Hi there! I just got my first inquiry/order for a wedding cake, and it's for 230 people! I looked on the Wilton sizing chart for how many/how big layers I would need to do for that many people, and it looks like 6 layers is what it would take! Has anyone done a wedding cake for that many people, and what did you do? It seems kind of unlikely to me that everyone who has that many people at their wedding uses a 6-layer cake! Is it normal for people to do 2 cakes, each 3 layers, for that many people, or what?

Any help you can give would be much appreciated!!

I have never been to a wedding with a 6-tiered cake, but I have never been to a wedding with 230 people.  But yes, 6-tiered cakes are most likely the norm for such a large guest list.  In fact, I would find it kind of strange to see two 3-tiered cakes sitting side by side at a wedding, unless that is what the client wants.

The first thing you need to do is determine what exactly the client wants in regards to the finished look of the cake.  This will help you to figure out how much such a large cake with cost you and what you should charge.  I am sure your client has a budget and if the budget doesn't cover the cost then that is an issue and you will need to suggest other options of cake configurations that will work within their budget (such as a 3-tiered cake with supplemental sheet cakes in the back to meet the serving needs, etc) and still be worth it for you to do.

you can literally do anything you and the bride want -- sure sometimes you do two tier cakes -- can be gorgeous with cascades of flowers or whatever stunning decor -- that's fun to plan/do --

you can make satellite cakes that are displayed around the main cake -- you can do a bit smaller tier cake and add the groom's cake but sometimes the guests think they should get two pieces then -- and the one stately elegant tier cake to handle all the servings needed --

but you are not tied down to a six tier cake -- here's another configuration 14 sq x 12r x 9r x 9r x 6r = 232 servings -- so that's basically a five tier with the double 9" y'know iced as one cake but served as two cakes --

you could do a 14x22 sheet cake -- four inches tall all -- with an 11x8x5 on top of that -- just plan some fabulous decor to balance it all --

you could do a 15x12x9x6x6x

and you can do kitchen cakes -- where you make a lovely tier cake of say 200 servings then have the 30 serving cake held in the kitchen to be served as needed -- but visually you want to make a decently sized cake for dispaly so the crowd feels there is enough for everyone -- in other words, i think maybe 20% is the largest amount of kitchen servings i'd do -- but kitchen cakes are not necessarily my favorites -- but the sky's the limit -- go for it   

Step back and looks at the words used. "Layers" and "tiers" are NOT the same.

One slice of what I consider "normal" wedding cake is 4 layers of cake. That is what fits on the plate, as served to guests. "Tiers" are the number of stacked cakes. So a "traditional" wedding cake is 3 tiers.

A 16", 14" and 12" actually is 230 servings. But as a PP said, you can do it any combination of tiers and satellite cakes.

As you can see from these few examples there are many, many different ways to come up with over 200 servings. (There are some more examples in my album.)  Be aware that most of them will not come up the your *exact* target # but most weddings expect only something like 80% or less of those invited to attend.  Also, was that # from the bride how many invitations sent or actual # of people.  Most invites are sent to "Mr & Mrs" - some even to "...and family" etc.  When the wedding gets about 6 wks out they should have a much better idea of the actual #s needed.  At 2 or 3 weeks out you should be able to nail down the exact #s - and be sure the bride/family knows that NO CHANGES allowed after 2 weeks  before.           

 6ofjohnson said ....." One slice of what I consider "normal" wedding cake is 4 layers of cake. That is what fits on the plate" what she is saying is that she bakes up a 'layer' of cake 2" tall (normal pan size in 2" deep), splits it in 1/2 and stacks 4 of those 1" layers with filling between each one for a serving that has 4 'layers' of cake and 3 of filling.

I always provide a sheet cake to make sure there are enough servings of cake.  Much easier than trying to make the cake large enough for that many servings. 

Thanks for all the help, everyone!! I really appreciate it.  -K8memphis , thanks for the idea about having satellite cakes as well as a big one! I gave that as an option to the bride's mother, and she said her daughter really likes the idea. So that might just be what we end up doing! :)

cool -- 10,000 ways to do it -- best to you