Not Happy With The Bride's Cake Topper
Decorating By TJ_Cakes Updated 5 Jun 2012 , 7:20pm by BlakesCakes
I have less than two weeks till the wedding. I have been trying to get the bride to bring me the wedding topper and she sends me a message last night saying she finally bought it and its 12" long and 12" high and 6 1/2" depth. She knew that the top tier is going to be 6". This just seems like its going to be way too big and heavy. I want it to look good and now I'm not sure how its going to look. It's stressing me out. Any suggestions.
Sounds like last-minute-bride brain. She wasn't thinking about which way the 6" was supposed to be.
So get a 6" dummy. Let her see how her topper will look NOW while she can still return it.
Or else just go with the dummy top tier so that it doesn't collapse.
I have less than two weeks till the wedding. I have been trying to get the bride to bring me the wedding topper and she sends me a message last night saying she finally bought it and its 12" long and 12" high and 6 1/2" depth. She knew that the top tier is going to be 6". This just seems like its going to be way too big and heavy. I want it to look good and now I'm not sure how its going to look. It's stressing me out. Any suggestions.
She may have known the size of the tier, but did you tell her what size she needed for the topper? Just tell her that it's way too big and what size will look best. I agree showing her would help. Stack your cake pans and put that thing on top. If she likes it you're stuck with it.
At the bakery I worked for we once had a bride who was in love with her topper...a plastic heart with flashing lights. Hideous. The cake was so pretty with delicate snowflakes and here was this flashing monstrosity. Oh well...it was her cake.
I have less than two weeks till the wedding. I have been trying to get the bride to bring me the wedding topper and she sends me a message last night saying she finally bought it and its 12" long and 12" high and 6 1/2" depth. She knew that the top tier is going to be 6". This just seems like its going to be way too big and heavy. I want it to look good and now I'm not sure how its going to look. It's stressing me out. Any suggestions.
You can only suggest so much. If a bride wants to ruin her own cake by putting a cinder block on it that's her choice and as long as you give her your professional opinion don't sweat or worry about it. Just make sure you tell her that her topper is twice as long as your top tier and even deeper than the tier and it may not hold up, and if it does chances are it will look ridiculous. Make sure that when the topper goes on that she knows that it will be at her own risk of ruining the cake. Maybe suggest to her to have a smaller back up topper, or have one yourself for situations like these.
Sometimes brides just don't know any better. You could suggest that the topper be displayed next to the cake and she may go for that idea once she realizes that the topper will dwarf the top tier.
I just had a similar problem. the bride wanted a smaller cake but to be as tall as possible....she insisted on 5"pillars between the three tiers (10", 8", 6" and 4"). She then wanted a topper of heavy ceramic of a heart with 2 doves in the center ...the topper was 4 1/2 inches in diameter at the base and 7 inches tall! The kicker is that the bride...a "mature" bride who had been a home baker for 30 years was pleased as punch with the results. She came to me because she didn't work in fondant ..otherwise she had plans to make her own wedding cake.Personally, I thought the cake looked terrible....she loved it...and I had told her I was concerned with the proportions and stability of the topper and gave her a preview with cake dummies.... but she insisted (I made her put the topper on herself)....there's no accounting for taste. It wasn't my proudest moment and I hope her guests didn't think the appearance of the cake was my idea.
Reminds me of my late aunt's second wedding. Her cake topper was a heavy porcelain "Precious Moments" bride and groom, as I recall, and the cake buckled under its weight.
Which suggests that if you're providing specs for a customer-provided cake-topper, you should probably include a maximum safe weight. And be conservative about it. And be prepared to put something solid under it, if it doesn't have a broad enough base for its weight.
Weight should be no problem (except in extreme circumstances). You can always dowel the top tier to support the topper just like you did for tiers below. This is why I insist that my brides bring me their toppers by the week of the wedding - just in case I have to do anything like that for them.
