Hello All!
I'm doing my first wedding cake which I am very excited about, but I have been thinking about the process and I already for see some complications!

The bride wants it plain vanilla with plain vanilla butter cream icing. Simple enough. She wants it 3 layers. Easy. But when I stack a cake thats covered in butter cream onto other cakes covered in butter cream, won't it just be a big butter cream mess? Should cake separators be used? And if they are used, wouldn't the seperator then be covered in buttercream? Is there any way to keep it neat looking?

Also, Its for about 90 people, I was thinking of doing, 12 inch, 10 inch, 8 in.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!!

You can try using the SPS system its supposed to be very secure.

YES!!! separators must be used. I use cake circles (cardboard) and wooden dowels and I've never had a problem. I just cut all the dowels the same height, level with the iced cake. Stick them in like how the five dots would appear on a dice and place the other tier (with cake circle underneath) on top. The separator cake circles should be the same size as your cake with the crumb coat so when it's fully iced you should not see the separators.

What type of buttercream are you planning on using?? Crusting or non crusting?

Crusting buttercream gets dry to the touch at room temp so its a little more sturdy in warmer temperatures.

Non crusting buttercream gets really firm but to achieve that firmness it needs to be refridgerated.

There are serving size charts that you can look at to get the correct tier sizes

Yes you definitely need to separate the tiers. You can look on Youtube for a video. If you are going by the Wilton wedding chart then the 12" and 10" will feed 94 and the 8 inch will be for the bride and groom.

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/stacked-tiered-cake-construction.cfm

........when I stack a cake thats covered in butter cream onto other cakes covered in butter cream, won't it just be a big butter cream mess? Should cake separators be used? And if they are used, wouldn't the seperator then be covered in buttercream? Is there any way to keep it neat looking?........

Take a look at my picture gallery. A good 95% of my cakes are all b'cream and many of those are stacked
Use a b'cream recipe that crusts. Give the cakes time to crust over before stacking them. For stacked cakes, use a cake board under each tier the same size as the cake (ie: 8" cake on 8" board). Place straws - (yes, plastic drink straws are very sturdy! They are much easier to cut to the correct size and you don't get that off taste wood dowels give the cake) - in the bottom tier - like for your 12" tier use 7 straws spaced around a 10" circle marked on the top of that tier; sprinkle dry cake crumbs over that area then place the next tier on it. Continue the same way up to the top
An 8" top tier is really a bit big. It will look 'off' (in my opinion). I suggest using a 6"er. The 12" serves 56; the 10"=39 so there is just over 90 servings already.
If you want to use the SPS that's good It works great. In that case you would place your cake w/cake circle undeer it on that seperator plate and the cake crumbs would not be needed as that plate will not touch the top of the cake under it.

In another video of Edna's that I was watching, she says to cover both sides of the cake board with wax paper. Will this help the buttercream to stay on the cake. My concern has been ... when you take the tiers off to cut them, won't that leave un-iced cake underneath? So my question is ... If you allow the icing to crust and use wax paper on the circle, will the buttercream stay on the bottom tier?