I am making my own wedding cake 
(against my better judgement!) 
I saw a cake that I liked, changed it, added to it and it is now a beautiful creation (in my mind). The cake will have a white fondant "cap" over pink buttercream frosting.
My questions are, can I decorate the cake the night before the wedding? Will it still look good in the morning? Will the fondant be as hard as a rock?
My experience with fondant (the cheap Wilton stuff) is that it dries hard and cracks. Will this happen to my wedding cake if I do it the night before? I bought Satin Ice WHITE Fondant for this cake because I don't like the Wilton and I heard this product is better.
Any help? Advice?
I use the Wilton fondant quite often, and have never had the problem of it drying out and cracking. Are you using too much cornstarch when you roll it out? Do you live in a very dry climate? Try coating your fondant with a very thin film of shortening, kneading it in, and then rolling it out. That should give it some elasticity and help with the cracks.
I don't think you should wait until the night before your wedding to create your wedding cake. With all the other things you will have to do, you don't need that added pressure. If you are sure you want to go ahead with the idea, you should make yourself a timeline, ie: bake your cakes a week before and freeze/refridgerate; fill your cakes 5 days before and cover in buttercream; cover you cakes in fondant 3 days before; and decorate 2 days before. The fondant should hold up just fine, but make sure that you roll your fondant thicker than they taught in the Wilton classes. If you watch "Ace of Cakes", the reason his cakes always look so pristine is that his fondant is at least 1/4" thick.
i have used satin ice once. i found it to be superb over the wilton fondant. if u are having trouble with cracking, the fondant may be too dry. u may be over powder sugaring it. add a little crisco to your hands to work in some moisture. at work, we decorate the wedding cakes the night before. and have not had any problems with the fondant or buttercream cakes. even the buttercream that have the fondant cap/blanket that you are saying u want. it holds up just fine.
good luck!
Thanks for all of your help.
I do live in a very dry climate. I will be using my buttercream recipe that calls for real butter to refrigerate. Will the fondant be ok if it is refridgerated?
I do plan on making the cakes ahead of time but I have a 16" layer but don't have a 16" wide freezer! I still have not figured that one out! 
If you live in a very dry climate, I would suggest not using the butter recipe for the buttercream. Unfortunately, although it does add taste, it makes the icing "melt" faster, and will retain less of it's shape.
Also, when you put fondant in the refridgerator it does get tacky. If I were you and I had my heart set on this design, I would make a mini version (1 or 2 cakes, and stack them) and put them under the exact conditions you are going to be under. See if it holds up. If not, switch to a recipe with more shortening than butter for the icing.
Hope that helps!
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