I got an email today from a bride inquiring about a wedding cake for April 2011. She indicated that she is planning to invite 300+ people to the wedding. She went on and on about all the things she's planning for the wedding, and in the last sentence she stated her budget for the cake was...

WAIT FOR IT...

WAIT FOR IT...

Between $50 and $100. You've got to be kidding me.

since I'm feeling nice, I'll just assume she is completely clueless on what a cake costs. Maybe she did some "wal-mart-sheet-cake-math" in her head. You know, one sheet cake feeds 15 people and costs $10 so I can get enough for 300 for $200-- ok, even that math doesn't work. she's gotta be just loopy.

You have got to be kidding. Seriously????

wow...unbelievable!

whaaaaaaat????? Maybe you should tell her she could buy the frozen Sarah Lee cakes and put them together but that wouldn't even be within her "budget". Or she could wait until Vons or her local grocery store has a full sheet cake for $20 special, oh....no that won't work either. What did you say when she said that price range?

Maybe she left off the zeros? $500 and $1000?

Maybe...Maybe??? No?

Aww okay....

HaHaHaHaHaHa! I needed a good laugh today! Thank you for sharing that~

What a wack job! Maybe she lives in an alternate universe where items are still the same price as in 1940.

what did you tell her?

Dear bride,

Thanks so much for your interest. While normally a wedding cake for 300 guests starts at around $1200 we do have a few non traditional options available in your price range.

We would normally suggest Twinkies but those actually cost .50 each and would put you significantly over budget so here are a few items that fit your budget:

1. 4 Jelly Bellies per guest. We are proud to offer over 50 flavors of Jelly Bellies and you can select up to 10 flavors for no additional charges! We will include small paper plates and a photocopied Jelly Belly Flavor menu for each table. M&M's and Skittles are also available

2. If you have 30 tables of 10 guests each, we could create 10 filled jumbo cupcakes (the 3 inch kind) and your guests could slice each cupcake into 10 bites. A regular size cupcake for you to cut is included at no charge.

3. A life size picture of a cake. While this wouldn't actually feed anyone we could have Kinkos print out a life size picture of a beautiful cake for $50 and for an extra $50 you could hire a hypnotist for 30 minutes to make everyone believe that they not only already ate cake but that it was delicious.

Please let me know if any of these options sound good to you!

Thanks again!

LOL, too funny, If that's the cake budget, I would hate to see what the rest of the wedding is like!!!

SURELY, it was a typo and she left off a zero. Or two???

Oh PLEASE give her a kick in the southern hemisphere of reality and send her an estimate! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

This chic NEEDS to see what cakes cost.

I am still laughing at PieceofCakeAZ's post. Just too darn funny. But heck bride will have several options.

I am dying to know what you told her. She seriously needs to consider inviting fewer people.

Haha you all are hilarious!

Maybe she meant "per person". haha. You should write back and say "Oh that's wonderful! $50/person will get you a really gorgeous centerpiece for your wedding. What ideas are you thinking of?"

At the risk of sounding like an idiot... is there any chance they don't plan on feeding people the cake but just using a small one as a centerpiece a VERY small one mind you

Cake muggles strike again. Seriously what did you tell her?

Here's a few options... Oh wait, it will cost more than $50!

OMG PieceofCakeAZ..I am dying!!!! That is too damn funny!

Seriously, we are always saying brides should research and find out what cakes cost. But this *IS* what she's doing.

If I rec'd this email, I would seriously send her this link from The Knot which addresses (ironically) the cost of a cake to serve 300. The article says she should expect pricing between $1.50 to $12.00 serving:
http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-cakes/qa/how-much-do-wedding-cakes-cost.aspx

I would even do the math for her (because as I've written NUMEROUS times, people just go math-dumb when planning weddings!). "So your estimate of 300 servings could run you anywhere from $450 to $3600, depending on bakery, location, flavor, and design."

While we are all enjoying the humor in this, take this opportunity to be helpful to her and educate her.

P.S. I would also address the part of the article that says "People always leave half hte cake uneaten on the plate anyway" by telling her "By the way, that never happens with MY cakes!"

Good point...I've had several customers tell me, sheepishly, "I've never ordered a cake like this before" and you really do have to walk them through the pricing, and the choices they have, etc.

Really, I guess, most people (well, ideally...) only order a wedding cake once....and even if not, its not a regular yearly thing like the bakery birthday cakes.

Even though its pretty crazy that someone would think they could feed 300 people on a $100 cake!!!!

I do agree that brides need to research. When I got married last year, I scoured every website of local cake places, bought every mag I could and I was up late at night looking over the knot, martha stewart weddings and real simple weddings. So, I had a good idea what to budget for and I made sure I was prepared when I went into my first consultation.
Even though I have been making cakes for a while, I was pretty dense when it came to pricing, because I never started selling until this year.
I learned my lesson REAL quick when I first started. Plus, I went to a couple bridal shows here in Columbus, and I was told first hand w/o asking what the prices were, so that was pretty nice.

I think this girl just needs to do a tad bit more studying on her end...

I'm surprised at all these posts. Everybody here has been working for years on this and knows how much they are, but most people have no idea. I have had a couple of them (one of them a guy who came to pick up a $ 1,200 cake and said "How much is this? $ 20?), and actually handed me a 20 dollar bill! The only thing to do is educate them. As Debbi said - The Knot's article is a good start, but a nice little description of what is involved and how much your cakes cost would be enough. Most people realize their mistake and start thinking in the right price range in no time!

I LOVE that Hostess Wedding Cake, especially the Devil Dogs--with the gritty cream filling and plasticine chocolate!

And in the third picture--notice the pillars tilting under the weight of the cardboard circles loaded with Twinkies, etc.!

I'm surprised at all these posts. Everybody here has been working for years on this and knows how much they are, but most people have no idea. I have had a couple of them (one of them a guy who came to pick up a $ 1,200 cake and said "How much is this? $ 20?), and actually handed me a 20 dollar bill! The only thing to do is educate them. As Debbi said - The Knot's article is a good start, but a nice little description of what is involved and how much your cakes cost would be enough. Most people realize their mistake and start thinking in the right price range in no time!