Recently I have been embracing being a person of MANY ideas and trying to use it to help others. Weddings require lots of different parts and ideas that come together to make an unforgettable day. When discussing decor options, the bride was wondering how to make the groom’s table unique. He is a talented musician, drummer, pianist, and songwriter, and he wanted donuts stacked like a cake for his dessert table.
After searching through Pinterest for ideas, I decided the best option would be for me to make a custom cake stand with a twist. I wanted to include a drum in the tiers as a nod to his talents. The bride agreed and greatly trusted my vision. (Thank you for trusting me, Katelyn!) I love how it came together, and maybe it’s the inspiration you need to make something unique for your special day.
Once I decided on the design, I had to find a drum. The wedding colors were navy and blush, so I knew I wanted something to complement those colors. After checking local listings for used drums on Facebook, I found the perfect one on eBay for around $30, including shipping; however, the drum was red. I was confident that paint would cover the red, so I snagged the drum.
To paint the drum navy, I bought spray paint and covered the silver pieces of the drum with foil. The foil was so much easier to put on versus tape. There were some spots that didn’t turn out perfect, but once the stand was together, it wasn’t noticeable at all. I feel like I’ll be using this foil trick again in the future.
I didn’t have a way to remove the drum heads, so I just used a box cutter to cut them away. I just needed the rim of the drum.
The wood rounds are from Lowe’s and were the best prices I could find without cutting out the rounds myself. I used small chunky wood spindles to hold up the tiers, also from Lowe’s. Here’s what you need to complete a similar project.
- Wood rounds
- Wood Spindles
- Wood screws
- Wood glue
- Drum (spray paint if you want a different color)
- Level
- Electric screw driver
The first thing I needed to figure out was how to place the three spindles to make them evenly spaced. I hate using a measuring tape for things like this because I can never get the measurements right at all the spots. So, I had to use some simple geometry. I printed out an equilateral triangle (makes me sound smart haha!) and used it for my three points. It worked out so much easier for me. Then, I reused the same triangle for the top points just at the midsection of the triangle.
Here’s a video of how everything came together. I learn better visually, so I wanted to share a video with you.
Starting with the bottom tier, I predrilled the holes up through the spindles and glued them down as well. Then before attaching the second tier to the first, I added a middle piece of wood to sandwich the drum between two rounds that way I didn’t have to worry about attaching the drum to the wood. I did add some screws on the inside of the drum so it wouldn’t slide around as much. Before finishing off the second tier, I had to add the spindles to hold up the third tier. Then, I was able to drill screws through the final round of tier two into the wood piece in the middle of the drum.
The top tier was just glued onto the spindles with wood glue. I added a one inch wood piece to create the space for greenery that finished off the stand.
Once we arrived at the wedding, we added the greenery and parchment paper over the wood for the donuts to sit on. We put out the donuts during the wedding, and they were perfectly delicious when it was time to serve them. I think this idea was a beautiful addition to the wedding decor and fun to make!
