Okay so today I get asked by someone at my work if I can send her some of my cake pictures. (The woman had seen my suitcase cake I did for one of our colleagues). She tells me she told her sister about my cake and wanted to show her some. About half an hour later I get another email saying her sister is getting married and wanted to know if I could make her wedding cake and get this she goes on to say And she will pay you handsomely for it. 
I just about broke out into a cold sweat just reading the email.. I emailed back and explained that I have only been doing this for 7 months and that I dont sell my cakes and wouldnt be confident enough to attempt a birthday for someone let alone a wedding.
There is a HUGE part of me that wanted to say yes, this hobby costs me huge dollars, not only in all the stuff I buy but I dont even charge for supplies that is my choice though and I really dont mind but I am starting to think I should be recouping some of the dollars I have forked out. I know from feedback that my cakes appeal to some people, its not that I think I am hopeless, its just a confidence thing.
My question is (sorry I know this I long) is how do you get enough courage to make that step? All I can ever think about is having a diaster on someones special day, it really does fill me with dread. I also worry that once you have to make a cake and someone starts putting their ideas and preferences into it I wont enjoy it so much.
I just really want to know from you who do this for a living, how you get over it.
Thanks for letting me vent
Hi Kathryn, GO FOR IT!!! You can do it! Your cakes are beautiful and I'm sure they will LOVE it! Really, you have a gift and should feel confident about it, I can't believe you have only been docorating for 7 months, that is amazing!
Go ahead and take a deep breath, give her a call and accept this job, I'm cheering on the other side of the world for you!! 
I don't bake for the public but I must say this.... You have a wonderful talent and your cakes are beautiful! The pictures look perfect. Share your talent with others and make the cakes. I know they will be very pleased.
Hey, I do this for fun too. I donate a lot of cakes to my church and I make them for friends and family. Recently people have started offering to pay me for cakes, and I have been doing a few for acquantences and friends of friends. Believe me, no one will be as picky as you are, at least that is what I've found. I did do one wedding cake and it wasn't fun for me. It was way too stressful, so I've chose to just do special occassion cakes, but I'm not trying to make a living. You need to just do what is confortable to you. But it is a lot more stressful when it's a paid cake.
First off, your cakes are all beautiful!!! How do you not have the confidence with such wonderful cakes? I had been decorating cakes for my kids and then a few outside. Then as word got around and me decorating during the night cuz of the kids, I eventually lost interest because it now became a 'business' and the fun got lost. Or my lack of sleep was gone. I never ran into rude people and they always left it up to me as far as design choice. To answer your question re: b'day/wedding cakes......birthday cake shouldn't be a problem for you....you can do it! This actually should be quite easy for you with your talent. Wedding cake....I'm sure you also can do, but I know a lot of you out there deal with 'bridezillas' every day, but I couldn't do it. Some of you can 'whip out' a cake in no time, but my only drawback would be the fact that this is such an important day for bridezillas and this IS something you have to have confidence in, or at least perfect a good 'right punch'!
Good luck with your decision, YOU CAN DO IT! Believe in yourself. Life is about ups and downs, trial and error. How will you know if you don't try!
well i am not doing this for a living (yet) and im only 19. but-i have already done a wedding cake, am doing one this week, and have several birthdays and another wedding coming up in the next week.
dont get me wrong-im not trying to brag. im just saying that my cakes arent fantastic, but i still get orders from family and friends. theyve seen my work and are ok with the fact that im not as good as i can be yet.
it is scary. i almost called the friend of the bride a few days before the wedding to say i couldnt do it. i was extremely stressed. but i learned that if you take a week to make the cake, its much easier and less stressful. you bake the cakes one day, torte and fill them the next, frost after that, then decorate. maybe take 2 days to decorate and one to make finishing touches, and fix anything that you have a problem with. there are good people on this website that told me all that! it helped so much, and i hope it will help you! you just have to kinda jump in. that was my first cake i had done outside of family and friends.
good luck! i know this is soo long, but i hope it helps you!
i looked at your pics....hard to believe you've just been doing this 7 months.
you can do it!
have you seen the pic of the cake she wants?
ps...you little people couldn't be any cuter!
