oooohh... tough one... perhaps find her something else to 'help' with - something a little less high profile perhaps? Tell her you wouldn't want her to be stressing about making the cake when you'd rather she helped you with something else (choosing the flowers, perhaps?) but make the 'something else' seem much much more important to you than the cake - after all, she will be you MIL!

My bridesmaid made our wedding cake it was wonderful and I'm so pleased she did, but she absolutely did stress about it so much I think it prevented her from enjoying the run up to the wedding. Then she was worried the whole day about how the cake looked and how it would taste and what people would think. It is uneeded stress for her!

ps. it was extra stress doing it this way though so if you dont need the extra hassle definitely just go with a professional to do the entire cake for you xx

jesus thats a lot of cake haha! We haven't confirmed a venue yet but it's likely to be around 2hrs from where we live so i might have to use the excuse of 'i'd worry too much about transporting the cake that far' i might ask her to make some mini cakes instead that we can use as favours/place settings. thanks girls!! xx

I made my friend's cake and took it from Plymouth to Fort William in northern Scotland. It was really stressful for weeks before hand, and particularly the day before, and day of the wedding. A stupidly hot day in Scotland meant the sugar flowers I'd spent weeks making melted and had to be re-made an hour before the wedding and had me in tears and at the bottom of a glass of vodka!

BUT! My friend and her family loved it. Her Mum cried! No, it didn't look professional, but I did the best job I possibly could, and transported it the entire length of the country. It was far more special than something they just bought from a shop. I would never ever make my own cake as it was pure stress, but I am asking my brother's girlfriend to make ours. (yes, mean I know) I would rather have a special cake than a perfect one. Its personal choice, but that's my take on it. Get H2B to mention in his speach that she made it, then everyone will be impressed with the effort that she has made and appreciate the cake far more.

Special is better than perfect :)

december i get where you are coming from. me and h2b are incorporating lots of little things into the wedding which are special to us and which only we will really get etc. however, neither of us are really that sentimental over the cake so i'm more concerned about having one which looks and tastes good rather than with some sort of meaning behind it. but that's just me. I think i will go with this mini cake idea, then she still gets to do something cake related but i won't be so bridezilla over them looking perfect as they'll be in little presentation boxes anyway.

she knows we haven't booked anything yet lol. h2b agrees on the mini cakes too. mil2b sees cakes as her 'thing' so would be really upset if she didn't do the cake so hopefully this way everybody will be happy! x

crickey!! i don't even know 300 people haha, we're having 20 tops!!

I would cop out but with a white lie i think - something like my sister/friend or someone has surprised us with cake as wedding gift and ordered from a shop - so although i'd love hers, can she make cup cakes for buffet etc x

thanks tori xx