This six-tiered cake, covered with buttercream, had fresh-blueberry and white-chocolate buttercream filling.

On each tier of this modern creation by Wendy Kromer, a different wave design (three in all, impressed with double-thick rubber stamps) graces the fondant panels. Every panel is bordered in bamboo also made of fondant. Under the icing, a swirly vanilla-and-mocha marble cake is in keeping with the theme. The wooden cake board, edged in pieces of real bamboo, mimics the shape and look of the cake.

Call it a novel idea -- this colorful cake evokes marbled endpapers. The pattern is done in aqua-tinted white chocolate using chocolate transfer sheets applied to buttercream. The treat inside combines moist dark-chocolate cake, dark-chocolate ganache, and semisweet- and white-chocolate buttercreams.

Inspired by jeweled insect pins popularized at the turn of the 20th century, this cake is concocted from royal icing, gold luster dust, and edible pearls. The enchanted-forest backdrop provides the perfect perch for a pair of delicate sugary dragonflies. They whimsically evoke the happy couple, poised to take flight.

The edible pleats here recall the crinolines beneath a cream puff of a wedding dress. White wafer papers, cut with scallop scissors and folded, were painted with gold luster dust and petal dust in pinks and greens. They were then piped with white royal icing and attached to the mint-green fondant-covered tiers with more royal icing. The fluted pastry cups, filled with pillow mints, complete the pleated theme.

Tiny treasures of the woods are rendered sweetly in marzipan on an ivory marzipan-covered cake. A ladybug signifying good fortune rests on the frond of a fern; a fiddlehead with royal icing foliage uncoils overhead. Mushrooms with gum-paste stems, acorns, oak leaves, and fallen bark made of shaved chocolate further adorn the tiers.

This opulent five-tier cake is a graphic interpretation of damask; it plays up the pattern, which is traditionally tone-on-tone. The intricate scrollwork is best suited to a square cake because the flat surfaces display the repeating motif to greatest advantage. To create this magnificent design, the pattern is placed under waxed paper, then piped over and filled in with royal icing. After it dries, the hardened frosting is removed from the waxed paper and affixed to the cake. The Wedgwood-blue fondant and dark-brown decorations look elegant with a chocolate cake.

A traditional tiered confection covered with pale-green fondant has fresh hydrangeas between the layers (each cake tier is topped with clear acetate so flowers don't touch the icing). The Monogram is made of royal icing sprinkled with nonpareils for texture.

When you work closely with your baker, you can tailor not only the cake's shape and flavor, but the frills that embellish the layers. Choose elements you love: the quilting of a classic coat or the blossoms on your grandmother's handkerchief, for example. Then interpret them as baubles and ornaments composed of icing. It all adds up to a cake that is perfectly suited for your wedding.

These shimmering platinum-blue ribbon bands and this triple-loop bow were pulled and formed from sugar. The rectangular, fondant-covered cake is displayed on a hotel-silver tray with a traditional ribbon-and-cross border.

Fondant that has been tinted ice blue blankets this cake, like snow in the shadows cast by a winter sun. Real pinecones flocked with royal icing and glistening with sanding sugar are accented with finely wrought chocolate pine needles; they add a natural-looking texture to the cake's modern lines.

The intricate scrolls on this cake by contributing editor Wendy Kromer recall those used in calligraphic ornaments. Adapted from clip-art books, they, along with the monograms on the middle tier, were traced in royal icing and attached with more icing. Ribbon-candy favors echo the motifs' loops and curls. At top, a vintage ceramic bride and groom hold a card-stock banner. Banner and monogram calligraphy by Gail Brill.

For a wedding by the beach, a coral motif is always in fashion. New York baker Gail Watson piped coral branches in royal icing on fondant-covered tiers. Cotton fabric pinned around the cake board echoes coral's other famous hue. Sand-color fondant blankets the board.

Why limit monograms to stationery and linens? Here, sweeping lettering adorns icing on a geometric cake by Wendy Kromer; placed end to end, the arcs and swirls seem more like a graceful pattern than initials. You can have the baker adapt your existing monogram. Rather than piping the design freehand, she traces the monograms in royal icing onto waxed paper, lets the letters harden, and then affixes them to the cake.

Tendrils of romantic buttercream wisteria adorn this majestic cake; royal-icing blossoms dangle from the natural, curly willow arbor framing the bride-and-groom topper. This vintage cake topper is from a personal collection. The columns are hidden beneath winding royal-icing vines. Since the top tiers are balanced on nine-inch columns, the cake should be assembled on the table at the reception site. If you prefer, you can use a 22-inch-diameter round cake board coated with thinned royal icing instead of the cake riser.