Tiers of joy at Cork wedding
The 17-year-old bride and groom enjoyed a day to remember in Gurranabraher as some 200 guests helped to celebrate their colourful fairytale wedding.
The bride, Catherine Casey, arrived in one of two white stretch Humvee limousines in an extravagant white wedding dress and train, accompanied by 12 bridesmaids in striking yellow gowns and huge bouquets of matching roses.
The glowing mother of the bride described the service as beautiful, and said that Catherine had really been enjoying her “lovely day”.
However the couple’s memorable celebrations did not end there, as at the reception guests were left in awe by an impressive 31-tier wedding cake.
The 22-foot confectionery delight took baker Rachel Healy of Healy Celebration Cakes in Blackpool, Cork, two weeks, 1,440 eggs, 125 pounds of icing and 250 sugar and silk roses to make.
It also required the services of a blacksmith and a carpenter.
“Most people have been describing it as Eiffel tower-like,” said Ms Healy.
“It has taken ferocious work. The bottom tier alone is 36 inches long.”
Ms Healy said she was approached by the bride with a photograph of her grandfather’s wedding cake which stood at 34-tiers.
“The young lady showed me a photograph of the cake, but out of respect to her grandfather it had to be slightly smaller. I believe her mother had a 33-tier cake.”
Due to the height of the reception room ceiling, Ms Healy said she had to remove the top tier.
“We were forced to bring the height down to 30 tiers, but we also had to leave off the bride and groom figurines from the top.”
Ms Healy, who has been in the novelty and wedding cake business for over 22 years, said see was not surprised with the bride’s mammoth request.
“I’m immune to it at this stage – nothing surprises me. This cake is the tallest I’ve made but certainly not the biggest.
“I once made a wedding cake that was 32ft long, the length of the entire reception room wall.”
While Ms Healy could not reveal the cost of the cake, she did say that the average three-tier cake will cost €300-€400.
