In the meantime...wedding cake help

Now that I don't have a job any more, I've got tons of free time to relax and unwind.  At the same time, I'm (kinda-sorta) looking for a job and any work experience.  I asked my friend J, who owns a wedding cake business if he needs any help for the upcoming wedding season...and he said that I can come help him if I want to.  So I went over to his shop to help him decorate a cake.

It was really neat!  He told me some tips and tricks on cake decorating.  He uses marshmallow fondant (instead of the traditional corn syrup, gelatin and powdered sugar mix), which is a lot easier to handle, durable, and keeps well.  He uses cake mix and ready-made frosting, which cuts down on labor cost (he's doing this all by himself) while maintaining quality.

He was finishing an order for a three-tiered wedding cake.  After he made the bottom tier, he told me to line the bottom with a thin line of frosting and silver dragees.  While I was doing that, he made the middle tier, which he quilted.  "Quilting" involves imprinting the fondant with a special tool in a criss-cross pattern to make it look like a quilt blanket.

Before the second tier can be placed, some sort of support needs to be embedded into the bottom tier.  At school, we had to use a wooden dowel (which we SAWED using our serrated edge bread knife).  He uses the thick boba straws, which are lighter, cheaper, easier to cut and just as strong.

Once the second tier is on, I started putting silver dragees on it, while my friend finished the third tier.  When everything's assembled, he told me to start decorating it with freeform flower designs.  He showed me a sample cake.  So I started decorating....

...And voila.

The silver dragees on the second tier is applied by making a little indentation and putting a tiny bit of water (with a tiny brush) to make the dragees stick.  The piped decorations are just frosting dyed black.  Even my friend was impressed with my work :)
Huh. It wasn't as bad/hard as I had anticipated.  It was actually fun, and although labor-intensive (this took me over two hours to decorate) can be done at home.  Thanks J!