Any advice on putting fresh flowers on a wedding cake please?

[RainyWednesday]

My cousin is getting married in July and her mum is making the cake. She is thinking of doing something like this but is completely panicking about how to do it. I would have thought it would just be a matter of sticking some roses in some polysterene rounds and putting them between the tiers but she is (a) anxious (b) in need of detailed instructions and (c) talking about putting the roses into oases (?sp) balanced in shallow trays on top of tin foil to stop them spoiling the cake, which seems a bit unnecessary to me.

Has anyone done this or do you have any tips about putting fresh roses on a cake?

Many thanks in advance

I did this for my sister in-law's cake last month. The flowers do need water, as they will likely be on the cake more than an hour. I got flower "spikes" at a craft store, they are little individual tubes with a sharp end, you put a little water in the spike, stick your flower in and then poke the spike into the cake. No water gets on the cake. Alternatively, I read that you can do the same thing with drinking straws. Cut a straw into pieces, fold the bottom over tightly and wrap it hard with a bit of tape. Dropper a bit of water in, put in flower and poke into cake the same way.

I wouldn't do oasis, when you get the foam wet it gets heavy and would probably dent the cake and unless it was in a foil bowl or something would certainly leak on the cake.

OR...

Decorate with flowers at the last minute and don't faff with a water supply at all

I used fresh flowers for dd's hair for her first communion. I put them in a mixture of glycerine (baking section of supermarket) and water (50:50) overnight, and that kept them fresh for a couple of days.

I mean I stood them in a vase, so that the glycerine went up the stalks IYSWIM. I didn't submerge them.

Here are the spikes I used: Wilton Flower Spikes

I followed a lot of these directions: Making the Cake

Here's a UK supplier for flower spikes: GuyPaul

Fantastic - thanks for the help