Eksquisite Design Blog

Photo by Rochell Mort

The cake stand is one of those little wedding details that for me was a pain to figure out. I wanted something cute and custom, but all of the options I found online were WAY more than I wanted to spend. I looked into renting one, but the ones available to rent were not my style – too ornate and blinged out.

This is one of the details that is the perfect DIY project, since the odds that you will use it again are probably pretty slim (especially if you had a rather large cake, like I did). I found my inspiration via this tutorial from The Martha.

I wish I had some better photos of our process, but this is basically how we did it:

Tory’s dad got us a hunk of 1/2″ plywood and used a jigsaw to cut it into a circle 1″ or so larger than the base of our cake (the bottom layer was 16″). We then primed and painted it white. I found some really cute knobs at Anthropologie that I wanted to use as legs to give the stand a little height. Tory pre-drilled some holes in the bottom (5 of them) and screwed the knobs in. I hot glued a ribbon around the edge, and viola! A cheap, cute, custom cake stand was ours!

Here’s another really cute DIY cake stand option, from Design*Sponge, especially if you plan on having several smaller cakes, or a selection of desserts:

I love the rustic look of this cake stand made from a lazy susan, an Ikea planter and twine from Brick City Love:

Here is another (adorable) DIY rustic cake stand idea from Once Wed:

I also like this idea using wooden finials and furniture parts from the hardware store to make an elegant cake stand, from the kitchn:

Or, if cakes are not really your thing, here is an adorable DIY tutorial for a wedding cupcake stand from Once Wed:

There a ton of ideas out there for DIY cake stands. Get creative, save some dough, and get the look you want by making your own!

So we had our tasting at La Perla Bistro and chose our buffet menu a couple weeks ago. I have to say that the food was delicious and it was a fun time out with the folks. I was surprised by how much food we got – it was a TON! I was thinking we’d only be getting little bites of stuff but I was definitely satiated by the end! Here’s what we chose:

• Appetizers
  Pinwheels Wrapped in Light Pastry: Artichoke, dijon and sharp cheddar
  Fresh Pear Purses: Pears, brie and caramelized pecan in pastry
• Salads
  Mansion Salad: Bleu cheese, sun dried cranberries, walnuts, strawberry vinaigrette
  Spinach Salad: Baby spinach, bermuda onions and crisp bacon, balsamic vinaigrette
• Warm Fall Pasta: Green beans and mushrooms in a light pesto cream (soooooo delicious!)
• Tuscan Grilled Vegetables: Fresh vegetables smoked on the grill and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. Mushrooms, sweet peppers, eggplant, bermuda onions, potatoes, carrots and broccoli
• Freshly Baked Artisan Breads: Italian foccaccia herb bread and sourdough baguettes with sweet butter
• Rotisserie Roasted Beef Crossrib
• Beverages
  Non-Alcoholic: Lemonade, Iced Tea, Arnold Palmer and Coffee
  Wines: Esser Vineyards Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Savignon
  Beers: Heineken, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams Light

And now I’m hungry!

The funniest thing about our tasting is that Tory was most excited about the beer choices. They told us we could choose ANY three beers and that made him quite the happy camper! Tory’s dad asked us what we’re having for dessert…wedding cake (which we get to taste tomorrow!) from Ginger Elizabeth, of course! I can’t wait!