Just to let you all know, I have searched the archives several ways and come up empty. But... no photos in the articles. I live in New York, so I should be able to make a pilgrimage to the actual archives if I am allowed. Will be back to you with the wedding cake photo. My son the Critic liked it.

Using your search ideas, I have it down to 82 articles. I think it will have to be there. It may be a while, but I will post the article and the scanned photo.

It was real fruit. Will try to scan from friend's scanner. Thanks! Off to the NYT site to search.

I just noticed that you can also search just the New York Times Magazine, in a "refine search" option at the very bottom of the results page. ;o)

If you subscribe to the New York Times, or know someone who does who can help you with this, you can search the archives, doing an "advanced search" to limit the time period. Put multiple-word search terms in quotes -- e.g., "wedding cake" -- to limit the results further. You don't get photos from the archives, but they do indicate (sometimes, at least . . . I don't know if they always do) whether there was a photo with the article. I suspect that you can narrow the time down to a few years, which will reduce the number of search results.(I just did a very quick archive search for 1/1/81 through 10/5/87 which turned up 156 articles. Scanning the first two pages of results, it seems that 10 or 20% at most might be relevant.) You might get some clues from the articles then that will help you when you go wherever you must to pull and look through hard copies. Or, there might be a name mentioned in an article, for example, the name of a bakery, which you could call to see if they in fact made the cake featured. Good luck!! ;o)

ok, now you GOTTA scan a picture for us!! Was the fruit made from marzipan or was it real fruit?

I have pictures of the actual wedding cake, but for some neurotic reason, I also want pictures of the picture that inspired the wedding cake.

It was from an article, I think about weddings. It was on the upper lefthand corner of the page, if I remember correctly, with a small caption underneath. Perhaps a visit to the 42nd St. Library is in order. Sounds like a question for Reference Librarian!

You've probably already thought of this, but have you gone through your wedding pictures and/or video to see if the cake makes an appearance in any of them?

Was the picture from an ad or an article? I wonder if you could find that issue stored in the periodicals archives at libraries?

That is a beautiful cake. Mine was round and more like a mixed bouquet of fruit and flowers. If I had a scanner I would scan in a picture of the wedding cake. Maybe a visit to Staples is in my future.

Sounds beautiful!! Your description reminds me of the wedding cake in Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. If you don't have the book, you can see a small picture of the cake here: http://www.amazon.com/Baking-Julia-Savor-Americas-Bakers/dp/0688146570/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286285381&sr=1-1#reader_0688146570 click on the "back flap" book section and scroll down a teeny bit.

don't have a log in to proquest

Is this (not sure this link will work for you if you don't have access to proquest): http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=116238083&sid=4&Fmt=11&clientId=54989&RQT=309&VName=HNP

Oh, sorry ... it is a beautiful white cake decorated with fruit and I believe, flowers, including champagne grapes, Fiorelle pears, and lady apples. It looks like a beautiful Dutch still life. It was a photo without a recipe.