I have a bride with a budget between $300 and $400. Her wedding is small, but she would like a 3 tiered cake with basic decorations. I have offered her a 6, 8, 10 inch round tiered cake (74 servings) at my tiered rate of $4.25 per serving. Total with tax is like $333, well within her budget. Delivery ($7 puts her over budget by $15 or so. I know that does not seem like much, but when I communicate with brides, I try to be fair and stick within the budget if it is reasonable.

So far with the brides I have booked, I offer a complimentary anniversary cake, 6 inches, basic deco with their wedding flavors.

I was thinking of letting this bride choose between being over budget or receiving a credit with the basic cost of a 6-inch cake ($36). Now $36 is what a customer would pay for a basic 6-inch, not my personal cost since overhead is low when baking a 6 inch (since ovens are already running to bake the other tiers). That would be more like $10-20 depending on if she goes with a scratch or mix recipe.

What credit would you offer?

I always offer the top tier "free now or free later." Most take the free anniversary tier, but if their budget is really tight they can take the top tier for the wedding to reduce their cost. (Then they don't get a gift cert for the anniversary tier.)

I'm a little confused about the choice. Are you saying:
choice #1 is for her to be $15 over budget and pay that...this choice includes the free anniversary cake
choice #2 is that she would not get the free anniversary cake and you in turn would knock $36 off her bill, bringing her in at $21 under budget?

I would change choice #2 to be...eliminate the anniversary cake, in exchange you knock $15 off her bill putting her right on target for her budget.

Yes, Artscallion, those are the choices I was going to offer, but for some reason crediting her with the entire cost of $36 just sounded off to me. I was having a hard time processing it since I would not sell a 6-inch by itself. Your suggestion is really what I was wanting to do.

Long day! Thanks!