kaplods - I have heard of people getting their cakes from Walmart or someplace like Costco and I have only heard good things about their cakes.

That is exactly what I want something simple but nice. It is for my neice. I will look into costco and walmart here in Canada. The wedding places aren't being very helpful.

L

Have you looked into area caterers, and local cake decorating courses? (For former students?) Any bakery supply place in a larger nearby city (where you buy cake supplies) should have decorators as well.

My MIL took the Wilton Certified cake decorating courses, and she has been doing professional wedding cakes for years. I don't recommend someone with no or litle experience attempting one...TRUST ME. With my MIL, I have learned a TON about wedding cakes in the past 8+ years.

My DH and I got married two years ago and we had a three tiered cake (no pillars inbetween). What we decided was to have each layer made with our favorite cake, 1st layer chocolate cake w/ raspberry filling (my favorite), second layer white cake w/ lemon chiffon filling (DH favorite) and the top was carrot cake (we both love it), then all was iced with a white and offwhite basketweave with fresh flowers accented around and on top. Sorry I don't have any pictures for you.

I think it is a good idea to see what flavors of cake the bride and groom love.

Good Luck!

Hi there!
You could go to Michael's, as they offer wedding cake decoration courses. The instructors are Wilton Cake Decorator instructors. You could talk to one of them to see if they work privately and would decorate a cake for you! They could tell you what kind of cake to bake, and you can rent the appropriate sized pans from the Bulk Barn, if you like.
Another trend rising in popularity, if you want something a little less traditional, you could try cupcakes. They are decorated, often with candied violets or other fresh flowers, and placed on tiers. Kind of a neat idea!
Good luck...

The cupcakes on tiers was just done for my SIL's bridal shower. My MIL used the stacking glass tiers used for finger foods, etc. (they also sell cupcake stands in the cake decorating section at hobby stores and some Wal-Mart craft sections...) and the cupcakes were baked in silver foil cups, iced with white icing, and had lavendar and purple flowers on them. (Her color scheme was lavendar/purple/silver. It actually looked very lovely when it was done.

There was a funny wedding cake I saw a picture of a long time ago (would be good for a bride and groom witha great sense of humor!) where they had the 3 or 4 cake tiers/holders all stacked up, and rather than cake, one tier was filled with Twinkies, the next Ding-Dongs, the next Hostess Cupcakes, etc. It actually looked really cool!!!

Go to www.cakecentral.com There are a million ideas from hundreds of decorators... and yes i am a member..

DH and I ended up passing on all the hoopla and just going to the courthouse to marry and met close family for a nice dinner that evening, but until then I was planning on getting a basic iced cake from somewhere like Wal-Mart (as I assumed they were more reasonable priced) and decorating it with fresh fruit. The colors are beautiful and the cakes are actually very pretty. We wanted to do this because we know not everyone could indulge in such a sweet treat and the fruit would provide more opportunity for people to share in the goodness with us.

Here is the link to page where I got the inspiration. The ones that inspired me the most were "fruitful fantasy" and "harvest time".
http://www.scrumptions.com/wed_colorful.asp#

lol, i still have a "wedding" folder in my favorites