DIY Wedding: Wedding Cake

I guess this could technically go under the catering section, but I will make it its own entry.

6. Make your own wedding cake (or have someone you know make your cake).

Why? We know plenty of amazing bakers, including my mother who has been making wedding cakes for friend and family weddings ever since I was little, and my husband's step-mother who makes amazing cheesecake. I knew that I would get exactly what I wanted if I asked my mom to make our cake, and it was meaningful to have my mother and mother-in-law be the ones to bake our wedding cake(s).

Catering help setting up the dessert table

How do you DIY? More goes into decided what you want for your wedding cake than you might expect. You need to decide what kind of cake: vanilla, chocolate, marble, red velvet, shortcake, the list goes on... After you decide what the inside is going to be you need to decide what kind of frosting will cover it and if you want any flowers, toppers or other extras to be included in the design. Once you get the details out of the way the rest is pretty easy. Ask someone to bake it and tell them when it needs to be done by.

My husband is not a big fan of regular cake (I think he's crazy), so we knew we wanted his step-mom to make her famous strawberry cheesecake for us. However, cheesecake can be a difficult thing to serve for an entire wedding (especially if the wedding is outside and there is no kitchen available aka no refrigeration on-hand for massive amounts of delicious cheesecake). The rest of our guests were served equally delicious strawberry shortcake.

Here we are cutting into our cake. 

Tip: Remember to bring a cake knife or you might end up using the serving knife to cut your cake!

We had a dessert table set up to display the individual pieces of shortcake (yes, those are DIY cake stands made from candlesticks and china!) and when it was time for cake to be served our catering help dished the strawberry sauce and whipped cream onto each piece for our guests.

My sister-in-law is an artist and she made marionette doll replicas of us as bride & groom. Notice how detailed she is... right down to the flower crown and red bow tie! (For more art by Sarah Trembley visit her Etsy store. She makes amazing leather purses & wallets!)