How Many Cupcakes To Make For A Wedding?

Baking By LaneeLou Updated 7 Apr 2013 , 2:23am by LaneeLou

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LaneeLou Posted 28 Mar 2013 , 2:20pm
post #1 of 5

Hi there!

 

So a potential client is wanting an actual cake (SQUARE) with three tiers. A 12", 10" and 6". THEN she wants cupcakes as well. She is expecting 300 guests. WHO KNOWS if 300 will actually attend. 

 

She thinks this cake "will roughly feed 180 guests". I don't know how she gets this number.

 

 

Anyways...Two questions -

1) Based on what she wants, how many cupcakes should I make?

 

2) As a general rule for weddings, how many cupcakes per guest? 

4 replies
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sewlo Posted 28 Mar 2013 , 6:32pm
post #2 of 5

According to the Wilton chart, that cake should feed 140 guests.  I have found that the more flavors of cupcakes you have, the more people will eat.  If you have cake, plus a couple of flavors of cupcakes, you should be able to plan for one per person.  Any more than that, you'll want to think about planning 1.5 per guest.  People will generally only eat one piece of cake, but sometimes will eat more than 1 flavor of cupcake. 

 

So you will want to make anywhere from 160 cupcakes to 240 cupcakes, again depending on flavors.  Because she will have a cake as well, she will probably want the cupcakes to match the cake in color or theme, which could limit your options. (For example, if I made a cake and cupcakes for a bride who wanted me to color match both, I couldn't offer her chocolate peanut butter or cookie dough cupcakes since they can't be colored, etc)

 

I would probably try to encourage her to make it as simple as possible, not only for budget reasons (unless she isn't concerned about that) but for presentation.  If she was just having cupcakes, more flavors wouldn't seem nearly as overwhelming to guests.  For a cake and cupcakes, I'd stick to as few flavors as possible.
 

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DebJ812 Posted 3 Apr 2013 , 3:58am
post #3 of 5

AI'm meeting with a bride tomorrow and this info has been helpful for me too! Thanks so much! So glad I found this site!

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bakescupcakes Posted 4 Apr 2013 , 3:28am
post #4 of 5

I make one cupcake per guest, as they are generally served for dessert. Even if they are to be used as wedding favours, it's still only one per guest. It does depend on the style of wedding ie if the guests are walking around and are encouraged to help themselves to the cupcakes (you may need more depending on type/flavour of cupcakes) or if the stafff are plating them up for dessert. I make mud cupcakes so they are pretty rich in flavour, so one per guest is plenty. HTH :)

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LaneeLou Posted 7 Apr 2013 , 2:23am
post #5 of 5

It does help, thank you! I gave her a quote and she said it was out of her price range. Oh well. icon_sad.gif

 

It would have been my first wedding and I was really excited about it. But this info has still been VERY helpful, I appreciate all the feedback!

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