Hello all, I am about to begin my first ever wedding cake.. OK not really, I am only in charge of the sheet cakes, however, I have no idea how to determine how much cake they need. They are expecting 175-225 people. How much do you charge per piece? I know I am usually way to cheap Also, how much do you require for a deposit?
Thanks so much!
Holly

Wow, that is a pretty big cake! Are you doing a stacked round cake or spaced tiers? You can use the online Wilton cake serving guide but I think they are way too small....I like earlene's site about serving sizes.

http://earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

You will need to figure this using what size pans you have access to as well. Satellite cakes are useful tool for large parties too.

I am actually only doing 12x16 sheet cakes. Very simple design on them, nothing fancy. But the guest list says 175-225 people but about how many do you expect to take cake. I figured for all to take cake it is 7 single layer sheet cakes at 36 servings per cake. But do you really NEED that many pieces?

A 50 person span on the guest list is just a big a$$ guess. The bride needs to work her guest list to narrow this down or she's going to spend way too money on everything.

How many TOTAL people were invited? General rule of thumb for me (and 25 years of observing wedding and counting plates!) says 60% of the total number INVITED will actually show up.

So for a bride to have 200 guests show up, that means she had to invite about 340-350 people.

Once THE BRIDE narrows this down, she needs to tell you how many guests. A difference of 50 people, based on my rate, is an extra cost of $150 to her ... because if she tells me 175 to 225 ... she's paying for 225.

Are your 12x16's single layer or double layer? A single layer, cut in 2x2x2 will yield 48 pieces (6 rows by 8 columns). A double layer, cut in the wilton wedding chart standard 1x2x4 (which is what I go by and I've NEVER run out of cake .... and guests frequently ask me to cut them a smaller piece!) would yield 96 servings (12 columns by 8 rows).

You state that you are doing the sheet cakes, will there be another more traditional cake there? You'll need to know how many that serves to figure out how much you will bake.

Actually the "real" cake is fake! I know is sounds strange but around here is it all too common. The big beautiful wedding cake is a dummy and they cut and serve sheet cakes. So my cakes are the only ones being eaten.
I did e-mail the Mother of the Bride to double check her numbers and to let her know how much cake it would take to feed 175 guests.
Thanks to all who replied.
Holly