I'm the same way when asked. I get way to nervous and think if it's not my idea and I have someone telling me how to make a cake it may take some of the fun out. I did make a cake for one of my nephews and for a family members baby shower (both for free ofcourse)but I was soooo stressed the whole time thinking I was going to ruin their cake.
I just looked at your pictures though and I must say your cakes are completly awesome!!!!! No wonder she is willing to fork over the big bucks. For a cake like the ones you make I'd pay you nicely too!!! Wow... all the cakes are just so professional and awesome looking!!!! I think you shold get past your "nerves"and say yes, yes, yes and start let the money roll in!!! Your cakes are so worth selling!! I hope to some day , with more practice(I'm still new to cake decorating...of course you're new too so wow, you're talented!!!) be as good as you but I doubt I ever will be! LOL
I say go for it...e-mail her back and say yes!!! By the looks of the cakes you've postd you have no worries about "messing" up!!! They all are truly awesome!!!!
I just look at your photo your work looks great. I think you are ready you have to start one day I think this is it. Just charge her half of what she would paid a professional. GO FOR IT
I don't do this for a living either but according to your cakes---YOU ROCK! You can do this. You've got talent. I'm always afraid to screw up a cake but in the end I'm happy with the it.
Thanks guys, I feel like you are all sitting on one shoulder saying you can do it while the pathetic scaredy cat little me is on the other shoulder youll screw it up.
I guess at the end of the day if you dont enjoy it you stop doing it. My husband has a saying Get down to the harden up creek and take a drink good advice!
But maybe I should start with a birthday cake!! (at least if I have a disaster I can stop at a bakery and buy a replacement!) 
Thanks again
Yep, i agree with every one else.
You go girl, jump in the deep end it will be the best experience of you cakey life...
once you get over the initial shock you will be fine..
kylie
In my honest opinion ~ you should go for it. I took a glance at your cakes and they are truly beautiful. Don't be overwhelmed, as others have suggested just take it step by step and layer by layer. The cake for your Mom was astounding. With roses like that and the compositions you come up with you will do a fantastic job.
How you leap into it is having faith in yourself. There are many people on this board who have faith in you and your talents and are behind you all the way. I say, do the cake - hit the first one out of the park because it will give you the confidence (and referrals I am sure) that you need.
First one is the worst and you are quite ready for the challenge. Wonderful work! Good luck and please let us know that you have considered doing it.
Big hugs..... 
Valere
I still have butterflies with all my cakes! You will be fine and yes you do great work!
There is no way that you can be sure that everything goes planned! In my photos I have a sugar Bubbles cake--It was a almost disaster! Can you tell?? One of the bubble rolled off ruining the smooth finish on two tiers. The cicng was so soft from the heat I alomost had a heart attack. A can of cold spray would have been handy! I fixed it and the bride never knew anything! She raved and that was good enough for me!
So as I ramble even us "veterans" still are learning from our mistakes!
You are fabulous and you don't need ud to tell you that! Stunning cakes!
Have you actually looked and seen how many of us here have your cakes in our favourites? Mine are not as good as yours and I've been doing them a lot longer than you have and people pay me, if they want my cakes, ok some freebies for good friends or if something really itches me, but people WILL pay for yours. I say go for it.
oh my gosh...just a hobby? i always imagined that you were a "professional".
i have a wedding for 250 on march 3rd. my first real wedding(i am a hobby decorator as well). i have been preparing for nearly 5 months and i had been very stressed. but then i made a large 5 tier cake last month and i had one week to think of it, then 2 days to make it. i think it turned out wonderful...obviously i learned from it and made mistakes but my point is, its almost as big as my upcoming wedding cake, and it was a lot of work, but not at all as scary as i thought it would be (comparing to my stress for the wedding cake). i told my husband yesterday that i KNOW i can do this wedding cake now confidently. why should i freak out? i know my capability, not perfect but not average either. personally i think your skill level is far above mine and i applaud your work. please do it, you will be so proud of your accomplishment.
I am quite serious when I say your kindness really make me want to cry!!!!
