I have a wedding coming up that will have a sit down supper and the cake will be served in the evening. The wedding will have about 200 guests. Would you make cake for closer to 200 or would you use the 60% or whatever it is rule and make cake for 120-130 guests?

and what combination of rounds would you recommend. If I went with 129 guests I would do a 6,10,14in. There is going to be some flowers, but not many. Would you recommend another combination, or what.

Also I have no idea if I do it for closer to 200.

Any help appreciated,
Janice

I definately would leave that decision up to the bride &/or her family!
I would recommend they come closer to the higher figure.
1) it means more money in your pocket
2) What if you recommend the smaller #s and they run out of cake? You will have one *very UNhappy* bride!
3) extra cake can always be frozen or sent home w/others.

I would recommend a 16, 12, 9, 6 cake to serve 186. This comes close to her # w/o going over.
A 14, 10, 6 only yields 107 servings Not near close enough. A 16, 10,6 would be better (139) but still much too small in my book for 200 guests.
Usually when there is a sit-down dinner the cake is served as the dessert.

I would count on making cake for 200, maybe a little less if you had to, but not 40% less. Also, a lot of people save the top tier for 1st anniversary, so you wouldn't count that as servings. Lastly, the sizes would depend on your design. If you want a 4" difference from each tier, you could do a 16, 12, and 8, which would be 156 servings w/out the top.

My 60% rule applies to the number of people INVITED, not the number of people expected to show up.

If they invited 250 guests, times 60% = 150 that would be expected to show up. If they invited 300 guests, times 60% = 180 guests expected to show up.

The bride needs to order cake based on how many are expected to show up AFTER APPLYING my 60% rule. You make the amount of cake the bride orders.

If she's looking to reduce her costs, here are some factors that could decrease the amount of cake.
- A large dinner .... people get full.
- A bar ..... people who drink alcohol tend to not mix booze and cake. (Bad after effect ... bad.... very bad)
- A DJ ... people who dance get hot and thirsty, they drink more beer, which means less cake.[/img]