I am totally underwhelmed.
The flowers are horrible....and those gaps? Augh. I do like the silver detailing, but the proportions seem wrong too. Sigh. With all the beautiful cakes out there...this just didn't do it for me.

I agree with MadgeOwens ........ the cake looks like it is leaning. I asked my DH about it ( he's a photographer) he said it was distortion due to using a wide angle lens and the cake being at the edge of the frame.

I also don't like the cake and agree with everyone on here. It could have been done better, but that being said.... it wasn't my wedding and if Chelsea was happy with it then that's what matters.

In the photo where people are working on the cake it's obvious that the tiers are at least the standard 4" high, if not a little more. There also seems to be at least a 4" difference in the diameter of each tier in most cases. The sizes must be on the order of 32"-28"-24"-20"-16"-12"-8"-4", which would explain why the cake looks so "dumpy" out of context. I'm just trying to imagine dealing with a layer of cake that's almost a yard in diameter. The mind boggles!!!

Personally (besides that thin space in front that could have been easily hidden), I think it's magnificent!

That cake is not my style or taste at all, so I don't like anything about it.

I think the style of the cake is very elegant.....and that the picture shown in a copy of the orginial or practice cake....

I can't see putting a cake with obvious gaps, slight lean, and the plain silver covered board on the bottom

If this cake was over four feet tall then each cake was over 4 inches high. They really don't look it in the picture but that may be because the cakes were very large. Pretty cake but I agree our cakers here have done much prettier cakes.

I think the flowers are very pretty....and I think its a lovely cake. I imagine the tiers are short because of it being gluten-free.

The gaps could have been filled with buttercream or royal icing or something...but otherwise I see no flaws, crooked, bad flowers, anything like that. Its definitely a professional cake.

Very nice!

It is a beautiful cake. Nothing I personally would have ordered, but I can appreciate the beauty and hard work with this one. BUT (snicker snicker) even though I am a newbie, and I couldn't even come close to doing this cake, I do take a little pleasure in seeing the mistakes...like the gap in the front.

But...honestly, it is breathtaking...and HUGE!

I just saw the cake and I am not that impressed! It's just a cake with 9 tiers and the gap in the very front of the cake what's with that?. I've only been decorating for 8 months and it looks like something I could do. I was expecting something more extravagant! (sp)

To me the boards are an extension of the cake. A lot of decorators don't cover their boards and that's fine. I do because it gives a clean overall look to the cake which I prefer. I don't get five figures for cakes (although I have received four figures for some) and all of them had covered boards. It's just how I prefer it. Now if I were paying five figures for a cake you better believe I'd want a lot more professional looking cake board than just a silver drum! But that's just me.

Covering the boards may be a regional thing. You almost never see it around here. Just like Debi's comment, people would think the icing ran off the cake. Because I think the silver medallions mimic the belt on her gown, I really like the design. But then most of my wedding cakes use a motif from the gown as the design for the cake.

I just got a message from a friend of mine who was one of the relatives in attendance at the wedding.

I had asked him "Was the (wedding) cake good?"
He replied " After the 4-course meal that included a delicious dessert, I had no room left for cake. I really wish I had tried it now, though I was a little put off by the gluten-free part."

Now that makes me wonder just how much of that ginormous cake was left over if they served dessert after the meal, and THEN served the wedding cake.

Makes me go "Hmmm..."