<p>P3T…since DH and I paid for the whole wedding, no one else had a speck of input. No one offered to pay for anything at all…nada. Our wedding really was fun. It was small, and intimate, and exactly what we wanted. I think folks might have gone out to dinner later on in the evening. I know WE did!</p>
<p>We went to Burgermaster after. </p>
<p>S1 & DIL went to IHOP (across the street from their hotel) in the middle of the night.</p>
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<p>Honestly, not necessarily. There are internal supports, and the weight of the tiers is borne by them and not by the actual cake layer. You can tier just about anything with the right equipment. There’s even stuff for tiering tarts!</p>
<p>Rose Levy Beranbaum has actually made a tiered cheesecake, and her cheesecake recipe is NOT one of those very dense ones. </p>
<p>But the recipe definitely matters when it comes to texture and flavor. Most bakers and bakeries are not scratch cooks–a lot of them use mixes or doctored mixes–and they use shortening instead of butter in the cake and the icing. </p>
<p>I often don’t mind the store bought cakes - it’s the frostings that are inedible. That said, I have the perfect recipe for devil’s food cake, I’ve never had a cake anywhere, but one BBQ restaurant that came close.</p>
<p>My wedding cake is tiered and is very light and fluffy and VERY moist It’s the tastiest cake any of us have ever tried. It’s also vegan! (because of my dairy allergy.) Now that you mention it, I am surprised such a cake isn’t too heavy and fragile for tiers. I was actually limited in the decoration I could do because this cake just isn’t very solid. I believe you that you can make a tiered cake from anything having seen this. My cake is yellow cake with oreo cookies n cream filling. 
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<p>If you want to save money on a wedding, marry someone who doesn’t have food allergies for sure… 
This cake is not cheap.</p>
<p>I thought the same thing about saving money with sheet cakes. We’re in small town rural USA. We went to the one wedding baker one county over. Her estimate for a cake for 250 (was 4 or 5 tiers) was $150 more than her estimate for a small cake and sheet cake for the other servings. Is the difference usually more than that? Having a big fancy cake was important for S & DIL so we went with the big one. I still can’t believe how much cake costs…</p>
<p>I have obsessively pored over every wedding thread on cc the last 2 years…and I don’t think we did all that well cutting costs. Final results in June She did design her invitations and save-the dates, which I thought were reasonable. Back in the day we spent a lot on fancy formal invitations. Church and venue are very inexpensive. I am jealous of those who are close enough to use a Costco or flower market for flowers. Compared to other areas of the country I guess the wedding is not expensive, but it seems like a lot of money to spend on a few hours. </p>
<p>We went to a wedding with a gorgeous four tier wedding cake. Beautifully decorated…absolutely gorgeous. Guess what? The only tier that was real cake was the bottom tier that the bride and groom cut. The rest was decorated cardboard. They had several sheet cakes out in the back which were used to serve the guests. The brides mom told me this saved them a few hundred dollars! </p>
<p>Thats an old & well used trick!</p>
<p>Ok, yes, I know about the ‘engineering’ aspects. Been there. Please forgive it as an incomplete thought. </p>
<p>We timed the wedding so DH could listen to his college’s football game on the radio, en route out of town. One of his favorite tales. </p>
<p>Our wedding was at 3p.m. No reception meal necessary, no music, no alcohol. As someone said upthread, in the south full meals, alcohol and live music are not requirements. My niece’s wedding two years ago was over the top. For what my brother paid for their wedding could have been a big downpayment on a house for the newlyweds.I thought it all pretty ridiculous. The band was so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself talk. We left shortly after the band/dancing started because it was giving us a headache. For me it turned a beautiful wedding into a Frat house party.</p>
<p>Having hung out on a cake/confection discussion board in the past, I know that one thing that drives good bakers nuts is when people order the small showy cake from them, but purchase the sheet cakes they actually serve from a big box store or supermarket. The implication to the guests is that this inedible glop was made by THEM, which they consider to be a major blow to their reputation. Some of them said that they would refuse the order if that was the intention. I can see why. If someone was passing Lindor “truffles” off as my work, I would NOT be happy.</p>
<p>In fairness to people who order sheet cakes - we don’t do it to serve our guests “inedible glop.” Perhaps we lack a sophisticated palate, or perhaps we don’t think the choice of a wedding cake is THAT big a deal. Or maybe we even like supermarket sheet cakes. </p>
<p>We are in the midst of wedding planning here. The actual date is July 19. My first D wanted a country club setting and this wedding will be at a museum. There will be no difference in cost for the venues or meals. We looked at MANY venues and there really was no difference in meal costs. At the moment we are trying to get the groom’s family to reduce their guest list which is more than ours so we can stay on budget. </p>
