Advice on making 3 tier wedding cake- what size tins?

[2LittleMonkeysJumpingOnMyHead]

I'm making my dad and his fiancé a wedding cake for March. A fruit cake and 3 tiers, probably stacked.
How do I figure out what size tins I need? And how far in advance can / should I ice them? I have a 2h journey there, probably on the day itself.
I plan on marzipan ing and icing the cake with fondant. I'm then doing simple decoration with cake lace around the outside.

Size might depend on how many you want it to serve, or how it looks.
I'd bake now, to let it mature, and then ice a week or so beforehand. Are you stacking directly one on top of the other, or on a stand, or with pillars? Don't forget how heavy it will be once assembled!

There's a section in Delia smith's complete cookery course which will tell you size of tins based on number of guests, and quantities / cooking times. I'm not home at the moment, but I'd you've not got an answer by the time I get home this afternoon I'll look it up for you.

I did 8",10" and 12" for ours. We served it instead of dessert and that was enough for 60 good sized portions with some leftover. They were sponge rather than fruit cake.

I am happy with how to stack / tier it, it's he sizes I'm unsure of. And I do plan to cook it asap. I might have a copy of delias book, so will check that, thank you!

I think they're having about 70 but it isn't dessert, and a fruit cake, so those sizes would probably work. It's for the looks really, I said they could always keep the top tier and I'd re-ice for Christmas :)

For fruit cake for a wedding you want slices about 1 inch by one usually, I'd say 1x2 max. Sponge is always 1x2 min, you always need much more sponge cake!. This and this are really helpful guides - portion guidance and how to slice.

For 70, I'd do probably a 10, 8 and 6 inch maximum, there will be loads left over, but it will give the 'wedding cake' impression. Definitely bake it now, marzipan etc about 4/5 days ahead, decorate the day or 2 before (depending on how confident you are!)

I'd avoid doing a 12 inch fruit if you can!

10, 8 and 6 sounds good, especially as I think I have 8 and 6 so would only have to borrow / hire a 12 inch.
I will head to he MILs later to figure out how much cake to cook as she has all the delia books :)

Any thoughts on bulk buying dried fruit?! I plan to soak in a booze / sugar syrup mix for a couple of days, so guess even the cheaper drier ones might be ok? Or is there a way to buy a massive bag?

Dried fruit is expensive, but as this is a wedding cake I would not wish to skimp on it if I was making it. There is a lot of effort going in to it and it would be a shame to find that it is not as good as it could be on the day.

A 12 inch Fruit cake is a much better bet than a 12 inch Sponge Cake. Cook it on a low temperature for a long time, and insulate it with Brown Paper to prevent it drying out and/or burning. The problem with a large Sponge Cake is that you don't have that option. You have to be very careful over how you cook it to prevent the outside going crisp before the inside is cooked. Also, you can bake the Fruit Cake now and "feed it" like a Christmas Cake to add to the flavour and to help it keep. It makes for less stress nearer the day.

I'm not making a sponge cake, I was clear on that as I'd not have enough flexibility about when to make and decorate and it won't travel / stack as well.
And I plan to bake asap.
My tesco online don't have any glace cherries, but I can get them for a great price on Amazon, but will likely get the rest from tesco.