Just a point, being someone who is currently shopping for a wedding cake for myself, I fit into this "nightmare group":
1) i'm having a small wedding, 50 guests MAX.
2) i would only have a 2 tier, no larger.
3) i would hope for a tasting that included more than 1 flavour.
My view on the tasting is that it IS there to taste the FLAVOURS. I dont need to determine the quality of a baker, cos chances are, I've sampled a slice of cake from them before somehow or I've been sent there via a friend or a good review. However, not everyone's flavours are equal. And I'm not about to chance ordering a cherry flavour based on the fact the chocolate was nice.
I'll give you an example. My boss had a birthday this year and the company bought a chocolate cake which was of course cut up and dished out. This cake was DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being on the lookout for a baker, I got the name and checked their website. Turns out they do a few flavours. So, I would go to them for a TASTING. I already know their quality is amazing, but I havent tried more than their chocolate cake. Maybe their vanilla is a bit on the flavourless side? Maybe their red velvet is dry. Hell, I've never even had red velvet, maybe I dont like it at all.
My point is, while I wouldnt expect 8 flavours in a tasting, I would expect at least 3. Perhaps more if I were buying a larger cake. There was someone on page one who said if they're having 50 guests or less they taste 1 flavour....to me, thats somewhat unfair. Just because I'm not spending $1000+ doesnt mean my wedding is any less special to me.
I understand that businesses get these jumped up brides who think the world revolves around them, and I agree they need to be curbed, but what I'm saying is dont cut out the small brides. Not all of us are egotistical and greedy.
I agree with most of your post. The bolded is kind of the point though. It's no less special to you, but the baker doesn't really care how special it is to you, but how much money you're bringing to their business. Spend less, less choices.
However, I really agree with your point about tastings. I've often read here the idea that you're tasting my baking, not my flavours. And that would be fine if you used the exact same recipe, and put a different bottle of flavouring in each. But many bakers don't do that, surely. My chocolate cake and my vanilla are completely different recipes, and have a different texture. Someone who liked one, wouldn't necessarily like the other.
On the other hand, as a baker, I wouldn't be offering to whip up a batch of anything people wanted to taste, especially if they hadn't booked with me yet.
In conclusion, I'm of no help to this debate whatsoever.
Just a point, being someone who is currently shopping for a wedding cake for myself, I fit into this "nightmare group":
1) i'm having a small wedding, 50 guests MAX.
2) i would only have a 2 tier, no larger.
3) i would hope for a tasting that included more than 1 flavour.
My view on the tasting is that it IS there to taste the FLAVOURS. I dont need to determine the quality of a baker, cos chances are, I've sampled a slice of cake from them before somehow or I've been sent there via a friend or a good review. However, not everyone's flavours are equal. And I'm not about to chance ordering a cherry flavour based on the fact the chocolate was nice.
I'll give you an example. My boss had a birthday this year and the company bought a chocolate cake which was of course cut up and dished out. This cake was DIVINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being on the lookout for a baker, I got the name and checked their website. Turns out they do a few flavours. So, I would go to them for a TASTING. I already know their quality is amazing, but I havent tried more than their chocolate cake. Maybe their vanilla is a bit on the flavourless side? Maybe their red velvet is dry. Hell, I've never even had red velvet, maybe I dont like it at all.
My point is, while I wouldnt expect 8 flavours in a tasting, I would expect at least 3. Perhaps more if I were buying a larger cake. There was someone on page one who said if they're having 50 guests or less they taste 1 flavour....to me, thats somewhat unfair. Just because I'm not spending $1000+ doesnt mean my wedding is any less special to me.
I understand that businesses get these jumped up brides who think the world revolves around them, and I agree they need to be curbed, but what I'm saying is dont cut out the small brides. Not all of us are egotistical and greedy.
I agree with most of your post. The bolded is kind of the point though. It's no less special to you, but the baker doesn't really care how special it is to you, but how much money you're bringing to their business. Spend less, less choices.
However, I really agree with your point about tastings. I've often read here the idea that you're tasting my baking, not my flavours. And that would be fine if you used the exact same recipe, and put a different bottle of flavouring in each. But many bakers don't do that, surely. My chocolate cake and my vanilla are completely different recipes, and have a different texture. Someone who liked one, wouldn't necessarily like the other.
On the other hand, as a baker, I wouldn't be offering to whip up a batch of anything people wanted to taste, especially if they hadn't booked with me yet.
In conclusion, I'm of no help to this debate whatsoever.
I lolled at your last statement.
But I agree, I would never expect a bakery to whip up a bunch of flavours that werent common, JUST so I could taste one. Thats just self-absorbed 
But I would choose a bakery who catered for a wider variety of flavours (albeit common ones) than one who didnt.
