this will be my first wedding cheese cake. do I need springform pans? is there a way to use regular cake pans. Any advice would be appreciated.

You can use a regular pan, but you will need to completely cover the inside with parchment. Cut parchment to fit the bottom, then parchment strips to fit the sides. Brush the pan with butter to make the parchment stick, then put down the parchment and proceed as normal. Baking in a water bath is recommended to avoid cracks. After the cheesecake cools, dip the pan quickly in hot water, you may need to run a knife around the sides and flip the cheesecake out, flip again so it's right side up. I hope I'm not confusing you, I'm stealing Alton Brown's instructions, so you can check out the Good Eats cheesecake recipe on http://foodnetwork.com
I've never heard of a wedding cheesecake. Is it going to be stacked? Decorated? Please let me know, my DH loves cheesecake, but wants a carved, 3D cake for his bday, so I'm wondering what the limits of cheesecake are!

i know that in the "cake bible" book, she has pics and i think instruction on a tierd wedding cheesecake she did. maybe you could look up what she says. but i would say, if its a paid wedding cake, just buy the springform pans and charge for them in the cost of the cake.

The lavender stacked cake in my album is cheesecake. The covering is candyclay/fondant mix. I used it to help hold the color-is still faded some.

Thanks for the ideas. Yes its a stacked cake. I looked some but haven't found springform pans larger than 10". I wanted to do a 14" bottom. There is a couple of pictures in the galleries of stacked cheesecakes that look great.
I think I'll do a practice layer with the regular pan.

I think your lavendar cake looks great. Would you be willing to share the cheesecake recipe you used? I was going to try the "very very very good cheesecake" recipe i found on this site.

Yes, you can use regular cake pans so don't waste your money on spring form. A great place to get tips on cheesecake and other cakes is www.baking911.com I made my white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recently (on my website) from a 9" cake pan. I then put my 9" cake pan in my 12" cake pan and filled with hot water and baked. Cheesecake should be baked like a custard in a waterbath. Since I have started doing this my cheesecakes don't crack (be sure not to over bake or it will still crack). You can frost with cream cheese frosting or cover with fondant. Be sure to use parchment paper in your cake pan so that the cheesecake will release.
Jacqui