I really want to make my own wedding cake. I have debated using dummy bases and a real cake on the top teir to cut. Then serve from sheet cakes in the back. I know what I want and I feel I will not be able to get someone to create what I want. Is this crazy???

Not at all. I think if you have the patience and time while handling all of your other wedding duties and so forth to go right ahead. I just wish I knew how to decorate when I had my wedding years ago, because I was disappointed with what I ended up with. Don't get me wrong, the cake looked nice, but it wasn't what I pictured in my head.

I was hoping using dummy cakes for the big bases would allow me to work ahead. I know that most bakeries have demo cakes set in the windows for quite some time which leads me to beleive I can work ahead on the parts that will not be eaten.....

Just make sure that you can match a real cake to the dummies. What I mean is, if you're using 4" tall dummies, make sure you can make a perfectly squared 4" tall real cake. I use dummies all the time, and yes, you can work ahead, but I have also seen cakes where it is obvious which one is real and which one isn't, because the real cake didn't look anything like the dummy. Also be careful if you plan to use bright colors in your decorating. The colors can often fade over time (even a couple of days) so the dummy color might be faded and the color on the real cake would still be bright. I really suggest doing a practice run ahead of time, especially if you haven't worked with dummies before. HTH

Do it. I made my own! Everything can be done in advance for the most part. I had floating tiers so I didn't have to deal with the stress of spending a lot of time stacking at the venue. I had the florist make floral toppers for each one and all my buttercream and cakes and fillings were made well ahead of time.

It is very doable as long as you plan well and don't commit yourself to a complicated design.

I made my 4 tier wedding cake last year... I used a dummy for the largest tier and kept it simple so I didnt have to stress about it to much..Fondant, silk flowers and ribbon..It was my first cake lol!!

I made my own wedding cake to i had a 3 tier and diddnt use dummies. I'm glad i did it because i dont think i would have trusted anyone else to get it how i wanted it.If you have got the time do a practice cake then you can tell what you can make ahead of time and give you a good idea what amount of time you will need. I made sure that the week leading up to my wedding day was clear so i could spend time on it, and it was really nice when people asked where i got it from and i said i made it myself. Good luck and hope to see it on here.

I made my own. It was not only my first wedding cake, but also my first tierd cake! I have to admit that it leaned a little, but it tasted amazing! I had only finished the first and second class of Wilton at that point. I just delivered the day before so that I wasn't having to deal with that. So I say go for it!

Thank you for all the great advice. I had not thought about the colors fading so a trial run is definately in order. Our color scheme is a very dark red, silver and black and I would hate to see the colors fade.

Your colours will probably be ok if you store your dummies in the dark (i.e. a strong cardboard box).
I also made my own! I made a 4 tier dummy cake, and made kitchen cakes that were 4" high which were served to guests once the cake was "cut" and removed out of sight. I got married in another country so I took it with me and made the real cakes when I got to the destination. No one was any the wiser except my very close family. My wedding cake sits out in my bakery on display