I have a friend that would like me to do peony flowers to go on cupcakes at her wedding. Do I need to purchase actual peony cutters(the set is around $33) or will something less expensive suffice? Will those cutters make my life that much easier? And is there a tutorial out there that does not involve wire?

I have a tutorial I can email to you if you pm me your email address.

I used the $12.00 set on this page:
http://www.globalsugarart.com/search.php?search=peony+cutters&searchimage.x=24&searchimage.y=10

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-713397-peony.html+cutter

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-679624-peony.html+cutter

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-651611.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-633048-peony.html+cutter

I know these show doing them with wires. If I was doing them with out, then I'd build from the outside petals in, in a container to help you shape them, and you can place some cotton balls or tissue between the petals to help hold them where you want them.

The third link in Texas Sugar's post is my tutorial that I have in complete form in a power point file. You can preview it to decide if you want it or not before you pm me your email address.

What I am trying to imagine is..... how on earth are you going to fit a peony on a cupcake?