ditto that. Cupcakes seem to dry out faster so more hurried work in shorter time frame.
I am only starting to get into the wedding part of caking, but so far the 4 weddings consultations I did for next year, 3 are cupcake towers w/one cake on top and one is a 3 tiered. I rather do the tiered cakes too, but this is what the brides wanted. Cupcakes are the new thing now a days for wedding, you see them all the time in magazines and all these new cupcake only shops opening too.
The sooner we stop offering them, stop promoting them, stop supporting this trend (which by the way, who the hell started it??? I'd like to smack them!), the sooner cupcake weddings go away all together! Then we can all get back to cakes only.
Interesting replies! I'm the complete opposite... I LOVE doing cupcake weddings! Send them all my way!
I have done both cupcake and tiered weddings in the past and actually prefer cupcake weddings. I'm thinking of only offering cupcake weddings and getting out of tiered wedding cakes altogether.
To each their own I guess.
I guess I'm a minority. I love a cupcake weddings. Easy schmeezy.
I'm good with either... but maybe if venues stopped charging huge "cutting" fees they would become less popular.
I hate hate hate hate hate cupcake weddings. About 30% of weddings this past year came from them. I am grocery store trained, so I can whip em out, but I hate the SETUP! Talk about pulling nosehairs with a tweezer! Never used to hate them, but man, I'm totally sick of them.
They seem to go in cycles, this 2011 so far I only have 2 out of 30 weddings booked.
I do think the cutting fee comes into play.
I'm with you Karma, I should really just direct cupcake brides to retail stores that sell them in bulk with little hot dog or Dora picks in each.
I should really just direct cupcake brides to retail stores that sell them in bulk with little hot dog or Dora picks in each.
Love it! 
I am only starting to get into the wedding part of caking, but so far the 4 weddings consultations I did for next year, 3 are cupcake towers w/one cake on top and one is a 3 tiered. I rather do the tiered cakes too, but this is what the brides wanted. Cupcakes are the new thing now a days for wedding, you see them all the time in magazines and all these new cupcake only shops opening too.
Believe it or not, the baker can unknowingly (or knowingly) sway a client to buy what the baker likes.
Case in point is square wedding cakes. I love making them. I know leah_s hates making them. I sold a TON of them. Leah tells me she rarely makes them. We are only 2 hrs apart so I don't believe for a second that its a "regional" thing. What is it in our presentations that sway a bride to them or away from them?
I'm not a fan of cupcakes at weddings, simply because I think a wedding is a formal ritual in which a person spends a fortune on the celebration and it deserves a beautifullly engineered grand centerpiece of a wedding cake. But to spend this kind of money on an event and then they're gonna slap a cupcake in a person's hand and say "there's your dessert." 
Doesn't make any sense to me.
So when I get a bride inquiring about cupcakes, I would ask a lot of questions .... how many flavors, pointing out they need to order more because people tend to eat more than one ... more often with cupcakes than they do with sliced cake. Are they planning a formal or more informal reception? I guess in my subtle way of asking the questions that get brides thinking past the line of "cupcakes are cheaper" .... they begin to analyze what it is they REALLY want.
Never had to do a cupcake wedding.
Oh ... and if I had ever HAD to do a cupcake wedding? No delivery. there is nothing hard about transporting cupcakes or putting them on a table, so I don't need to waste my time deliverying.
I have done an equal amount of both this year...I haven't had any issues with my cupcakes drying out and alot of my customers have been ordering very detailed cupcakes, so they have been fun! I think its a toss up...
Cupcakes and cupcake trees are the big deal around here, so offering what they want is good for business!
Cupcakes and cupcake trees are the big deal around here, so offering what they want is good for business!
Not disagreeing with this but I wouldn't say that was a viable blanket statement.
how many threads do we have on here about "I don't offer sheet cakes!" Under the above logic, "if that's what the customer is wanting, then it's good for business." But our non-sheet cake CC'ers receive encouragement to run their business their way. Same with BC and fondant ..... Some do only fondant and some do only BC. the above logic says offer both 'coz it would be "good for business".
Well ..... not always. It depends on the purpose, intent, focus and mission of the business. And sometimes the talents of the baker.
