Our good friends Shawn and Steve will marry this October, in what will certainly be a themed, costume wedding. Because we have both looked forward to this wedding, my husband and I immediately volunteered our services, him as photographer, and me to bake the cake.

Shawn's favorite holiday is Halloween, hence the October wedding date; Steve is a Star Wars geeks of the first order. They are undecided between pure Halloween theme and Star Wars. Her college-age daughter opposes the Star Wars idea, but I pointed out that going along with it would make negotiations for her own wedding much easier.

So far, Shawn and Steve like the suggestion of each layer being a different flavor. What flavors, they haven't decided yet. Because I'm a home baker, this isn't any more work, because my mixer can only mix up batter or icing for one or two layers at a time. And chocolate is the easiest icing to dye black.

I've made wedding cakes before, but very simply decorated. Swirls of cream cheese icing with fresh berries! Smooth icing! Simple shell border! This will certainly stretch my decorating ability.

For the Star Wars cakes, the first thought a traditional tiered wedding cake with Leia in a veil, Han in a bow tie, and other toys (er, "action figures") arranged as a bridal party. Then I thought I could make a purely geometric Death Star or R2-D2 without cursing overmuch, even if it would be a lot of work and necessitating a course in fondant. The light-saber cupcakes would also be possible, and perhaps even some wookie faces in chocolate buttercream. There will be no expired tauntauns warming a near-to-death Luke Skywalker.

I've found three categories of Halloween cakes.

The elegant cakes appear to be traditional tiered cakes, but on closer inspection there are spooky accents, like black and dark red roses, or "pillars" and "rosettes" of icing that turn out to be bones and skulls on closer examination. Or this black-fondant covered cake with skulls, and swirls and beads of white buttercream.

The fun cakes come in Halloween colors, like black, orange, purple, green and blood-red, with stripes, swirls and polka dots of contrasting colors, and cute fondant figures of witches and vampires. There are topsy-turvey cakes and multi-story haunted houses, and silhouettes of bats and cats, and figures from popular movies.

The creepy cakes go beyond spooky, with dismembered body parts and dripping blood icing or filling (really red fruit jam).