I just got a call from the nicest sounding bride. She needs a wedding cake for early Oct. I asked her the usual questions, while peering at our fairly full schedule. She says "well, we have 500 guests coming but I only need to serve like 300 because it will be cut up and put out on a table for people to take if they want some." I politely asked her if she realized that most people order wedding cakes months in advance. She said she was so focused on the dress and the flowers, and she thought a cake was just "you know, mix it up and pop them into the oven and it only takes a couple of hours to do".

So then I asked since she had everything else already done, did she have a cake budget she was working with. (In other words...do you have any money left??) Yes, she says, like no more than about $500. I explained our pricing and calculated a 200 srvg cake for $650. We chatted for a few more minutes, and then I told her that we were pretty booked with orders and that I simply couldn't take on a large wedding order at this point. She told me she'd figure out what to do and call me back.

Unfortunately, this girl may have the dress of her dreams...but she may not end up with the cake of her dreams. Sometimes it's hard for customers to realize what goes in to what we do.

Oi. I hope things work out for her.

A fake rental cake with 500 servings of kitchen cakes should be doable in 2 weeks (although you may need to outsource the rental cake).

I had the exact same thing happen to me....2 weeks out from the wedding (actually 10 days!) and 500 confirmed guests. i didn't charge any "late fees" I had the weekend free because our church was having an outreach but I was able to deliver and still do the outreach so I agreed.

Here is the cake (there were kitchen cakes as well) http://www.freewebs.com/khalstead/apps/photos/photo?photoid=75920794

The bride was THRILLED..........her baker cancelled on her 10days before the wedding and she said she never expected the cake to actually look nice with only 10 days notice! lol

Gorgeous cake KHalstead!

During our chat, I did suggest that she strongly consider a smaller 3 -tier (10/8/6) for photos, and kitchen cakes. She didn't totally jump on that idea. She was holding out for a biggie; a 4-tier big enough to serve 250-300. I've did a cake that size this summer...it served 248 and had an 18" base tier. It was a biggie alright! And heavy too!

I don't know if I'll hear back from her. I hope she finds a cake!

What a dopey woman. Who in the world would think they could find a good decorator for a very large cake with less than two weeks notice? Surely in the rest of her wedding planning process she's gotten the message from ALL of her other vendors that they needed a lot of notice for such a large event.

I've heard that brides have been getting the advice that in this economy they might get a discount on a last minute cake order because cake decorators would be glad for the business if they hadn't booked the date at that late point. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. I don't discount cakes for any reason. Last minute or a year in advance, they pay the same price.