My reasoning would be there would be a greater chance of finding a flavour with that bakery than one where I only could taste 1 or 2 flavours. I understand I could always buy the other flavours, but I'm on a budget (hence the smaller wedding) cos we're paying for it ourselves.
"Well, let's head to the next place. We should have enough free cake for the party tonight after we hit the other two places". Seriously??? After that I changed ALL of the tasting rules.
I can not believe someone would do this!!! I just have no words. I mean, I just don't know what the heck is going on with us as a people these days.
QT-this wasn't an isolated occurence. I was so outraged that I called some of the other area bakers to see if they had encountered this, and they had!! It became quite the thing to do, at least in our area, for about the last two years!! I did a small wedding show last year and almost 2/3rd's of the folks that visited our booth and signed contact slips (as a contest entry) WEREN'T even getting married!!!! More than one person actually wrote on the slip that they come to the shows for the free food!! You can't make this stuff up!
Personally, I found this thread quite offensive. My fiance and I are paying for our wedding ourselves, and neither of us make loads of money so we are careful with where we are allocating our wedding budget.
I would love to make the cake for my own wedding and am still strongly considering doing it myself, both for money but also because I love my own cakes and won't necessarily trust someone else to provide a cake that tastes like what I know I can make myself. So, if my venue decides that I have to have a cake from a licensed bakery (which is typical of venues), I'll have to look into my options.
It's disheartening to hear so many bakers that are mentally (though hopefully not verbally) discriminating against weddings with much smaller budgets. I agree with the other bride that posted earlier. Just because I cannot afford to spend a large portion of our budget on a cake does not mean that I am any less valuable as a customer. And trust me, my opinion is going to count just as much when it comes to word of mouth.
A coworker once told me something that I will never forget, "A satisfied customer in a restaurant may tell one other person how much they liked their food, but the person that got the hair in their soup? That person will tell seven."
Be careful how you treat those "cheating the system" brides. Your disdain for their business may actually be coming across to them in non-verbal ways, and they WILL tell people that they felt that you did not respect them or their orders.
Personally, I found this thread quite offensive. My fiance and I are paying for our wedding ourselves, and neither of us make loads of money so we are careful with where we are allocating our wedding budget.
Be careful how you treat those "cheating the system" brides. Your disdain for their business may actually be coming across to them in non-verbal ways, and they WILL tell people that they felt that you did not respect them or their orders.
Please don't be offended by some of our experiences. They're real. If you do not fall into any of the categories related in this thread, then you are the customer we ALL want!! But as business people we can ill afford to have product taken from us under false pretenses. The profit margin for most cake professionals is very low. Most of us do this because we love it, but we can't afford to use our time and ingredients in good faith, and have that exploited.
I, along with many other posters, were brides at one time too. So, like you, we were consumers. Speaking only for myself, if I made an appointment, I kept it. If I couldn't, I called to resechedule. I never once went to a 'tasting' just to get free cake.
Remember, you're on a forum for cake decorators. It's where we come to relate our experiences in an effort to help each other stay in business, or at the very least, continue doing this thing we love. But for those of us that do this as a business, if we never relate the 'bad' stuff to our peers, then what's the point of the forum?
If as a bride you came onto a cake decorators forum in search of a potential baker, this might not have been to best thing to do. On any given day, you are going to see vents concerning customers, vendors, the government, etc. That is what the forum is to many poeple...an outlet where they get to say what they can't say to the person that wronged them.
So, please. Don't be offended. Be proud that you are not like some of the people described. And maybe, just maybe, when you are considering your area cake artists for the creation of your wedding cake, you'll remember this post and be a little more understanding. Wouldn't it be great if you told seven people what this thread was really about?
Wow.
I take every cake I do seriously and with great care and respect, whether it costs my customer $20 or $200. For every budget it is a special day and deserves a special cake.
I limit ALL cake tastings and do taste cakes 6 times a year, for everyone who wants to taste cake, not just brides. Everyone pays $10 and gets four pieces of cake on the same day.
Most people come to me for cake, large and small, because they have already had my cake, and can't get it out of their mind. I am just as happy to make a three tier bridal cake for 50 servings as I am 250, sure I would rather do huge cakes, but there are more small weddings in my area than over the top, and I'm there for them, all of them.
Tami
Just as the bride and groom are on a budget, so am I. To bake cupcakes, mini cakes or 6 inch cakes of a good but seldom requested flavor will eventually and soon hurt my bottom line.
So, being realistic helps keep things in perspective. I don't mind accommodating someones request, but they need to honor my need to pay the bills. Small budget or large only affects your order for the actual cake. Tastings can become overhead.
