well, i'm in no way legal and i made this VERY clear to this lady that contacted me over the internet about making her wedding cake. she still wants me to do it. i even told her that they may turn the cake away at the venue once they find out i'm not a legal bakery and she doesn't care. so i asked her which flavors she would like to have at our little tasting and she came back with some complicated cake flavors along with fillings... i just planned on making cupcakes and nothing too major... i really don't have time to be doing this with my 5 month old baby here... it's hard enough making supper for myself, let alone 3 different flavored cupcakes WITH fillings... then she emailed me 2 pictures of cakes she would "like" and they are extremely complicated for me... one has painting on the side... i've never painted nor do i think i would be any good. i want to do this because i know it would be a lot of money for us but at the same time i just don't feel like i have the time since i have a baby to take care of... what should i do?
Honestly I would run the other way!! If you aren't comfortable with the ideas that she sent you then she won't be happy if they don't turn out the way that she envisioned. You probably don't have the time to invest in this with a 5 month old (I have 3 year old triplets so I don't know if it gets any easier later!!) and why waste the time on the tasting if that is even too much work? The money may sound good but you may end up losing if you can't satisfy her and have to somehow replace things. It just doesn't sound like it is practical at this time. Good luck...let us know how it turns out!
Not to be rude...but if you really don't have the time and don't feel you can accomplish the skill level required for what she wants...then why risk ruining her wedding cake? It's not worth the $$$ if this is the case. JMO.
I would be very sinceer and appologize to her for not being able to fulfill her request but just explain to her that you don't have the skill or know how to PAINT on the side of a cake... and that for the price you're charging her it isn't worth the money for these complicated flavors of cake and fillings.... even if that's not the case... or you could just back out by saying that there is a family emergency and you won't be able to fulfill her order and you wish to give her enough time to find another decorator. 
well, i can tell you right from the start that if you don't go into it with confidence, it won't come out good.
i have a 21 m-o toddler, and 9-m-o baby, and i'd run screaming the other way, for sure.
I agree with all that everyone has mentioned. Not to change the subject but there are alot of mommies to young ones here. How do you all get the time for decorating? I have trouble unless I have a baby sitter. I have a 4 year old and a 17 month old.
well here i go *running away* i've been conversing with her for awhile over this and i wish she would've just sent the pictures of what she wanted in the beginning. the cake isn't until august but i just don't have time for a tasting right now and i'm getting into other things besides cake decorating. i made so many cakes while i was pregnant but have only done about 4 since i had the baby... he's getting way too time consuming! thanks everyone for your opinions... glad i asked and didn't try to attempt it.
I do my cakes at night when husband is home to decorate, when the kids are napping, or when my sister is around to babysit. Luckily they're on the same sched so when they go to nap I have a couple hours for myself.
I totally understand about the little ones! I have a 1yr old and I only make cakes at night when she is sleeping. Well, actually I bake the cakes during the day and then do all the icing and decorating at night. During the day mixing the cakes only takes a few minutes so I turn on her favorite shows and watch her from the kitchen. It sounds like you really don't want to do this and I totally understand I would just apologize and say why you can't do it and hopefully she will understand and not be a sour puss.
Not to be poking fun at anyone....... but I have to laugh when you ask "how do you do it with babies around"?
During the day I have 5 babies around from 8 months to 4 years. For me it's just a matter of managing my time and my husband would scream if I worked on cakes too much after he got home from work. He's a bigger baby than the ones I have during the day.... 
when i start to do a cake, i like to work on it till it's finished. i hate having to stop every 2 hours to go and feed the baby (i'm nursing so that takes a lot of time too). i wish our kitchen & living room were next to each other but they're on opposite sides of the house. by the time dh gets home from work i'm completely exhausted and can barely find enough time to make my own meal, let alone a cake to feed 300. i don't know how i would do it with 5 kids... i wouldn't feel like i was giving them enough attention. my baby comes first no matter what right now, cakes are just on the side.
Momabuda, that's pretty much my take on it too. I'm a SAHM and my husband doesn't get home until 6 pm. My 4 year old goes to pre-school. During the day there's just no time for cakes. And then in the evening when DH gets home, even less time. By the time kid's bedtime comes, I'm way too tired to attempt cakes! I only do them on weekends when DH is off work or if someone comes over to babysit specifically for me to work on a cake.
I never started doing cakes until my first daughters 1st birthday, so my progress is slow! I would really love to get a dummy or a practice board. I really need some practice with the pastrybag, but there's just not much time. Does anyone know if canned frosting works okay to practice with? Is it too thin? Does it need sugar added? Just thought I might start practicing a little during Katie's naps. LOL
Nikkidoc, I am a newbie too(username shows that lol), but I believe reading on here that the canned is too soft for piping stuff. But I do believe I read that you can add the p.sugar to help it out some. The best suggestion I read was to just use shortening(cheap/easy) and practice on a board with waxed paper taped to it, then keep scraping it off and going again to build up skills. I also posted to get your question back up top so an expert here can help ya more. Mine info is just from reading and not from exp=( jen
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