I used to make wedding cakes way back when. The memory of how stressful it was still haunts me whenever I see a pastry bag with a #1 piping tip (the smallest, most exacting one). Given that experience, not to mention my work now as culture’s editrix, you’ll not be surprised when I declare that I’m very much in favor of the trend toward Wedding Cheese Cakes—grand stacked tiers of cheese wheels that are embellished with flowers and fruits, in the style of a traditional nuptial cake. All that’s missing is the sugar. These cheese tiers are a delicious, beautiful, and much less fragile way to create an edible monolith, compared to umpteen layers of cake and butter cream.

And now it’s easier and more fun to plan for a wedding cheese cake, thanks to a clever cheese merchant in England who has launched a new online design service called the “The Cakebuilder.”

The idea is custom-create a visual of a wedding cheese cake by choosing from a list of cheese wheels and dragging and dropping them, one by one, onto the platter in the middle of the page.

As you add cheeses (up to eight different ones) you get a visual approximation of what the cake will look like based on photos of the actual whole cheeses. At the bottom of the page is a tally telling you how many people your cake will feed; in the right corner you can see the overall price, based on the cheeses you’ve picked. Of course, the price is in pounds, so it only applies if you’re serving the cake in Great Britain. The cheese selection is also British-centric, but similar styles and sizes can be found in the U.S.—just ask your local monger, who can special-order whole wheels for your wedding “cake.”

For one bride’s account of creating her Wedding Cheese Cake, check out p. 12 in the coming Summer 2012 issue of culture.