I recently contacted one of my suppliers for a "sample" of one of their products-I was told that I would have to purchase the product that they do not supply samples-their bottom line. Fifty pounds of something that I don't like sounded like a little much.
Wow.
I take every cake I do seriously and with great care and respect, whether it costs my customer $20 or $200. For every budget it is a special day and deserves a special cake.
I limit ALL cake tastings and do taste cakes 6 times a year, for everyone who wants to taste cake, not just brides. Everyone pays $10 and gets four pieces of cake on the same day.
Most people come to me for cake, large and small, because they have already had my cake, and can't get it out of their mind. I am just as happy to make a three tier bridal cake for 50 servings as I am 250, sure I would rather do huge cakes, but there are more small weddings in my area than over the top, and I'm there for them, all of them.
Tami
I agree!! I've done wedding cakes for 5 people, and for 500. I love all of my customers and treat them well. They are loyal, faithful, and certainly helped me through last year which was unreal by any measure. But the other folks DO exist, and we have to learn to deal with these situations, or we'll be out of business....or possibly lose the love we have for what we do.
OK... did I say ANYTHING about not liking a small wedding couple? Did I say ANYTHING about not servicing them well?
If you look on my website, how many of those cakes are 2 tiered cakes or small 3 tiers? Do I ask for $15/serving?
This thread was NOT about trashing those on a budget. My own wedding cake was 2 tiers with sheet cakes. (but I didn't ask for a 5 flavor tasting either!) It was about those on a budget who ask for more than many of my large budget brides.
You want to sample 3 cakes, no problem. I custom bake each sample for you fresh, and if you want more than 2, you pay a very nominal fee for the priviledge. I offer everything custom because I WANT brides of any budget to trust that their cake is going to taste EXACTLY like they want it to.
However, this last wedding had 350 guests. They came across as people who were trying to spend as little as possible and get as much as they could push me to give. Luckily, after our meeting, their excitement about the cake process won over their reluctance to pay for it.
I was asking about balancing out sheet cakes vrs tiered cakes that would encourage better boundaries. That was it. Tastings were the least of my problem, but I still like to hear the perspectives of others on the point.
I am sorry if you were offended, but it has nothing to do with budget and everything to do with reality.
ok, ya'll are going to have to forgive me for having ruffled feathers, but I'm in a mood.
I have an example.
Last year for our anniversary, my hubby took me to the best resturaunt in the area. They charge about $40/plate, and that is just the entree, you have to order the sides separately. After ordering about $150 worth of food and wine, the waitress, who knew it was our anniversary treated us to a $15 dessert. (it was the best dessert I've ever had, not just because it was free!!!) You can bet she got a GOOD tip!
Now, if we were to go back there this year and order appetizers worth $25, and then mention it was our anniversary, what would she do? She would say, "Happy Anniversary!" I wouldn't expect her to buy us a dessert just because it was our "special night." And I wouldn't be angry at her for it, it is a business, and she is in the business of feeding her family, not feeding a customer who was taking up a table that could go to the $150 customers. I would still expect her to be kind, courteous, alert and respectful, and I am sure as a professional she would be.
It is that simple. No hurt feelings, no meanie-weenie here, I'm just being practical.
Not sure why one would be offended by this thread. No one was degrading anyone for their budgeting choices. Good grief. 
I am sorry if you were offended, but it has nothing to do with budget and everything to do with reality.
Amen, and glory hallelujah!![/quote]
DITTO TO THAT! You go DDiva and Jenmat. Some brides do need a reality check. Will I treat you less then if your cake is for 50, no. Will I give you a tasting, no. Too many times I get the "I want the whole bridal expiernce". Whatever. Even my niece, who will get the cake for free, asked for a tasting. Sure, are you going to pay for your wedding cake, then no. I even had to tell her and her mother, who planned on making appointments with other bakers/bakeries for tasting, to not be selfish a$$es and to not waist those people's time and money. Even a bride on here said if she wanted a cake from someone, it would be from someone who's cake she all ready tasted. If you like my baking, then I can bake. If you don't like my chocolate, well I ain't changing the recipe. I refuse to lose profit on a tasting for 50, cause the cost of the tasting has to come out of somewhere, right? Or of course, I can start charging more across the board to make up for the tastings for a cake for 10. But then I would be wrong for that, right? 
I am sorry if you were offended, but it has nothing to do with budget and everything to do with reality.
Amen, and glory hallelujah!!
