SO last year, in July, my sister called me and told me about a co-worker of hers who was getting married and needed a cake, and asked if I was interested. After talking to the girl (who didn't even WANT a cake, but was told by her bridesmaids that she needed one) I decided that since she was so low-key about it I would do it. I met with her a week later and we both decided on a 4-tier wedding cake with 3 satellites. All fondant: Pale pink with brown polka-dots, and hot pink bows with brown ribbon round the base of the cakes. Cute. This was due in late September. Then I found out I was pregnant - 3 weeks before cake was due. I had the WORST morning sickness EVER (unbeknown to me my gall bladder was also failing). On top of this, the smell of cake batter made me sick. Ugh. SOOOO - my best friend offered to help me out. She is also a cake decorator and had some experience with wedding cakes.
On the baking day, another friend of mine baked all the cakes at an off-site location that had room for storing them. A couple of days later, I came to pick them up and her husband had STACKED THEM IN PAPER BAGS!!! Oh. My. God.
ALL the satellites and 3 of the tiers were lopsided. I had NO TIME to bake more. I went to my friend's house to decorate and was so sick from the smell of the cakes in my car, I had to sit down when I got there. Eventually, the nausea passed and we began to ice the cakes and prepare them for stacking.
No problem there.
Then came the satellites. How was I going to fix this??? They were so beyond repair and I couldn't bring myself to bake more.
We moved on to the fondant. I dyed it light pink and began to place it on top of the base. It tore. I tried again. It tore. I got another batch going. IT TORE AGAIN! I moved on and covered the tears with the polka-dots.
I had made all my bows ahead of time so they had time to harden. However, they started to break when I put them on the cake. I was about to cry at this point. Then, I went to wash my hands and after washing them, I shook them and nailed my index finger on the edge of a VERY sharp knife. So now I'm bleeding profusely, overcome with morning sickness, and ready to call this girl and say (forget it - full refund). Did I mention she also had asked for a groom's cake to look like a newspaper with their picture on it???? I had the edible image done for me and when I got it out of the package, there was a HUGE line going through the middle of it from their ink cartridge. SERIOUSLY? Could anything else possibly go wrong?
So here I am with lopsided cakes, tearing fondant, a badly injured finger, and horrible morning sickness. The cakes finally got covered and now it was time to stack. No go. They kept sinking or leaning. I put more dowels in. It made no difference. Oh well. I had to leave to deliver the cake at this point.
In the end, the MOB and MOG LOVED it. I hated it. I also had to refund the bride $50 for her missing satellites. No more wedding cakes. EVER.

Sorry you had such a hard time. But they liked it, so that's what matters, right? And congratulations on the baby!

aww i'm sorry sweetie! but congratulations on your baby! the morning sickness will pass! try sipping on gingerale (the stuff with the real ginger), crackers and bananas may also help. and we are all our worst critics. I have something negative to say about every single cake i've ever done but other people think theres nothing wrong. i hope things start to get better for you and you get some rest, i bet your exhausted! best of wishes to you!

Thanks all! Baby is 5 months now and I haven't baked since that experience, and I moved, so I'm really excited to get back into the swing of things!

wow...that was a horrific experience! Well, except the baby part..
So so glad the customers were happy though.

I feel for you! I've always had a love for baking, but decided to get in to cake decorating after my son was born. I have a friend that has always supplied my cakes, but decided to take the Wilton classes and see if I had any talent to save myself some money over the coming years. My sister asked me to make her wedding cake and since it was a relatively simple design, I agreed. Little did I know that I was going to end up having to do everything in the middle of the night! My son was six months and wasn't giving me any time during the day. I didn't have many problems with the cake part, but I had also agreed to "help" her make flip flop cookies for her guest favors. I ended up making them all myself and having to change the design so many times and they took forever! I have sworn off anything to do with weddings ever again or at least until my son is older and I can work more during the day.

Oh, honey!!! I hear ya on the morning sickness!!!! I am 10 weeks along for baby #3 and I had to actually cancel cake orders because I couldn't stand the smell of cake, buttercream, fondant or anything else having to do with cake making. It is terrible!!! Not to mention the exhaustion that makes it impossible to get off the couch! Took me by surprise because I was never this sick with my other pregnancies. I hope it gets better soon!

Wow!! Kudos to you for not cancelling - I think I would have caved with all those pregnancy hormones coursing through your veins! And the morning sickness! I have 3 kids so I can relate.

You're a true trooper!!!

So sorry for your experience. It's hard enough having the pressure of a wedding cake with uncontrollable nausea on top of it.

Been there...nine children and 13 pregnancies all together.
I've had my share of morning sickness. I really hear you on the smell of icing...ugggh.

You'll do another wedding, give it some time.

Hope you have a chance to bake some lovely cakes before the baby comes.

mommachris

I always think to myself "no more wedding cakes!!!!!!" after each and every single one...then I always jump with excitement at the opportunity to do another one. I think I must be a masochist or something. Congrats on the baby - hope you try to do another wedding cake without a baby in your belly before you really decide "no more wedding cakes - ever"

WOW!! You had your hands full! Glad you finished it.
Kind of Same thing happened to me July 2008, pregnant, working on my 2nd last wedding cake for the year because I was due end of September and wanted to relax... 5 tier very detailed, its in my pics. Anyway, ended up with Clampsia and medi-vac to city, had my son at 30 weeks.
I did finish the cake before I got sick, but I didn't remember finishing it!!!!
and then when I got out of hospital, gall bladder attacks and admitted for 6 weeks!!! Not fun, but got a pretty darn cute boy out of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Hah! Don't be too discouraged.

For my wedding (just this past April) we hired a friend of ours who was a professional caterer. The cake she made was simple but delicious -- but apparently oversized, because it cracked right down the middle, as if it had a fault line of some kind. By the time all our reception guests got through with it, it was sort of a "cake casserole" instead of a cake.

But you know what? It was delicious. So there's that.