NO writing for me until this wedding is over. Today is the first time I've felt like I'm "on top" of the cake. All the cakes (four double layers) are baked, filled, frosted, and in the freezer, ready to be transported to the reception site. (An hour away from us... still nervous about that!) Since they will be frozen when we start out, hopefully the layers won't slide apart or anything before we get there. I have wooden dowels in them to help hold them in place and to support all the layers. It's going to be a big cake! It ended up with 15 cake mixes in the entire cake.
All of the decorating of the cake will happen the morning/day of the wedding, after it is placed on the table. That way, nothing will slide off the cake.

Yesterday I made homemade pretzels, so I could get a tree trunk for a palm tree to put on the cake over the ceramic marriage couple cake topper they bought. They are lying in the sand. I tinted clear piping gel a beautiful blue and made a "water" top of the cake for the couple to be in so it looks like they are on an island. (They are going on a cruise to the eastern caribbean for their honeymoon and they wanted a beach-themed cake.) I also made some gum paste palm leaves yesterday that are finishing drying and they are looking pretty good. Later today I have to hot glue the leaves to the trunk and also glue the rocks and shells to the sand (brown sugar) divider that will go between the top two layers of cake. I THINK I have a hot glue gun out in our big room with the scrapbooking stuff.
I bought chocolate and blueberry rocks, and fondant sea shells to put on the cake. I tinted the sea shells pastel colors with edible glitter. They look amazing! It's going to be a fun cake!
I'd planned to spend most of today practicing making the shell borders, stars, and other decorations I'll be putting on the cake. But...
my husband's suit pants are too small for him. I knew they would be, but of course I couldn't get him to try them on until today. So... now we have to go find a new pair of pants that will go with his suit jacket (which fits perfectly) or... if we can't find pants to blend with it that look good, then he'll have to get a whole new suit. Pain in the neck! Thank heavens I got him to try them on this morning, and he didn't wait until the day of the wedding to discover he couldn't wear them.
So I guess we're going shopping today. Oh, joy. I'd rather be home practicing those shell borders! Oh, well. At least I have one more day to practice before I have to put the cake together on Wednesday. I'm taking photos at each step of the way, and will put them together in an on-line album when the cake is done so you can all see what I've been doing. The biggest problem was when I went to put the first of the two 16" square bottom layers of the cake into the oven. The pan I'd bought was 2" too big and the oven door wouldn't close! So... I had to bake it in three 1/2 sheet pans and cut one of the cakes into thirds and use two of them with the other cakes to make it the right size. It worked. I got a photo of the cake... not fitting in the oven! Good thing I started this project days in advance of the wedding!