DIY Floral Wedding Cake Topper

The Wedding Cake can be one of the larger expenses of a wedding.  Years ago I made the cake for my own wedding (not something I recommend). To help my daughter save money on her wedding I made her cake as well. We decided to go very simple - a two tier cake with basketweave icing and a floral topper. The basketweave is a pretty simple technique that only requires one tip. You can find the instructions online or in a cake book. To make this cake extra special Blackberry preserves were used between the layers of each tier.

While wandering in a thrift store I came across this unique cake stand (can you tell what it really is?) It was a hanging light fixture. But I thought the design looked like hearts and that it would add weight and balance to the cake. After removing the light part, it was painted with white spray paint to cover the piece the light was attached to, an ivy garland was wrapped around the fixture.
Originally the topper was going to be fresh flowers, but we had extra flowers left from other decorations. It was a good thing because fresh flowers for the bride's bouquet and the mothers corsages were one of our bigger expenses--Lesson: the less time you have to shop around the more you will probably pay.

To Make the Topper:
Wires - three 10-12"
Chipboard Letters
decorative paper
Cardboard
Silk flowers/leaves
tape
hot glue

Cut a circle from cardboard to fit your top tier.  Cover fronts of chipboard letters with decorative paper. (cutting around the letters was the most tedious part of this project. Finish the edges of the letters with ink pen or glitter. Tape the wire to the backs of the letters and cover the backs with paper (to hide tape and give a finished back).

Poke holes in cardboard circle and push wires through.  Choose a good height for your letters, then bend the wires under and tape to circle. I made the center "&" taller than the initial letters. I also tilted the initials away from the center.

Hot glue leaves around the edge of the circle. Then arrange the silk flowers till you get a pleasing shape. Place the larger flowers first, then the smaller. Then fill in with extra leaf stems. You could also fill any open spots with ribbon loops. When you like the arrangement--hot glue it all together.

All of these flowers came from an extra premade bouquet from HL bought 1/2 price of course. And the letters will be recycled onto a scrapbook page in the couple's wedding album.