My First Wedding
by Sarah Scott
(Bishop, GA)
Final Cake Set Up-Photo by Signs and Wonders Photography
Flower Close Up
I have only been decorating cakes for other people for about 2 years, and I had been waiting that whole time to make a wedding cake. So when my friend told me she was getting married and they wanted me to make the cake I was thrilled and immediately said yes! I was finally going to get to make a wedding cake!
Cutting It Close
After saying yes, we started going over some of the details, which included the tentative date and location. At the time I was still living in Alaska, and my friend was in Georgia. We had it in the books already that we were moving back to Georgia that summer, but the dates were still a little fuzzy as they sometimes are with military moving and traveling. The date they had chosen for the wedding was 5 days after our tentative “be back in town” date. We were definitely cutting it close!
Gumpaste Flower Preparation
So to prepare I made a lot of flower petals to have dried and ready to use. I had the minimum of everything I absolutely needed to make this cake, and mailed it to Georgia before we even left Alaska. We also had a small shipment of household supplies sent from Alaska to get there hopefully before we got into town. I added a lot of other supplies that I would need to make this a success.
Always Make Extra Gumpaste Pieces
After 2 weeks of driving from Alaska through Canada to Georgia, we made it within a few days before the wedding! The cake decorating supplies I had mailed were here, and mostly in great condition, with the exception of the gumpaste flower petals. Luckily there were enough petals to make the single flower I had planned for.
Making lots of extras is always a good thing! Packaging Tip - Knowing now what I didn’t know then, I would have packed them completely different. I had them in a container with some bubble wrap and other packing material, but it wasn’t enough. If I
had to do it again I would wrap each petal separately in packing material and put them in a sturdier container.
The rest of the supplies we had shipped made it finally on the day that I was planning to start making buttercreams, and baking cakes. That was a huge relief, as I was planning to buy more supplies if they had not shown up by that day.
The Wedding Day Arrived
The day to put it all together was finally here.
I had never been so nervous in my life about a cake. The design was simple, and one that I had done many times before, but never on a wedding cake. I had everything crumb coated, the buttercream colored, and all of my supplies ready to go, and I had to stop and walk away. I was too nervous to start stacking and piping my rosettes.
Another Great Tip - You always hear and read about all of these wedding cake wrecks, and I was determined that my first wedding cake would not end up in that category!
Taking a break from the cake helped, and I was able to get the cake stacked, and the bottom tier piped before nerves took over again.
The Grand Finale
I was so relieved to finally finish, until I realized I still had to walk the cake 2 houses down to my friend’s home, where the wedding reception was to be held.
When I got my nerves up, I walked very carefully down the street, and we added the final touch- the
cake topper. The topper belonged to the groom’s mother. It was from her wedding, 56 years ago. The couple was so thrilled that they were able to use the topper as their “something old” piece for their wedding.
The Icing On The Cake
The best part of making a wedding cake for a friend is being invited to the wedding and reception! Getting to hear the all comments first hand about the cake was enough to make me realize that I had been worrying for nothing!