<p>I like some supermarket sheet cakes. I think it is a bit snobby to assume that if we don’t want to or are not able to pay for a premium cake, we are going to serve “inedible glop.” I don’t think anybody is trying to say that but some posts (not necessarily the inedible glop one) are coming across a little more judgey than I think CAKE is worth! There isn’t just the $600+ cake on one end and the $15 supermarket cake on the other side… lots of tasty options in between, some of which are available at nice supermarkets! Some of the really fancy cakes are stiff and covered in not so tasty fondant and would be less appreciated by some palates, too, you know-- you have to know your audience.</p>
<p>I could shock you with how much my vegan cake is costing. In hindsight, we should have gotten a small vegan cake for fiance and I and gotten sheet cakes from my favorite childhood baker for everybody else (which is what we are doing for the shower dessert because that childhood baker makes DAMN good cake.) I didn’t because I wanted to be able to eat what everybody else was eating and felt funny about serving myself a cake that costs twice as much as what I served my guests even though both are delicious, my cake would have still been way better. So everybody is getting the premium cake, but I’m not sure I’d do that a second time. I was a bit silly. I’ve found the longer my planning goes on, the less and less I care about some of the little things.</p>
<p>My definition of “little things” is a lot different than some of yours, though. I could have gotten married in my driveway and I still would have paid for a professional photographer if I could afford it. That’s why it’s so important to discuss priorities with your D and decide where to spend and where not to, because what matters and what doesn’t is so different for different people. At my cousin’s wedding last summer, the most important thing to her was to have her ceremony in a certain location. She originally had the whole wedding booked there but they couldn’t afford it and she really wanted that ceremony, so she completely replanned the entire wedding from scratch with a smaller budget and a different location for the reception so she could still have her ceremony in that one place-- something that sounds crazy to me, because I’d have gotten married anywhere that wasn’t inconvenient. Everybody is different.</p>
<p>I agree with Ema. Lots of choices in cakes that are not I edible glop that are far less expensive than a designer cake from a swanky overpriced wedding bakery. The reality is…when the word “wedding” gets attached to the cake, the price goes UP. </p>
<p>Our local grocery store, in house baker makes terrific custom cakes for a great price. You can choose the cake type, as well as the icing/frosting and decorations. </p>
<p>Ours was a homemade, from scratch carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was fabulous. I know I’m the ONLY one who remembers the cake! Well…except maybe the friend who baked it remembers it!</p>
<p>We had NO expensive anythings at our wedding. The champagne punch was made with inexpensive champagne. There were no gourmet chocolates, no wedding favors, no napkins with our names on them…none of that. Those are not essentials, and one can save money by NOT having them!</p>
<p>We really do agree. The glop comment, I suspect, was aimed at real glop. Sorry but the last wedding we attended, the cake was truly inedible. The square pieces were the giveaway. Happy marriage, though. Your wedding will be beautiful, Ema. Just hope you keep us posted.</p>
<p>DH’s cousin did our photos as a wedding gift. A local woman who bakes cakes as a side job made ours (delish.) But I splurged on the invitations. No regrets, that was more important to me (since childhood) than whether it was a wedding dress or just a special gown. Or where the reception was – but I wanted those invitations. </p>
<p>We also had some sort of punch (my mother’s recipe) with very inexpensive champagne- and in those days, that meant mighty cheap. Champagne punch doesn’t really need the best.</p>
<p>I think we had a carrot cake too, as that is Hs favorite and his work friend made it.
I didnt have a piece, except for the chunk in the traditional pose.
Not a cake fan.
I made our invitations. Before personal computers Dont know what I was thinking.</p>
<p>Yesterday I received the final guest list/with the Save the Dates. We are 16 people over max in the venue. In addition the bride’s mother forgot to add the five of us. (Hint maybe?) We are 21 over. I knew that I kept my list (including us) to the 40…they didn’t.</p>
<p>ARGHHHH!!! I have even agreed to change venues and loose the rental fee. I have gone beyond stress.</p>
<p>I don’t think the fact that pieces are cut in squares means its a "glop"cake or is storebought from a supermarket. It simply means that it was a sheetcake. This past summer we had a big combined birthday celebration at a lovely facility that handled their farm-to-table food prep, and their in house baker did the cakes. They were supposed to be regular shaped cakes (chocolate ganache for me, carrot for my DS) but they apparently unilaterally decided to make sheet cakes, with each square individually decorated. A picture of the chef making lttle carrot designs on each square of carrot cake is on their website. I guess it was easier to serve that way. I was slightly disappointed, but not for long. The cakes and allt he other desserts were yummy.</p>