THE WEDDING CAKE

   It all started when Tyler was about 10 years old. Cheryl and I were married in an outdoor wedding in the back yard of her Mom’s home. Tyler’s Mom, Donna, was Cheryl’s life long friend and volunteered to be our wedding coordinator. We had Tyler’s older brother Justin help run the sound system and play the music tapes for the wedding. One of the ways we found to save a little money was for Cheryl to bake our own wedding cake. She and her Mom attended some cake decorating classes and they produced a delicious concoction of sour cream and butter pound cake with alternate layers of strawberries and custard in the middle. Everybody raved about it, but Tyler and Justin enjoyed it more than anyone else. That’s when it all started.

   Over the years, on various occasions, Cheryl was asked to bring her delicious creation to serve for Tyler and Justin’s family on other occasions. The cake just really satisfied the boys taste buds. Then when Justin announced his wedding plans to Alisha, he asked Cheryl to bake her famous cake for his wedding also. He will never know how honored she felt for him to ask her. She baked it, and once again, it was a crowd pleaser. When Justin and his bride shoved a piece into each others face, he gave Cheryl a big smile and she knew it was a success.

   Five years passed and then Tyler met Holly, the love of his life, and they announced their wedding plans. Again, the distinctive honor was bestowed on Cheryl to produce her trademark wedding cake. Holly said she didn’t want the traditional bride and groom atop the cake, just for Cheryl to decorate it as she wished. Cheryl uses a three-tier stand with three different sizes of cakes that appear much taller than the usual wedding cake. The bottom cake is 14 inches, the middle is 12 inches and the top layer is 10 inches. She bakes two of each and so the cakes are stacked quite high and are very heavy.

   I can attest to you that this is a labor of love, and the greatest reward Cheryl receives is a smile on the face of those who partake of it. On the occasion of Tyler’s wedding, we had our grandson visiting for the week prior to the ceremony and Cheryl was worn out before she ever started the cake. We put our grandson on a plane Friday evening, but she had started baking Friday morning for the Noon Saturday wedding ceremony.

   We have two ovens and both were cranking out cakes for most of the day. She had to quit in the afternoon, as we were invited to join in the rehearsal dinner that evening. We had a great dinner and met some very nice folks, as well as visiting with some of our old friends. We returned home around 10:00 pm and Cheryl was still left with the daunting task of making the custard, cutting up the strawberries and decorating the cakes. I helped cut up the strawberries as she prepared the custard. At around 2:00 am, we were exhausted from staying up late every night for the past week, and scuttled off to bed.

   She awoke around 5:00 am and was able to assemble the cake layers and get the outer frosting shell on each of the cakes. She then made the different colors of frosting and filled the funnels with the proper tips for each. When she attempted to decorate the cakes, they were too warm and the frosting would not stick. It was now almost 9:00 am and we needed to get the cake to the reception room before 11:00 am. We both showered and dressed as quickly as possible and by the time we got the cakes, stand and frosting bags into the car, it was 10:30 am. It is a 20 minute drive to the Empire Room and we had to drive to the back entrance to unload.

   Being a mid-June ceremony, the temperature was rising into the mid-nineties for the day. The car heated up in the short time it took for us to locate a rolling tray to carry everything in. When we picked up the middle cake, the top layer shifted off the bottom for about an inch.  The elevator took about 7 minutes to get back to our level, and by the time we were able to get everything into the reception area, Cheryl had 23 minutes to decorate the cake before the ceremony started. She deftly straightened up the shifted layers and commenced decorating. At exactly two minutes till Noon, she finished putting on the final flower and leaf.

   I hid all the tools of her hastily finished project behind a curtain, and we proceeded to find a seat just before the groom came into the room. I know that Cheryl was exhausted and praying that everything would be all right. It seemed that at every turn, a new obstacle presented itself and tried to prevent her from making Tyler his favorite cake.

   The ceremony was beautiful and brief. Tyler was no longer the little 10- year old boy who helped his brother at our wedding. He was the handsome 6- foot tall groom who adored his beautiful bride Holly, and they both beamed at each other, as only true love allows. Little Haley (Justin’s 2 year old daughter) walked down the aisle holding hands with Tyler’s gregarious neice, Caitlin, who was the flower girl. When Haley arrived at the front she saw her uncle standing there and reached up and grabbed Tyler’s leg. It was a family affair, and they are a family of love and caring for each other.

   When the ceremony was over, all were invited to join the bride and groom for the reception dinner. I selected a seat close to the serving tables and the cake, so we would have a good view of everything going on. The food was good; we met some of Holly’s family and enjoyed getting to know them. The bride and groom released a flock of doves from the reception room windows. Finally, the traditional cake cutting ceremony was announced and the bride and groom walked over to the cake.

   No one in that room knew what I knew about this cake. No one could possible understand the labor of love and caring that Cheryl had poured into this cake. No one could know all the difficulties we had in getting it to this stand, at this time, for this very special moment. No one could appreciate that this was Tyler’s cake; because he had asked Cheryl to bake him her special cake that he had fallen in love with as a boy. No one could know that Cheryl had done her best, despite all obstacles, to please this young man whom she had known and loved since his birth.

   And no one could know the indescribable pride she felt when Holly placed a piece into Tyler’s mouth, and he grinned from ear to ear, as he loudly proclaimed,  

           “This is amazing- I mean it, This is absolutely amazing”.

He was looking straight at Cheryl.