for all those in business, i would love to know if you have a back-up plan in place for the cakes that go wrong a little too late... in particular, the wedding cakes.
i am in the process of starting my own business and i am currently doing about 1-3 party cakes a week. eventually, i want to do wedding cakes but i've been hesitant.
when i mention my plan to do wedding cakes to a particular family member, their reaction is "woah... imagine if you dropped the cake?!" or "what would you do if you couldn't get the cake to the reception hall because of an emergency?!" and " are you sure you want to put yourself in the position of having that HUGE, GIGANTIC responsibility of making or breaking someone's wedding day?"
so, needless to say, after the conversation with this person, i lost a wee bit of confidence in my abilities to get the job done.
what i am doing now is trying to arm myself with a back-up plan for an emergency situation.
should i always have a few sheet cakes on reserve? maybe have a few dummy cakes decorated generically just incase i need a stand-in at the last minute?
i would love to hear any practical, innovative ideas that others have used in the past or even plan to use in the future, if need be.
thanks 
oh for goodness sakes, the FIRST thing you do is NEVER listen to family! They are usually the least supportive of anything you do!
If I get trapped in a conversation with Nancy Nay-Sayer and all of her "what if...? what if....? what if.....?", I just get my best "you are a big dumba$$" voice out and ask her,
"What if my butt was blue?????????"
You can "what if" anything to death!! And I, bluntly, do not have time for it. I also make a deal with them: They are more than welcome to worry about it. I, in the meantime, will take care of getting it done! (Now outta my way!) 
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From my favorite quotes collection:
"If it turns out that my best wasn't good enough, at least I won't look back and say that I was afraid to try; failure makes me work even harder." --- Michael Jordan
You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through. -----Rosalynn Carter (1927 - )
And Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You must do the thing that you think you cannot do." If we only tackled the tasks that we knew we could do perfectly, how much would we actually do? (Childbirth being one - how many of us knew it would be easy and perfect?) You could always have a few cakes in the freezer if that would keep your anxiety level lower . . . my first "public" cake I showed the (CakeCentral Gallery) photo to the asst. at work and asked if I could do it for a work-friend's baby shower at the office. She asked, "Can you make that?" I said yes, and I'd never done a stacked cake w/fondant before. But I did it - it wasn't perfect, but everyone loved it, raved about it, it tasted great, I learned a ton, and my confidence was boosted a lot. Go for it!
Sometimes you just have to ignore the nasayers and believe in yourself. As for the back-up plan, a few extra cakes regularly in the freezer can help.
One of my favorite says: "You never know what you can do until you try".
Only you can truely stop yourself so I'd say, Go for it if you feel like it!
Creole
and what if it rains... stuff can go wrong on a wedding day besides the cake, that is life!! If the cake falls over don't charge them and then cope. By the time something goes bad it is too late to make a new cake, even if you have spare cakes in the freezer, doubt you would have enough time to frost and set it up. I helped my friend set up a wedding cake that fell over, the venue just went to the local bakery and got some mismatched cakes and set them up the best they could. What do you do anytime life hands you lemons, you deal with the situation as it comes up and you move on with life. Oh well!
(Oh and your family sounds like my dad... just tune them out! Life without risk is also without reward!)
Another Eleanor Roosevelt quote that applies, "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission."
Don't let anyone sway you one way or the other. Things are going to go wrong from time to time...no matter if you have a back up plan...or two...in place. We're human. Life is no guarantee. Just do the very best job that you can do with each and every order. For last minute problems, always, always take an "emergency" kit with you for wedding set-ups. I just got back from another one this morning, where I actually over-packed my kit. LOL. I take two bags ready and filled with each color of icing used on the cake; an assortment of several tips that are needed to "touch up" any areas; a spatula; a nice dishtowel to wipe my hands on; wet towels in a baggie to touch up the cake table where crumbs or icing may have fallen; container of super pearl (or whatever dust you're using) already mixed up and a brush for application; take the entire wedding cake contract with your contact numbers, etc.; MapQuest directions; cell phone; etc. I am a planner by nature, but there are limitations. Things happen. Don't let anyone sway you from your dream!!!
Good luck!!!
Amy
I believe that with a good back-up kit, you can fix just about anything, and remember, we're the only ones that really look at the cake from 3 inches away... most of the time, people that are enjoying the cake are about 2 feet away from it... It's important to stop and 'take a step back' literally.... cause what we as decoraters see is different from what our customer's see!!
Oh, and after being a grocery store cake dec for 10 years... I can honestly say that AT LEAST twice a year, we get a call from a frantic baker that they had an accident with a cake 
(whatever the reason) and we will make up another cake the best that we can-- then it's up to them to decorate it. So, on a Sat afternoon at noon, it's not that unusual for me to hear a manager say "I need a 6", 8" 10" and 12" for 2pm, just iced ... 
If they get it assembled with pillars, it's $270... and if it's just cakes (No boxes even for it) it's about $100 and then they have to bring boxes and decorate it themselves.... either way, they charge an extra $20 for the last minute rush and hope that they buy flowers too... the extra business is always nice. 
We haven't let a bride down yet!
My goal os to get some plainish but pretty dummys made,ones that can easily coorinate with any wedding decor. That way you can add some ribbon or flowers that match the wedding and have a cake for display. (should something happen where you loose the whole cake, like a wreck)Then serve some back up sheet cakes.
everyone here is so encouraging. thank you.
okay, now i have another question... what if an emergency comes up (family or otherwise)? what if you can't do the cake for the bride?? would you just call a local bakery to throw something together and then offer the bride a refund?
everyone here is so encouraging. thank you.
okay, now i have another question... what if an emergency comes up (family or otherwise)? what if you can't do the cake for the bride?? would you just call a local bakery to throw something together and then offer the bride a refund?
Oh this is a good one! My grandson is 3 weeks old and I told my daughter "I have back to back weddings, one of them is 1.5 hours away, so you can't have the baby on the weekend!" She always listens to her mama and he was born on a Tuesday!
This one is horrible! My sister died in March. the ONE wedding I had in March was that weekend. The sister who was coordinating everything said we weren't sure if we could have the funeral Friday or Saturday. I told her, "Oh this is SO tacky, but if you can swing it for Friday? I have a wedding to do on Saturday!" Whew! Friday it was!
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