Cupcake Anxiety!!

My sister and brother-in-law have asked me to do the sweets for their "Hey, we eloped, but come celebrate with us" party/reception. I, of course, said yes! And, I really don't mind at all to do them. But, since this is technically their wedding reception, and the cupcake tower is technically their wedding cake... I want these cupcakes to be perfect, and delicious! I'm making three different flavors: pumpkin with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, red velvet with traditional cream cheese frosting, and a yellow cake w/raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. I'm making roughly 100 cupcakes. Oh, and I'm making brownies, also. I'm planning on using Hank's Perfect Brownie Pan (yes, it's his pan..he got it for his birthday) for that, so they will be uniform in size, and not get chopped up when I try to get them out of a pan. I do need to experiment with the brownies and adjust the cooking time. Every time we've used the Perfect Brownie Pan, they've been dry and crunchy. Not very yummy.

But...back to the cupcakes...their top tier of the cupcake tower will actually be a huge cupcake, that I'm also going to make. I've bought gum paste, several different food colorings, a leaf press to makes leaves to decorate the tops of the cupcakes and brownies. I'm going to buy some fondant to cover the base of the large cupcake, and I will frost it just as the others. They have some sort of surprise cake topper that is top secret at this point, so I actually don't know what will go on the top of the big cupcake.
I'm taking off from work the day before the reception, and I'm going to spend the entire day baking, making homemade frosting and a ton of little leaves from gum paste. My friend said she'd take off and come help me, but I'm afraid that may turn into a Lucy & Ethel day! We've had those days before. There was this one time (not at band camp!) when we tried to make chocolate truffles. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, and we had quite the mess in her kitchen.

Back to the cupcakes...
It sounds like I have a good game plan, right? Well, here's the thing.... I've never used gum paste, or fondant! I'm about to make a zillion little leaves, with something I know nothing about. I'm hoping all the episodes of Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars, and Ace of Cakes that I've watched pays off and that my mad baker/decorator skills kick in and I rock the cupcakes.

These may be the most important cupcakes that I ever make!!