If I have a 10" cake with basic borders it takes me from start to finish about 3.5 hours. 
So you are NOT alone. I am NOT incuding clean up time. 
I'll rush around my kitchen, mixing, baking, cleaning for hours.. when I'm doing a wedding cake, it will take me all day sometimes just to bake it ... it can be a lengthy process but the end result is always worth it 
Cake decorating is not a quick business, especially at first. But once you get a little more comfortable in your abilities, get things organized, and keeping supplies available, you should be able to cut your time.
I've been decorating for 11 years, and from time to time I have had to bake and decorate and cake, make the board and the box, and then deliver it in 2 hours. It's not fun, but it can be done. I've had to do this when I have forgotten an order or someone said they ordered an additional cake (they neglected to tell me until the delivery time).
Don't worry, you'll get faster.
Michele
Well, I have gotten the hours down a bit lower. Although they are not wedding cakes - they are still extremely complicated........usually six to eight hours. When I first started out, it wasn't unusual for an 18 hour cake. But they were/are difficult designs.
Also, I never do everything in one day. It helps a lot!!!!! Bake one day, sculpt and crumb coat, color fondant and model pieces the next day. Decorate the third day.
Finally, I get into a Zone and all of a sudden I look up from my finished product and can not believe how much time has past!
Dana0323 with regards to your grocery store bakery, have you looked lately? I just checked out one in my town and was shocked 
I mean really shocked how sloppy and poor quality the decorating was on the product. I'm sure they have to be speedy to pump out the product, but the decorating quality was simply not there at least not at that store.
I guess I must be really slow because I don't count it in hours, I count in days!!! I do work full-time and usually don't get home until about 8PM and can only work a few hours at a time.
Day 1 is baking and making the icing. Day 2 is coloring and icing the cake (though this doesn't take nearly long as it used to since I've discovered the icing tip and don't worry about crumbs so much) Day 3 is writing and decorating. Day 4 is cleanup (this day does not always follow day 3 - sometimes it takes a little while)
As others have said, I do find that I am going faster and so usually day 2 and 3 are combined a little bit. Therefore day 3 and 4 can be combined. I'm also getting used to it and learning tricks. Now cleanup is kind of an ongoing project instead of a monster day at the end of all the decorating. Clean tips before they are dry and use Saran Wrap rolls in the bags - Who knew it could be this easy?
I agree with all the comments. If you do it in steps it seems to go more smoothly and you will have more time in your day for other things. Baking on one day, preparing icing/fondant next, decorating cake on third day. I try to have the cake decorated the night before delivery so I am not running around on the delivery day. I also do cleanup after each step so I don't have to spend hours cleaning up all at once. It really comes down to finding the routine that works best for you. What works for one decorator may not necessarily work very well for yourself.
i've been doing birthday cakes for a few years now and it seems like it takes me longer now than when i first started! lol probably because i'm a sahm of a three year old and a one year old. i can bake the cakes with them running around.... but i don't dare do anything else until naptime. that's when i make my icing and any decos. then i take a break, clean up any mess and wait for them to go to bed before i decorate.....unless my dh is home. then i put up the baby gate to keep the kids out of the kitchen while he entertains.... i usually finish up around midnight... and that's for a 2-layer 10" round! can't even imagine how long it would take to do a wedding cake, although i'd love the opportunity!
I work in steps too. Bake one day, decorate the next. I just started decorating about a year ago though and I'm also really slow. I can take hours and hours sometimes, and it doesn't help as far as the time frame is concerned that I'm a HUGE perfectionist!
I'm with Sugarflowers, can do it in 2 hours. The Soccer ccc in my photos, from start to cleanup, took maybe two hours. Mix, bake. While baking do cleanup and chocolate soccer balls, mix bc. Take cupcakes out. While they cool I cover the board, mix colors, fill bags. Arrange, frost, decorate, finish cleanup.
However, new techniques take lots more time. By the 3rd time I've done a new technique, I can fit it somewhere into the baking or cooling time usually, so it's pretty quick. Oh, and photos take more time as well. Usually only do photos for new techniques, so I can go back and see how they are improving. I think all my photos in here are first-time techniques.
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