Important Questions To Ask When Budgeting For Your Wedding Cake
Monday, April 30, 2012
At our recent Smart Bride Bootcamp session, Vicki Nelson (owner and cake designer of Signature Cakes By Vicki) gave our attendees a thorough run-down of what ordering custom wedding cakes entails. Brides commented that it was really informative so we thought we'd share it with you.
Photo by Meishach Moore Photographers
Factors Involved In Custom Wedding Cakes by Vicki Nelson, Signature Cakes by Vicki
There are many factors concerning and affecting the price of a wedding cake. Below are the things that affect price:
- Number of servings is the base for any cake price: The number of tiers doesn’t tell the baker how many people you want to serve.
- The type of covering: buttercream, fondant, ganache, cream cheese icing, etc.
- Type of designs on the cake: piping, moldings, cutwork, damask, quilting, embossing, etc.
- Sugarpaste or gumpaste embellishments: handmade flowers, ribbons, sashes, bows, draping pearls, shoes, butterflies, dragonflies, custom panel work, etc.
- Color and finish: colored fondant, colored gumpaste, paint work on the cake or embellishments, metallics, edible glitter, etc.
Many brides come to me and say, “I want a simple and elegant cake.” Simple and elegant means different things to different people. It does not mean “plain and cheap.” Now, if it means sophisticated and minimal or modern and simple lines, then simple and elegant is exactly what they want. However if they are really trying to say that their budget requires the cheapest price that they can get, then they probably need to go to a grocery store.
ABG Notes: Simple, elegant but not boring. Definitely not a grocery-store cake!
Sometimes a bakery will have a really low “base price” but if you add any custom art at all, the price goes up significantly. For example: on “Black Friday” many retail stores sell products at a drastically reduced price to get the customer in the store, hoping that they can upsell them to a more expensive product. It’s called a LOSS LEADER. Ask the baker what their PRICE RANGE is. You may find that a baker with a higher base price, may have much more value for a custom cake. What a bride should really want is the most value for her budget. If you buy the cheapest cake available and it doesn’t taste good and no one eats its, it wasn’t a very good value. Here are some examples of different types of cakes and different ways they may be priced.
Cake Example 1 is a plain cake, Cake Example 2 is a “simple and elegant cake,” and Cake 3 is a very detailed, custom designed cake. All three cakes serve the same amount of people.
Plain cake
Example 1: Plain Cake (above)
Serves 150 people
3 or 4 tier round, square or hexagon (all one shape)
Buttercream icing
Buttercream dots or scrolls
Buttercream boarder around tiers
Fresh flowers by your florist
1 flavor of cake
Simple and elegant
Example 2: Simple and Elegant
Serves 150 people
4 tier round, square or hexagon
Ivory or white fondant
Royal icing piping
Gumpaste ribbon at base of tiers
Impression or cutwork on 2 tiers
Monogram
3 flavors of cake
Topper or fresh flowers by florist
Custom designed, detailed cakes
Example 3: Detailed, Custom Designed
Serves 150 people
4 or 5 tier choice of shapes (can be mixed)
Ivory or white fondant
Royal icing piped/molded
Lace like brides dress on tiers
Gumpaste ribbon around the
Base of each tier any color
Embossed, impression, or quilted
Colored details of choice
Sugar roses, orchids, and calla lilies on top of the cake
Swagging or ribbons
Monogram
3 to 4 flavors of cake
Do your research to find out what is realistic. TV show wedding cakes and groom’s cakes are elaborate and costly. So if you want an over the top, detailed cake with sugar flowers and lots of embellishments, or a sculpted one of a kind groom’s cake, find out what cake artists in the area are capable of making that type of cake. Check independent reviews and pictures to be sure that the cake designer is up to the task.
Vicki Notes: Groom's cakes start as little as $100 for a very basic butter cream cake and go up from there. Elaborate, sculpted, 3D cakes can cost over a thousand dollars and up. Don't forget, TV is magic! Reality is not.
Just because someone’s starting range is inexpensive doesn’t mean that they will be consistently the best price. Don’t compare a Kroger wedding cake that is a plain white cake with “buttercream” icing, little dots, and silk flowers on it with a wedding cake that is custom designed with fondant lace, ribbons, and sugar flowers on it. Compare apples to apples. Look for VALUE for your investment!,
After you have done your research, below are questions you might ask a cake designer in approaching how to spend your cake budget:
- My budget for my wedding cake is $(insert your price) for a 125 person cake. Can you work with my budget? What type of cake can I expect to be able to afford?
- I have $(insert your price) for a cake for 125. I really want a fondant cake with sugar roses and calla lilies. Can you work with my budget?
- What is your price range for sculpted groom’s cakes?
Thank you so much for sharing this information with us Vicki. For more great cakes from Vicki be sure to check out Signature Cakes By Vicki's website. Contact Vicki for your custom wedding cake design and be sure to tell her you found her on Ashley's Bride Guide!
About the Author:
Tabitha
Blogging is something I’ve enjoyed doing for years. My interests lie mostly in lifestyle related topics like fashion, style, design, food and weddings. When I heard Ashley was looking to bring on new members to the ABG team, I jumped at the opportunity - I can’t think of a better way to stay involved in weddings than to write about them and to stay in touch with the trends and new ideas. Lucky for me, Ashley likes my blog and trusts my experience to bring me on and so far, it’s been a blast.
send
Posted on April 30, 2012 |
Filed under: Advice & Planning, Cakes & Catering