I was kicking myself on the drive home tonight because deep deep deep down Id really love to do a wedding (as big and scary as they are) and the wedding isnt for nearly a year so Id have time to practice too!
I offered to lend the sister (the bride) my cake books for ideas and give her some of my favourite websites to have a look at so maybe I could still say yes. Or better still find out what direction she is thinking and if it is something I think I could pull off then say yes.
Thank you so much for all your support, you guys are just the nicest bunch of people EVER!
No way! You can not be for real. Your cakes are some of the nicest I've seen and even you are worried about people not liking them? Oh my. You just made me feel so much better.
Your cakes are 10 times better then mine and people tell me I'm nuts to worry about what others think.
Go for it! I'm sure the bride will love what you do.
You have talent and deserve to be paid the big bucks.
If you feel to strange asking for them to pay you then just tell them to pay you what they think you are worth. I'm sure you will fall over from how good they think you are.
Don't worry about a thing. Really. Your work is wonderful.
Hi Kathryn - as everyone else has already said your cakes are fab! You have a lot of talent.
Most of us who do cakes are always more critical of our own than our customers are of them!!
You will have butterflies when you take on a big order such as a Wedding Cake, but I say you are perfectly capable of doing one.
Have a chat with the girl and see what she would like, you may find its not as scary as you first thought.
And make it as you have made all the other cakes - they all turned out lovely didn't they?
Don't start with ' I can't do this, I will mess up ...' But ' I can do this and I will be proud of it'.
You have to do your gut feeling, but I believe you CAN do it - everyone has to have their first Wedding Cake at some point - so go for it!!
cheers Jan x
Kathryn work work is AWESOME. You are an inspiration for all of us here at CC. I have a wedding cake this summer for my nieces friend. And I am stressing alittle as well. But my cakes can no way compair to your talent. The cake for the teacher was truelly Awesome. I had to show my family that picture when you did it. They were like WOW how did she do that. So when I grow up I want to be like you. PS I am 43 by the way. And have been decorating alittle longer than you. And I can't do what you do. Talk to the bride and see what she is wanting and go from there. I bet she would be honoered to have your cake at her wedding. And very proud that you did it. When I see your cakes I see a work of art. I couldn't cut into them. I would want to admire it forever. Amybe you could do her some display dummies that she could keep forever. And some sheet cakes for guests to eat. Just a thought. Your Amazing. If you start a business that could be your name Amazing Cakes
I would never have known by looking and your photos that you have been decorating for 7 months! Your cakes look beautiful and just perfect. Go on and take that step and say yes. You won't get over that hump until you actually do it. The bride has confidence in you because she chose you to do her special cake. She thinks you are quite special and so do we here on CC!
Kathryn,
I'm being totally honest when I say this. One of your cakes would make any occasion more special for me. Your work is so beautiful, full of whimsy and joy.
Every figure you make has a special appeal, a little personality! I keep going back to look at Molly's cake, I also love the suitcase cake, and Rebecca's Class still makes me all sniffly. Then when I saw two gumpaste shoes in one day...well, girlfriend, you're a born decorator if I EVER saw one.
To me, your cakes are like finding that special, perfect storybook for someone.
Cake Artist! Cake Artist! No matter what your confidence level, all your pals at CC know that for a fact, and we're all in your corner.
Maureen
I ditto everyone's response! Go for it! Your cakes are amazing!!! 
Honey-Just do it !!! Your cakes are awesome really wow!!!!
think of it this way -you have to push your bounderies if you want to go further - you will never feel ready.. so go for it
I agree with everyone else on this thread that your cakes are spectacular and you could SO do wedding cakes. For my first wedding cake I was lucky enough to be asked by a dear unpretentious friend to do her cake. I was hooked. I don't have half the talent you have and I'm not the most confident person but for some reason I thought I could figure out what ever a bride brought to me. I've done four or five now and there was one that I was completely ashamed of (I didn't even take a picture of it) and yet the bride said she loved it. So far I've found that most brides are wonderful. (maybe I've just been lucky) I think you have as much talent as any wedding cake decorator out there. You know you could also do cake toppers. You do fantastic gum paste figures!!! They are delightful. Go for it!
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