Confection Chronicles: The "Thousand Dollar" Wedding Cake!

This February my Oh-So-Sweet and Gorgeous SIL Susan got married again to a Wonderful, is-he-for-real nice guy and hottie, Bob Grove. All of us in the Moss clan were very excited and happy for Susan. After going through some very distressing experiences in her life, it was great to see something good and uplifting happen to someone that deserves good and uplifting things.
I was, and still remain, so honored that she called and asked me to do her wedding cake. Susan called my hubby to see if he would get a feel for whether or not I would be willing to do it. One day while we were driving home he said,"What would you do if Susan asked you to make her wedding cake?" My reply, "I would be so excited, that would be awesome, but she'll ask Jodie(She's another cake artist in the family)." Well, I soon got a phone call from Susan herself, and she asked ME! I was so excited for the excuse to try something new. My waistline has suffered enough from the cake I make for legitimate occasions, I can't imagine what would happen if I started making cakes every time I saw a new cake technique I wanted to try out.

Well, Susan went through a few pics and gave me a little bit of an idea of what she wanted. She wasn't too set on anything in particular. Which gave me a lot of leeway.
This is what I came up with...
I was so proud of myself for succeeding at my first attempt at a wedding cake. The more I look at it the more flaws I see but as I blogged about previously, I did everything with very little tools. I have since found tools to help with things like the diamond grid, which I eyeballed, and the Scrolls, which I eyeballed. I wish I had a better camera so you could all see the pretty sheen the cake had. I had so much fun, but the best part of all was all the Love and support Andy's family gave me, knowing how nervous I was. I had no shortage of people telling me how much they liked the cake. Not one person pointed out anything wrong with it. Coming from a family that doesn't always operate quite that way, I really appreciated it. The compliment that takes the cake... a thank-you card from the bride herself, telling me how Bob's ex was incensed at the thousand dollars they must have paid for their cake. I laughed and laughed and laughed when I read that. If she only knew it was made by a frumpy self taught stay at home mom that could only dream of being paid $1000 for a cake, maybe someday!