DITTO TO THAT! You go DDiva and Jenmat. Some brides do need a reality check. Will I treat you less then if your cake is for 50, no. Will I give you a tasting, no. Too many times I get the "I want the whole bridal expiernce". Whatever. Even my niece, who will get the cake for free, asked for a tasting. Sure, are you going to pay for your wedding cake, then no. I even had to tell her and her mother, who planned on making appointments with other bakers/bakeries for tasting, to not be selfish a$$es and to not waist those people's time and money. Even a bride on here said if she wanted a cake from someone, it would be from someone who's cake she all ready tasted. If you like my baking, then I can bake. If you don't like my chocolate, well I ain't changing the recipe. I refuse to lose profit on a tasting for 50, cause the cost of the tasting has to come out of somewhere, right? Or of course, I can start charging more across the board to make up for the tastings for a cake for 10. But then I would be wrong for that, right? [/quote]
we REALLY need a like button
this is well said!
DITTO TO THAT! You go DDiva and Jenmat. Some brides do need a reality check. Will I treat you less then if your cake is for 50, no. Will I give you a tasting, no. Too many times I get the "I want the whole bridal expiernce". Whatever. Even my niece, who will get the cake for free, asked for a tasting. Sure, are you going to pay for your wedding cake, then no. I even had to tell her and her mother, who planned on making appointments with other bakers/bakeries for tasting, to not be selfish a$$es and to not waist those people's time and money. Even a bride on here said if she wanted a cake from someone, it would be from someone who's cake she all ready tasted. If you like my baking, then I can bake. If you don't like my chocolate, well I ain't changing the recipe. I refuse to lose profit on a tasting for 50, cause the cost of the tasting has to come out of somewhere, right? Or of course, I can start charging more across the board to make up for the tastings for a cake for 10. But then I would be wrong for that, right?
That bride was me, and the statement above I've highlighted in bold is a dumb statement. Really. (Hypothetically,) How am I supposed to know I dont like your chocolate when I've only tasted the strawberry? Maybe your chocolate tastes like crap in which case I wont want it. Of course you wouldnt change the recipe, who on earth would? I would just pick another flavour I did like. But herein lies the crux. If you only offer ONE flavour "tasting" and I dont like your chocolate after choosing to taste it, then what??? Pay a whole new tasting fee so I can find a flavour to give YOU the business of making my cake? Hell no. I'd go to someone who offered three flavours, plain and simple.
For the record I offer 4 flavors. For the record, if you want a tasting for servings of less then 125, you won't get a tasting from me. You can pay for one, with the same 4 flavors I offer, but you won't get a free one with your choices. If you can't respect that, they way you would want me to respect your budget, by all means, take your business somewhere else. If a bride can't understand the cost factors involved in that, cause she wants the whole shabang, I probably don't want to work with her anyway.
[quote="Tails"]
That bride was me, and the statement above I've highlighted in bold is a dumb statement. Really.
Talk about a rude stament. I didn't say what you said was dumb, even though I found it to be completely assinine.
How am I supposed to know I dont like your chocolate when I've only tasted the strawberry?
Maybe your baking flavors are inconsistent, but for those who have decided to do this as a business, they have tried and true recipes with consistent results. There is no iffy flavors. Now you may not like my baking, that's fine. There are people who's baking I don't care for, but for the people I do care for, their quality is consistent across the board, as would anybody else's who do this as a business. These are things you will hopefully learn as you progress in this craft. 
I've switched my tastings over to being in the form of cupcakes, in flavors I have on hand, based on whatever I'm baking that day. When they schedule a tasting, I look at the events that week and tell them what flavors I'll be doing; they usually say "Oh, sure, that sounds great," and they get 3 cupcakes (one ea flavor) for free, made with some extra batter from existing orders, with my basic imbc and/or any fillings I have on hand.
If they say they realllly would love to try the chocolate, and I'm not doing chocolate, I'll usually bake a 1/4 recipe to accommodate them or reschedule them to a week when I will have that flavor available (any extra cupcakes get sold or donated to our school, so that's not a problem).
If they want something specific, I tell them they can have any 3 flavors for $30.00, and the cost will apply to their cake if they book it.
I never really consider the size of their wedding or their budget when scheduling tastings; I enjoy working with all of my customers, and I want their cake to be perfect for their day, no matter what size of party...Yes--it can be frustrating when they show up with extra people, but I grab extra forks (and sometimes swipe an extra cupcake if I'm feeling really sweet), and it always works out. I haven't had many, ever, come for a tasting and *not* book with me, much less act like they were there for free food... agh.
They almost never have leftovers to take home, but sometimes they will buy a box of cupcakes, or I will box up a 4-pack for them (depends on my mood again).
Most of my planning is done by email etc., so tastings aren't a huge deal; but if they want to sit and sample, I know that could mean the difference between getting that sale, and them going elsewhere, so I try to be as accommodating and professional as possible. Tastings are usually pretty relaxed and fun for me, so I can't complain
Love the cupcake Saturday event idea though!!
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