What is the best way for attaching actual fabric ribbon to a wedding cake? I'm doing a wedding cake in which the bride wants 2.5" lilac ribbon bands around the bottom of each tier. A little water, I'm sure they'll adhere, but what about finishing them off nicely in the back? I was told hat pins, but is that safe (metallic) to push into the cake?

I use toothpicks.

Gel

I have found that as long as the ribbon is not too thick, you can wet it with a paint brush and it will stay put even at the overlap.

Awesome! Thanks for your ideas. Maybe this won't be as difficult as I thought.

I attached a ribbon once using water, and the color bled into the fondant. Many have suggested using a strip of wax paper as a barrier between the ribbon and fondant/buttercream and attaching with pins or toothpicks. I haven't used gel, just pins (the ones with the pearl heads on them, so they're easy to spot .

HTH!
Mirjana