hi all ...i have my first wedding cake going out this saturday and wanted to make sure all my bases were covered
the cake requested by the bride is to be square and serve approx 250 (number of total guests) so i'm guessing 200 servings
i plan on doing 12/10/8/6 will this be enough ??
dowels - 12"= 9dowels, 10"= 7dowels, 8"= 5dowels , and should they be the wooden or the plastic ??
time line ...i plan on baking tuesday and wednesday, freeze overnight
thursday defrost, cut fill and crumb coat, refridgerate 12hrs min
friday cover with fondant, decorate stack and let sit til delivery the folloing morning
does this sound resonable amount of time ?
any advice would be greatly appriciated and wish me luck
thanks
ren

As per Wilton's serving guide which uses the industry standard size of 1x2x4" slices you will only get 172 servings from the sizes you mentioned

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

6 = 18
8 = 32
10 = 50
12 = 72

Total = 172

Did the bride request 250 servings because if so then that should be what you give her. 8/10/12 1/4 would give you 252 servings.

I've added a link from Wilton's website stating that wooden dowels should be placed 1.5" apart and if you use the plastic dowels you will need less because they are larger in diameter and are sturdier. If those were my 2 choices I would personally choose the plastic. SPS is supposed to be great to use but I haven't tried them myself yet as I just make cakes for free family and friends or you can always try bubble/boba tea straws as well.

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/dowel-rod-construction.cfm

Here's a thread for bubble tea straws:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=645188&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=plastic&&start=0

Your timeline seems fine to me but I was going to add that if you are planning to freeze the cakes then you can actually start now instead of waiting until Tuesday and/or Wednesday. You definitely want to give your cake time to settle before you cover it with fondant so you can take care of any bulging problems ahead of time (which I noticed you have done). 12 hours is more than enough time.

Good luck!

It is always better to plan for a few more servings than less. Even if the cake planned would feed 200 people what about the other 50+. If there is cake left over no problem.....not enough cake, big problem. Yes with plastic dowels you need less but they also cut down on your servings because of the space they take up and they also remove decent size cores of cake from your final product. I have used them but only when there was more than enough cake otherwise I go with the wooden. No product lost that way. Just be sure that if the cake will sit out overnight that your fillings and frostings don't need refrig.

thanks guys for your reply's ....i really appriciate it

mmoseley you said Just be sure that if the cake will sit out overnight that your fillings and frostings don't need refrig.

well the icing i'm using has tbsp of milk to make it creamy, can i leave it out or would you refrig....i'm a little worried about refrigeration as the deco on the fondant covered cake is royal icing stenciled design and i'm afraid that it will peel or break off

The milk in buttercream doesn't require refrigeration. There's enough sugar in the buttercream to keep the milk from spoiling. One of the ladies here, JanH, has explained it before in great detail but I don't remember all of it I just know from previous experience and from what she said that the milk in buttercream can be left out of the fridge.

Yep. Buttercream out is fine. I meant if you had a scratch pastry cream or cream cheese type frosting. Happy baking.

thanks everyone for the great advice
i feel a little more confident and less stressed
i 'll post a pic after saturdays delivery
wish me luck
thanks again
ren

Good luck!!!!

Looking forward to the pic.....

I was extremely interested in the topic of your first wedding cake because I too have been asked to make a wedding cake in November that will be my first. Mine will need to feed about 100 so a little smaller than yours. The couple want something very simple, all in white. Please let me know how your cake was received. I have just found Cake Central and am thrilled to be a part of this great community.

Hey i was just curious why u are going to freeze wednesday night? Is it to preserve it since it won't be eaten until saturday or is there another reason? Im still a little new to all this