelmed already. I have the tiniest budget and I've no experience planning a wedding, lol. It's going to be small and casual, maybe 50 if that many. The most important things to me are the dress and the cake, naturally. I just reserved a venue and now I can start on invitations and all the other stuff. BUT, the cake! I just can't imagine paying big bucks for a cake when I could do it myself.

I work in a bakery, but I'm not doing the wedding cakes. The guy that does is pretty much my best friend and I trust him, but I don't want the cake we use, OR the buttercream. I want to make it myself, but at the same time i know I'll have other things to do. So my question is....thanks for reading this far, lol.. who has made their own cake and how did it work out for you?

I made my own wedding cake (the one in my photos with teh tatty bears on top) I find making cakes very theraputic to make so enjoyed doing it. But I had the cakes made in advance so that I only had to defrost and fill, the cover in fondant. I had a very plain cake so had to ensure there was no flaws in the fondant. I used a simple flow of fabric down the side and a rbbon that wa sused on my invitations around the tiers very simple but just what I wanted.

Good luck with your wedding and your cake

First of all, congrats! If you compartmentalize what needs to be done (invitations need to go out by THIS date, I will get my girls together to make favors by THIS date) then you will be able to get it all done. I'm an event planner as well so I know that this is the secret to not going nuts. Recently we renewed our vows and I sooooo wanted to do our cake but my very smart DH said he wanted us to find a bakery instead. He was SOOO right. I was so busy making sure I had all the final details down and everyone else in a row that having to deal with the cake would have been stress I truly didn't need. Having said that tho I will tell you that I did design my own cake and the bakery I found translated that into our gorgeous cake. So take the time to find a bakery that you DO like and come up with your own design and then work with the baker to get the cake you want. For only 50 people you should be able to get a cake for under $200. Mine was quite detailed and it was only $180.

Cat

I made my own wedding cake back in the 70's. It was a small, stacked cake with BC and BC flowers. It was a very small wedding, and was so casual I didn't feel much stress. I was very pleased with it at the time.

I just saw some of the photos the other day and was almost embarrassed. You know, looking back at "first cake" experience... Makes me see how practice and time help. And I am still learning.

Congratulations!
I made my own wedding cake in 2004. It's in my photos. It's the one with the sugared fruit. RECRUIT your friend to help you the day of the wedding. Thats what I did. I baked the layers in advanced (froze them). Made the buttercream and placed in an air tight container and placed it in the fridge until I needed it (about a wk in advanced). I purchased the fruit and sugar. Ordered the flowers from the florist. THAN wrote out a list of what needed to be done on the cake the day of the wedding. On thurday, (we married on SAT) I frosted and decorated the layers like I wanted them to look. Placed each cake in it's own box. On Sat, gave my friends the list(after carefully going over what needed to be done, they are smart girls, I knew they would come thru for me) of what needed to be done. How to sugar the fruit, stack the cake etc. They did a great job. I was very proud of the cake. If your friend already works in a bakery than hopefully you can put his skills to use. HTH

Stephanie

Honestly I probably wouldn't make my own. I did my brother's wedding cake and don't remember the wedding at all because of all the late nights working on it, and I wasn't even in the wedding party.

Does the guy you work with do cakes outside of work? Would he be willing to help you? Could you bake and freeze a cake you like and let him decorate it?

I'm just thinking of the million and one other things people end up doing the days before your wedding and think that I wouldn't want to add more on to it. Of course that is just my thoughts, and there are many of people that have made their own wedding cakes.

When I first get married, I had the venue do the cake...well, it actually came as package with the venue. Then we got married in Church... and since this was really a very intimate and it was just family on both sides, I decided to make my own cake. It was a 3-tier cake...each tier a different flavor and different filling. But am pretty sure your best friend at the bakery would be able to do it...

Congtulations...and don't worry it'll work out fine.

Thanks everyone

My main reason for wanting to do it myself is that I just have to have Red Velvet for one of the tiers and I refuse to give my recipe to the bakery where I work. It's just not going to happen. I'm in California and red velvet is hard to come by. My boss sold a red colored cake as red velvet! It's absurd, but that's another story, lol.

My friend does do cakes outside of work, but he lives so far north of me it's not reasonable for him to come to me to help. I think I'll be fine. It's going to be so small and casual I don't think I'll have that much to worry about. I won't even have bridesmaids! I have my best friend since 3rd grade flying in from Denver to be my....what do you call it when a guy takes the place of maid of honor? LOL

Timing seems to be key, right? Wish me luck

You call him your Man of Honor instead of Maid of Honor. And it's a trend I HIGHLY endorse...I think it's wonderful!

Oh yes LindseyLoocy... the avatar I used here is the cake I made for our church wedding. The bottom was a chocolate cake with Oreo fluff filling, the middle was a almond cake with white chocolate cream cheese and the top was a pecan pie cake with whip cream. All frosting was just whip cream... and fresh flowers to decorate. I had gumpaste flowers but unfortunately I didn't make enough...hence the fresh flowers.

I may not have read far enough...how did your cake turn out?
I did my own...and it was my 1st wedding cake.
I did it in chocolate buttercream because chocolate is my hubbys favorite. But each tier was a different flavor.

I am making my own wedding cake. My wedding is in two weeks! I am making a fake cake for display and then the week of the wedding I will make sheet cakes for the back. For me this was the best decision because there is no stress in getting the cake done and all I have to do the week of is the sheet cakes. Plus I get to keep my wedding cake for display! Good luck and congrats!

I will be making my own as well next year. Here is MY PLAN: im covering the buttercream in fondant and fondant can a keep a cake for 3-5 days fresh. So my wedding is sat, I plan on finishing my cake wed and thurs, so no stress involved and should not be too bad, doing a bling band around the base with some other flowers i will do wayyy ahead of time..

I plan on making my own. We've set a date 2 years from now (to save up money, plan, etc.). I go over it in my head if it's the right decision, but it's like it is for the original poster. No bakery in my price range could make a cake as tasty as I could. I'm more focused on taste than anything else. The style will be incredibly simple, SMBC that isn't smooth at all, but swirled for texture. Tinted one color and lightly airbrushed a darker shade of that color for depth. It can be refrigerated 2 to 3 days in advance. The only thing that would need to be done at the reception is arranging pre-made Gerberas in a cascade down the front. I think it's doable. I sometimes waver on this decision and wonder if I should hire someone. But, I don't have any decorator friends and would end up with a very boring cake for my budget. I've got 2 years to practice, so why not?

My brother is going to be my Man of Honor. My fiance's sister is his... Best Woman? Best Maid? It's a decision we both stand behind 100%. No one has been there for us more. It was a no brainer, really. Kind of confusing on the whole bachelor and bachelorette parties, but we'll figure it out