Edna: I Absolutely adore all of your work! I also subscribe to your youtube videos. I'm a very visual person and your tutorials have really made a difference for me! I can't thank you enough for sharing.
Thanks!..Im glad you enjoy them. I do love to teach.
Edna 
I just finished reading this thread and all the advise was very helpful to me too! I just started making and decorating cakes and the adice I see on here helps me very much. Thank you all!
On the subject of wedding cakes ... I have been asked for sample boards for the bride and goom, and sometimes the couples parents as well, so they can make a decision on a cake flavor. I wanted to charge a small fee for these but wasn't sure if that was done or not.
The couples that have come to me, through various friends, that I made samples for ended up going to a big box store to get a cake done.
I kinda feel like they were just getting free cake off of me.
Well my cake is finished...OMG it is to date, the most difficult cake I have done. I could not work bottom to top with drapes, it just seemed backwards for me...they are really hard to do jeeze........they looked easy haha......tell me if you think its too colorful....its not as pretty as the one posted for this discussion, but I tried
lol - you're scaring me with the "hardest cake to date" comment!! lol
How did you end up securing the swags?
I just scewered them with straws that held the flowers........however....when we came back from dinner the top tier was leaning badly forward.... I think too much weight there....my fonddant was a bit too wet....maybe cause of rain I don'y know...............but it sure tasted yummy....and now I have th flu grrrrrrr
thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Sorry Bellesmom.........well it was hard for me you will do fine.....every darn thing that could go wrong went wrong, so it was difficult....humidity in the air was a nuisance. Can hardly wait to see your cake..
Bellesmom....I loive that name by the way......I will tell you a secret I have learned........and I checked with a pro to be sure what to do to prevent this in future.......all the weight of the fondant drape and flowers in front was causing the small top tier to be pulled over....it was raised up atleast an inch in back..I was having a cow.....so I quick dismantled it and served it haha,,,,,,,,you can't do that......so the answer is.........drape fondant on the top tier all the way over to hand over the back.........it will prevent it from happening for you... are you not glad I made this cake for my BD haha.I asked tonedna about it and this is what she told me she does to keep that from happening.
yummychoo you have come to the right place.......just go into the forum and start posting your questions, they may already be posted if you look.....people are great here and they will sure help you out...welcome...my mum was born and lived in Manchester England until after WWII
madgeowens.......Thanks So Much for the tip! It makes complete sense now that you said it - You probably just saved me a toppled over wedding cake!!! lol - I see you live in PA too - maybe you could swing by and help me when it's time!! LOL
thanks again
also I did them in three seperate drapes, not all together.........I am a novice decorator.....so if I can do it yours will be perfect
Thanks for all of your advice ladies - here is how my cake turned out
I blacked out the back ground in Paint because it was taken on my kitchen counter....you can see the blacked out areas as I got close to the cake - I think I have the actual un touched pic on my cc profile.
Thanks again for all your help!!
I'm anxious to see what others will say about fondant swags on buttercream. I can't imagine that would work! The buttercream would mess up as soon as you touch the swags to it, wouldn't it? You would have to reposition it and that wouldn't work with buttercream, right?
Meh, I do a lot of fondant swags on buttercreme. But you're right, you've only got one shot to get it on there. Have to be right the first time!
I do swags all the time in buttercream. You just need a relly good buttercream. If it's too soft it wont hold as well.
Edna
Edna: I can't remember if I read right, but do you have a DVD tutorial on making the buttercream swags or are you teaching about it somewhere? BTW Congrats on your new DVD flower series, I can't wait to get it.. and ofcourse thanks for all your tutorials on youtube.. I used them often.
Anna
Edna, how do you make your customers overspend on their budget?
Usually if they dont have the budget I move them to something
that goes more to what they can pay for. Is not fair your work has to suffer cause they dont have the budget.
Teach your clients to go for what they cant buy or you will end up loosing money.
Edna
I think she meant to type: Teach your clients to go for what the can buy or you will end up loosing money.
Yes..thats exaclty what i meant!.. Spanish still my first language..lol..
LOL I have the same problem, I tell everyone I get lost on translation !!
Edna
Your cake is great BellesMom!! and how did you black out the background?? I have Paint but can't figure out how to edit pics on it
Thanks Rosie2! I opened my picture in Paint and enlarged it to the largest % I could...then I selected the paint brush from the left hand side tool bar and selected black as my color - then just started "painting" away! It gets hard to keep the edges of the cake clean and black out the back ground - that is why the edges of my cake look a little fuzzy/block-like. You have to have patience because it takes a while. Hope this helps!
That cake will serve more than 50...looks like a 10" round, 8" square, 6" round which would be 82 servings.
Will you be making the flowers or using silk? Those flowers would take time and cutters if you don't have them already.
The other thing is, you'll have to transport assembled, do you have room in your vehicle and are you confident enough with the support system that you use to do that?
I made my friend's wedding cake for $100 mostly because I wanted to be able to say I'd made a wedding cake for someone. The $100 didn't quite cover the supplies and ingredients and the cake was a ton of work. I probably would have charged a stranger about $400 for the same cake (if I sold cakes).
Um, last time a checked if you take even a penny from someone for a cake, then you sold a cake. And you know that in Texas it is a big "no-no" to do so from your home kitchen and/or without a license. You know this, so why would you in one breath say you charged a friend $100 then in the next say you don't sell cakes.
Selling something does not make you a seller of them. For example, if a bride sells her wedding dress she is not then a dress shop. She is not someone who could then be contacted for further dress sales. If I sell my car I am not a car dealership. I don't have a lot full of vehicles you can peruse and make a choice.
Selling something for a penny does not establish a business.
It's an interesting concept but it takes more than a single one penny transaction to launch and establish a business.
I think texas-rose was mainly trying to just cover the cost of the cake, not sell a cake.
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