I really can't believe I've been married for 7 months now! Last year around this time, I was fanatically trying to put together a wedding and start a business at the same time, all I have to say now is: What was I thinking!
When I was planning my wedding I always thought of the budget first and tried to make the best of what I was able to do. Sometimes when you don't have the budget, simplicity and elegance is the best route. If you play with similar tones and textures it becomes richer in depth.
If I had to give someone advice now on trying to DIY everything for your wedding, I would tell them: Don't do it! Unless you had help, a good support system of family and friends. I may have DIY-ed a bit too much and had about 2.5 hours of sleep before my wedding day! Brides need sleep, especially their beauty sleep. So, to all you future brides out there, choose carefully, know you're limits because you'll regret it in the end.
As you probably have guessed by the title of this post, I made my own wedding cake. I was apparently feeling very ambitious! When I was pinning on Pinterest, as most brides-to-be do at night before bed, I came across a beautiful flower petaled cake. I knew I had to have that cake, since it matched my petaled lace dress, of course! ;) But, I knew that this would cost a lot (Oh...my expensive taste ALWAYS gets the best of me!). So, I did it myself!
Now, I decided that this would be mostly for show. So, the two bottom layers were dummies made out of styrofoam. I bought them at a cake decorating shop, you can buy them in any size.
What you'll need:
2 tubs of ivory fondant
2 tubs of icing
14" diameter dummy layer
9" diameter dummy layer
6" diameter baking pan
a petal cutter
smoothing tools
edible glue
edible ivory pearls
14" foil cardboard base
satin ribbon (for cardboard base)
icing sugar (helps the fondant from being too sticky)
It took me about a week to finish all those petals, I was making them while I was watching 'Downton Abbey' so the time went by pretty fast! ;) After the petals were finished let them air dry so the get hard. Lay them out on a tray with a paper towel over them, overnight.
I used the edible glue to glue the 14" dummy to the cardboard base, cover this layer in fondant and smooth it out. Don't worry if it's not perfect because you will be covering it with petals afterwards. Before you glue the 9" dummy layer on make sure to cover it up with fondant. Now, you can start gluing all the tiny petals you made. The more random you place the petals the more natural it looks! Just make sure you leave room for the 6" layer on top.
Find a cake recipe you like online, I used a plain vanilla cake. Of course, you can choose any cake flavor you desire for your wedding. I just wanted to make it as simple as possible. Bake the cake ahead of time. Make sure to shape the cake the way you like. *Also, don't forget to wrap the cardboard base with ribbon or you're going to see the foil, which won't look too nice in photos.
Ok, so there are two options you can do. 1. You can take the cake wrap it up in plastic wrap and put in the freezer until the day before your wedding and adding the finishing touches. Or 2. You can fully decorate the top layer, let the icing harden a bit. Wrap it very carefully in plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Just take it out the day before the wedding and place it on top of the cake base!
I did step 1, and found it to be manageable. But there is always the other option! At the moment, the top layer cake is in my freezer and we plan to eat it on our first anniversary! Making this wedding cake was actually a lot of fun. I may just take this up as a hobby...among many other things!
I hope this was helpful for all you brides-to-be's! Let me know how it went for you.
Love,
Artifact Girl xo
