I am going to stop "gifting" the anniversary tier/cake. This recession has brides finding very creative ways of saving money( being cheap) on the wedding cake, i.e., using the gifted cake for wedding cake servings. Going forward in 2010, I will either offer a 20% off the 1st anniversary cake in the form of coupon mailed a month before the anniversary OR I will offer it for free with a professional digitial photo of the cake. Anyone want to comment on this?
TIA
Brooke

I don't do the "top tier gift". I offer a free 4" cake on their first anniversary. Now, this last cake I did, the bride decided to be sentimental and she asked for it to be on her cake so she could take it home and freeze it. First time ever. So, technically this one time, I guess I gifted it. But she would have just gotten it in a year from now anyways. So....yeah. Anyways, no I don't do that.

I let them decide whether they wish their top tier(6" or smaller) to be served or saved. If they choose to save it, I don't include it in the overall price of the cake...(whether they actually serve it or save it matters not to me). If they decide to serve it, I offer them a certificate(also an email reminder a month before) for their anniversary tier (6" or smaller...based on the orignal design...if their cake was an 8,6,4...they'll be gifted a 4" not a 6").

I'm with all4cake. I've had about 3 brides keep the top tier, all the others want the fresh one. I make a basic 6 inch round for them. It brings the couple back to me in a year, so I consider it marketing.

I also contact the photog for the wedding and most are more than happy to provide me with a courtesy cake shot or two. I even had one print me off a large 11x14 for the shop wall, FOR FREE!!! I am always happy to provide them with photo credit, so it works for them as well.

No.

Free now or free later, I don't care which. Just not both. Most choose the gift cert for free later. However, only 40% cash in the gift cert, which has an expiration date on it which I stick to. Works for me.

I offer a 4" anniversary tier baked fresh on their anniversary. I will box it up for the weddng day if they are destination brides, but usually I don't offer that option.

I don't include the top tier in the serving count, and I don't care if they serve it or keep it, that's up to them. I'd say it's about half and half for the servers vs. the keepers when I ask them.

If they want an anniversary cake I charge them for it. Personally, I want to be done with a cake after the wedding, and the majority of my brides don't get a fresh anniversary cake, which is fine with me.

They pay for every serving delivered on the wedding day, whether or not they are planning on serving it. I tell them to contact me with a week's notice for their free 6" (basic) anniversary tier when it rolls around.

ditto to KoryAK

thank you everyone for your responses.

Nope, I stopped that years ago! Haven't had one complaint, or whine about it. They pay for it they can choose to serve it or save it. If they save it I provide a box for them to save it. I do alot of destination brides since I am in a resort area, I actually have had quite a few celebrate their anniversaries here, and call me to recreate their top tiers for them, when they do this I give them a (small) discounted rate on the cake as a return customer.

No freebie here....

Jen

My brides are very old-school in a lot of things. Almost all want the sentimental top tier frozen for their anniversary. I've only ever had one bride say, "We don't want to save a tier. Who eats year-old cake anyway?" I do still gift it.

Me give cake away? Um, no...

Another thing, is that you don't always end up with a "small tier" on the top. Many times I end up with an 8" on the top tier. There is no way I wouldn't charge for that. And the brides don't want to save a cake that big. I never offer a free anniversary cake a year later. I just tell them they have to save the top tier. If they want to save the top tier, it's up to them. I would say about 25% of my brides save the top tier. The rest of them don't want to have to deal with it on their wedding night. I never do understand anyway how you "don't charge" for the top tier. You still have to ice it, and decorate it, stack it, etc. I'm in the midwest and it's hard enough anyway to get paid a decent rate for wedding cakes these days. I still get brides who balk at a $600 for a 4 tier square/fondant/ with fancy details......and I think I'm being very fair! lol

I also have never understood why some give away the top tier as a "gift" to the bride and groom or "gift" them a free anniversary tier. I only gift people I know and love and never feel obliged to give someone a gift I'm not that close with, let alone someone I've never met before booking a wedding. And Mindy, I totally agree with you. In my area, most people are so cheap too. I can't tell you how many 3-tier wedding cakes brides want for less than $150.00. And the crazy thing is, all they have to do is look in our local paper's classified ads and they can find no less than 30 bakers (most if not all of whom I assume are not licensed) who advertise 3-tier fondant cakes for dirt cheap.....one lady is always advertising for 3-tier square or round fondant cakes for $135.00. It's frustrating. But getting back to the point, I don't give away free cake and have to decorate and bake it just like every other tier, so I prefer to get paid for it.

Like many others, I give them a choice. Either keep the top tier after the wedding and don't charge them for it, or charge and receive a coupon for a free anniversary cake a year later. The coupon expires within a week after their 1st anniversary.

Most of my brides choose to cut their top tier and get a fresh one. If they choose to keep it and they actually cut it, that's on them. It just gives me another customer the next year because most of them come back for an anniversary cake anyways.

I like giving away the free one a year later because it *makes them remember you* and I tend to get more bday cake orders this way, you're not just the "wedding cake lady" whose existence gets lost in the shuffle of the big day.

I don't do cakes as a business, just for fun, so I hope you don't mind my responding here.

When I got married 11 years ago, it never occurred to me that the top tier should be free, and I never expected to get a free cake on my anniversary (which I did not). We checked out 8 different bakeries and none of them offered anything for free. We got our cake from one of the top bakers in our area; it was awesome and we purchased cakes from them for several other occasions after the wedding; never got a discount on those either. I was happy to use them and never expected discounts or anything for free. (Now I make the cakes myself though!)

After reading this thread, I asked friends if they got a free top tier or anniversary cake and all said no.

Perhaps if you wanted them to order anniversary cake from you, send a coupon for a small discount (maybe 10% off) 2 months before their anniversary date.

We did not plan to keep our top tier, but the venue messed up and never served it, so we did save it and eat it on our anniversary. We were by ourselves though and had we not had that cake in the freezer, I would not have ordered a special anniversary cake. I would have just made a chocolate cake from a box! Most people I know do similar. Now, I like to have fancy cakes for times we are having a big party, such as a baby shower or baptism, etc. Maybe even consider just giving them a coupon that they could use for a discount on one cake at the time of their choosing (and make sure it says no wedding cakes so they cannot give it to a friend to use.)

Currently, for 100 servings or more I bake a fresh complimentary anniversary cake and for less than 100 servings I charge them $25.00 with their order or $35.00 if ordered a year later.
I have been considering getting rid of the complementary cake though. Most brides don't even know I offer that and it's not a deciding factor for them to book with me anyway.

As a bride, I couldnt imagine keeping our top tier for a year! We dug into it the night of the wedding. Our cake was part of our banquet hall. We werent offered a free top tier, but I did go back to the bakery to buy our anniversary cake because we really loved our wedding cake.