This is my practice cake for my friends wedding! She is not getting married until May so I have lot's of time to make it better! I had two ideas that I needed to run by her so I tried them both on the same cake just so that she could get the idea and then tell me what she preffered. This was my first time doing anything like this! It was my first time with fondant and crusting butter cream.... so needless to say it really doesn't look that great! But I learned a lot.... and have since decided to cover the cake in fondant instead of buttercream. I made the fondant so I wasn't sure how easy it would be to work with... but I like working with it a lot better then the buttercream... So I think that that is what I will do so that it will be smoother. Anyways... her actual color with be red not blue... but I don't have any red right now. I would appreciate any feedback... to know how I could make things better and so forth. The one with the blue buttercream on the bottom is a little lumpy because I added a little too much water! 
Also, I found that my fondant dried out and started cracking really fast... does this mean that I added too much confect. sugar? Thanks for your feedback... I really want to get better. I know I can't get worse! Oh yeah... and the actual cake will be two tiers!
Great job on both of the cakes....you could go with either one =) Couple of things that I do is use crisco when rolling and using fondant (that should help with the drying out) and if you feel that you can not get your buttercream smooth on the cake use melvira's method of smoothing (search melvira method) and she uses dense foam rollers and it really works great.
Good luck on the cakes =)
Chen,
Great start! I think I like the top one better. Are you going to have some flowers on top at the corners to anchor the drapeing. That would be my only suggestion. Maybe two blue and one white between the blue at each top corner. Just a thought! Oh, same scenario with red design!!
I like the top one better. All I can suggest is maybe making your drapes that go down each corner a bit more "skinnier" and "shapely" (for lack of better words 
).
If your fondant is cracking quickly, you probably did add to much sugar. What kind of fondant did you make?
I like the top one too. It's simple, yet elegant.
Hi all! Thanks for your replies and suggestions! Joby1 I did try Melvira's method because I had seen it in my research on this sight! But for some reason it didn't work for me... I wasn't sure if it was because the icing wasn't smooth enough before I let it dry and then smoothed it with the roller. I tried to get it as smooth as I could with my spatula first... but I don't have a professional one so I was really using my knife . So, I figured that it didn't go smooth because I couldn't get it smooth enough in the first place. Make sense? Also I am planning on putting flowers on all the corners and also a small bouquet in the middle. I had taken some pic's with flowers but found out later they were too big to post here. Thanks for your comments, they are appreciated! Keep 'em coming!
The following is an excellent page dealing with making swags.http://www.cakecentral.com/article63-How-To-Make-Fondant-Swags.html
I love the one on top as well. I also agree the side drapes could be more narrow...if you have time, you really should try the MMF (marshmallow fondant) recipe. The first time I made it I was like geez! Why didnt I learn of this stuff sooner! It was fantastic to work with....and like they said^, crisco if it starts cracking. I really love your cake...can't wait to see the finished product!
Thanks Patton78 I will give that a try! MMF always sounded yummier to me but I thought it might be harder to make.
I know that the red is supposed to taste bad... I think I might try to get the "no taste" red paste... but we'll see what I can find. I don't think too many people will be eating it because it is just for the pics, so I am not too worried about it!
It seems that everyone seems to like the top one better. It was sure a lot easier to do! Let's just hope that is the one that the bride picks.
Thanks everyone for your tips... I will be sure to post my next try on here so you can all see the improvements (hopefully). 
And, thanks for all the encouragement... us newbies need it.
Chen,the top one looks really nice.At first I was very afraid of the fondant but I found a recipe here in the articles section (How to make and decorate with MMF)It works super for me.Its cheap and taste much better.Since the wedding is in May you have plenty of time to practice.Good luck!
Thanks! That's the only reason I decided to make it for her... because I have such a long time to practice. I know that I have a long way to go for the drapes to look better... but that is what this site is for... to help us to look better! Err, I guess not for us to look better but for the cakes to look better. 
I will definetly look up that article! I was kind of embarressed to post my pics, but the feedback is worth it! Thanks again!
Oh, I am sooo relieved! The bride got back to me, and she said she loved them! She said that her mom and her sister were also very impressed. I guess they weren't expecting much. lol And... drum roll please... she picked the top one! So, everyone should be happy about that! I am glad because it was easier to do, and looks much more elegant. I just thought I would let you all know. Thank you all sooo much for all the great tips... they will make the next one much better! You guys are awesome! 
Depending on how big the cakes are going to be and how much fondant you will need, you can get Satin Ice Fondant in red. All of their colors are deep true colors and all of their fondant is vanilla flavored (kinda). I can't taste the vanilla, but it definetely tastes good! They also sell white fondant if you want to cover the cakes with it. Some local cake supply stores carry it, but you can buy it online from www.cakedeco.com. If you go to satinfinefoods.com you can e-mail them for a list of retailers in your area that sell it. Ever since trying Satin Ice I will not use another brand of fondant on a cake!
Just my 2 cents!!
~Chelle
Forgot to add that I both cakes look good, but like everyone else I like the top one better!!!
~Chelle
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