Now the eyesore that will be created by the giant size is another story.... but there's really nothing you can do about that if she still loves it after you do like the pps suggested and show her the topper on a cake pan. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 
In addition to dowelling the top tier, consider a circle of dry gumpaste to lay on top of the icing just under the oversize or ceramic topper. Or use a separator plate...some of these toppers really need a rigid platform to spread out the weight.
Think of it as being the compleat cake engineer. The bride is responsible for the artistic choices.
its 12" long and 12" high and 6 1/2" depth. She knew that the top tier is going to be 6". Any suggestions.
That's not a topper, it's a garden statue................ 
I would tell her that if she's set on using it, that it will NOT be on the top, 6" tier, simply because IT WON'T FIT, and that I'll be happy to make the bottom board large enough to accommodate it, or that it can be displayed ON THE TABLE next to the cake.
If she doesn't like that, then she can either find another topper OR place it on the cake HERSELF ( I would put several supports in the 6" tier, but not really expect them to hold it and I would also tell her THAT). I would not place it.
Rae
.........topper was a heavy porcelain "Precious Moments" bride and groom,...the cake buckled under its weight......
If that topper had been properly supported it could NOT have caused any problem - the cake would not have buckled.
It's all in the supports!
now this is just my opinion so let's not start the Hatfields and McCoys CC style....the problem with relying on supports...and plenty of them ... is that there comes a point when you're not baking, but rather playing with an erector set. All the tv baking shows that focus on what I call 'extreme caking' with towering infernos and cantilevered projections have given some brides and other customers unrealistic notions about cakes. I'm all for making the bride happy but I've decided it won't be at the expense of my own integrity. Next time a bride wants the PreciousMoments finish to a cake that just won't meld with my own vision I'm going to draw the line. I realize that I might not have that luxury if I ran a regular full service bakery but I only take special orders to be able to do what I love. (and yes, I do have the luxury of a licensed kitchen)
now this is just my opinion so let's not start the Hatfields and McCoys CC style....the problem with relying on supports...and plenty of them ... is that there comes a point when you're not baking, but rather playing with an erector set. All the tv baking shows that focus on what I call 'extreme caking' with towering infernos and cantilevered projections have given some brides and other customers unrealistic notions about cakes. I'm all for making the bride happy but I've decided it won't be at the expense of my own integrity. Next time a bride wants the PreciousMoments finish to a cake that just won't meld with my own vision I'm going to draw the line. I realize that I might not have that luxury if I ran a regular full service bakery but I only take special orders to be able to do what I love. (and yes, I do have the luxury of a licensed kitchen)
Please see the godawful bobble head topper in my gallery:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2113491/red-and-white-wedding-cake
Wow that bobble head is interesting. LOL. Beautiful cake though. Thanks for all your comments. The bride came over this morning and has agreed to put the topper she wanted on the table by the cake and get a monigram for the top. (thankgoodness). Its actually the groom that is insisting on the cake top. The bride is secretly changing it without his consent. I guess he will see the change the day of the wedding. I hope he's not too mad.
Please see the godawful bobble head topper in my gallery:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2113491/red-and-white-wedding-cake
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
It still can't compare to my flashing plastic hearts topper though...we didn't take a picture with that on it for a reason! 
Yeah I don't know where my braincells were when I took that picture. I should have taken a picture without those dumb things. Man that was bad!
Wow that bobble head is interesting. LOL. Beautiful cake though. Thanks for all your comments. The bride came over this morning and has agreed to put the topper she wanted on the table by the cake and get a monigram for the top. (thankgoodness). Its actually the groom that is insisting on the cake top. The bride is secretly changing it without his consent. I guess he will see the change the day of the wedding. I hope he's not too mad.
Way, way to start a marriage 
Before he's blinded by the unexpected AND BEFORE THE WEDDING DAY, someone needs to explain this all to the groom: it's too big, it won't fit, it will look terrible, IT'S GOING ON THE TABLE.
Why should you endure an angry phone call for all of this? Call him, tell him, and don't back down.
Rae
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