Mcdonalds doesn't serve peanut butter sandwiches. they serve hamburger sandwiches and fish sandwiches and chicken sandwiches, but no peanut butter sandwiches. They are a 'big deal' in the under 6 crowd (a big part of McD's target market), but even if my 3 year old grandson wants it, McD's isn't going to provide it.
I've only done a handful of cupcake displays for weddings. No cupcakes booked for next year. I find as Indydebi said that most brides asking about cupcakes are looking for a cheaper option. But interestingly only 2 of the 5 cupcake displays I've done were actualy cheaper than if they had done a cake. When they want a gumpaste flower on every cupcake its no longer "budget friendly" And not to mention a pain in the rump!
I'm not really a big fan of cupcakes for weddings, both as a decorator and as a guest, but I still do them (I can't stand plain white cake, but I bake it) Business is business, so long as its a baked good & profitable I will do it.
The reason I don't care for them, is the TIME involved with them.... how many times do you have to touch each one of them? Putting batter in, removing from the pan to cool, pick it up to ice it, set it down, pick it up to package it for transport, unpack it at venue to set it on the display....that is picking EACH one up at least 5 times...multiply that times 100 or 200....no thanks. Waayyy too much time.
I am only starting to get into the wedding part of caking, but so far the 4 weddings consultations I did for next year, 3 are cupcake towers w/one cake on top and one is a 3 tiered. I rather do the tiered cakes too, but this is what the brides wanted. Cupcakes are the new thing now a days for wedding, you see them all the time in magazines and all these new cupcake only shops opening too.
Believe it or not, the baker can unknowingly (or knowingly) sway a client to buy what the baker likes.
Case in point is square wedding cakes. I love making them. I know leah_s hates making them. I sold a TON of them. Leah tells me she rarely makes them. We are only 2 hrs apart so I don't believe for a second that its a "regional" thing. What is it in our presentations that sway a bride to them or away from them?
I'm not a fan of cupcakes at weddings, simply because I think a wedding is a formal ritual in which a person spends a fortune on the celebration and it deserves a beautifullly engineered grand centerpiece of a wedding cake. But to spend this kind of money on an event and then they're gonna slap a cupcake in a person's hand and say "there's your dessert."
Doesn't make any sense to me.So when I get a bride inquiring about cupcakes, I would ask a lot of questions .... how many flavors, pointing out they need to order more because people tend to eat more than one ... more often with cupcakes than they do with sliced cake. Are they planning a formal or more informal reception? I guess in my subtle way of asking the questions that get brides thinking past the line of "cupcakes are cheaper" .... they begin to analyze what it is they REALLY want.
Never had to do a cupcake wedding.
Oh ... and if I had ever HAD to do a cupcake wedding? No delivery. there is nothing hard about transporting cupcakes or putting them on a table, so I don't need to waste my time deliverying.
Great advice! Thanks!
Of about 90 events last year, 9 were cc's, but only 2 of those were weddings (mostly birthdays, baby showers, a bachelor party, etc).
I didn't used to like them, and they're SO not my choice for a wedding (like I want to put on my best dress, buy you a $100 gift, and then get handed...a cupcake??? but I digress). However, I'm warming up to them. I will do them if someone is wild about having them, and the displays are usually pretty, and I've been happy with how they turned out. (Though I still think a full cake would've been prettier in every single case!!) I've done mini cheesecakes, mini pumpkin pies, and mini key lime pies, too, but that's another story.
I'm thinking of being more open to cc's this next year, because no one else around here really does them, and I can offer some fun custom flavors and with my new MS cricut cake, I can do fun litlte toppers instead of the labor-intensive individually piped royal icing jobs of yore. 
.
I always do my best in a subtle way (like deb mentioned) to steer brides away from cc's, but if they are totally wanting them, I'm going to make them what they want. I figure anyone who's willing to pay $3-4 or more for a cc..*shrug*, whatever...I'll make them cc's.
I actually get lots of phone calls asking me if I'm a cupcake shop (or begging me to be one, lol)--because there don't seem to be many of those around here. I'm not a walk in retail shop, so I don't offer that, but I have a daughter who's totally into the idea of running a retail cc shop when she gets older, so who knows where it will go?
If the trend dies, I won't miss it. If it continues, I'll become a custom cc shop I guess.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%