Let Them Eat Cake! Whatever Cake They Choose!

So I last left you with my "Eureka!" moment of creating a cake buffet for our guests in place of just one traditional wedding cake.  At that juncture, I hadn't seen very many pictures of people who had done the same, but I was sure they were out there.  I mean, if people are awesome enough to do pie buffets, cake buffets should follow suit.

Wedding Pie Buffet (source)

I knew fairly quickly exactly how I wanted our buffet to look: 6 or 7 ten-inch round layer cakes sitting pretty on cake stands across the table, with one small "traditional" cake in the center for Justin and I to cut.  Either I or my lovely familial volunteers would make the rounds cakes, while Justin and I would have our cake made for us.  We'd offer several different flavors of cake, including chocolate, white, yellow, red velvet and Italian Creme (the last two being mine and Justin's favorites respectively). 

Yes, please! (source)

And then, just as quickly as I'd come up with the idea, I started with the ifs, ands, or's.  Typical Shana.  Since my mom and the FMIL will most likely be the ones cleaning up at the end of the night, one of my goals is to keep things as simple as possible for them.  And adding that many cake stands to the mix was just one more thing for them to keep up with.  But bridesmaid Nicole brought up a good point when she asked how we were going to cut the cakes if there wasn't anything underneath them.  Good call, my friend!  So back to the cake stands it was (but should they be all one height, different heights, does it matter?  Sigh, my mind is tireless).  Now I just have to ask nicely to borrow enough for the number of cakes we'll have :)

Don't forget that I was also on the hunt for the perfect design for what would be mine and Justin's cake to cut.  I knew that I wanted something simple, but elegant.  Small, but still two-tiered.  I spent countless hours on Project Wedding checking out pictures of wedding cakes big and small, waiting for the right one to pass across my screen.  Here are a few that initially caught my eye:

Both pictures from Project Wedding

I surprised myself when I caught on that most of the cakes I was drawn to were fairly simple, with just a tiny bit of flair to them (not than I'm normally an extravegant person).  I suppose it all fit in with my "simply southern" theme.  I knew that either of these would work, but I just hadn't run across anything yet that 'got' me.  And then, I found this pretty:

(source)

It may have been the gorgeous white cakestand (in part), but this cake just called to me.  Simple, but not without its own details.  The flowers were one of the first things to catch my eye (in case I haven't mentioned it, apparently in my mind one of the ways to make something 'southern' is to include flowers wherever you can), but I also loved the textured lines on each layer.  It was different, it was pretty and it had my name written all over it.

Since the discovery, there have been several logistical changes (surprise, surprise).  Now, instead of having our cake professionally made, bridesmaid Nicole and I will be attempting what will either be a two or three tiered version of the picture.  Nicole loves baking and trying new things, so she'll be perfecting her buttercream icing (I'm not a fan of fondant) and experimenting with gum paste in order for us to make the rosettes.  I also got to thinking about how a splash of color would bring the cake together with the rest of the wedding decor, so I suggested to Nicole that we make the rosettes blue instead of white.  She responded "Well, I thought that the cake needed a little color, but I wasn't going to say anything."  Haha, suspicions confirmed.  So all in all, we should have around 8 homemade cakes for our guests to enjoy throughout the night.

Anyone else decide to give their baking skills a try when it came to the wedding?