Are Wedding Orders Coming In?
Business By mypastrychef Updated 3 Jan 2007 , 8:21pm by amandasweetcakes
Today I booked an April wedding brides cake only for $1300.00...Happy New Year!! I hope the rest of the year is that way. THis past week I booked 3 more weddings.
mpc
Well, it sounds like Someone is going to have a Happy New Year!
Congratulations!
Theresa 
i got a couple bookings last saturday...just simple ones.
what kind of cake do you do for 1300.00?
i saw on duff's show he turned down a lady who's check bounced...(i think it was a superman cake) for 3 grand!
The "peak season" is not June. "Peak" season, to me, is when the order is actually placed on my books. The traditional "Peak Season" of June is just when I do the actual labor. The "work" (booking the wedding) is done WAY before then!
Engagement rings are given out at Christmas, New Years and Valentines Day. As soon as those rings are handed out, the planning begins. 
i got a couple bookings last saturday...just simple ones.
what kind of cake do you do for 1300.00?
i saw on duff's show he turned down a lady who's check bounced...(i think it was a superman cake) for 3 grand!
This cake will be square 6-8-10-12-14-16 with a large "e" swirl pattern. She will fill between the layers with gerber daisies of electric colors.
This is the cake she wants without the bottom tier...
http://img.cakecentral.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/75505/thumb_1-18-2006_015.jpg
mpc
Congrats on the nice order!!
I'll bet I know what was going through your head after the booking... math. Every time we get a $1000+ wedding cake booking I start thinking "what if all of our wedding cakes were this expensive, we could do X cakes a week, take an extra day off and still make a great living". But alas,the next booking is $300 and my dream is dashed.
I have 5 weddings already booked for 2007, with 2 upcoming tastings and another 2 brides waiting to coordinate schedules with their groom's to come to taste cakes, as well. Just booked 2 for October over the weekend. It's nice to have a 10 month lead time to plan, organize, etc. I wish that they were all that easy. With my upcoming bridal cake tasting open houses, I'm hoping, hoping to pack my schedule!
Good luck to everyone in the new year, and congrats on the $1300 order!!! I'd fall out of my chair for that kind of order to kick off '07! LOL.
Amy
Congrats and lucky you! I don't have a single order for anything until July (and that's a wedding cake that I really underpriced 
!). I wish my phone would start ringing!
I've got 12 weddings booked through June. I also have an appointment today with a bride. Wish me luck!!
I am going to a bridal fair in February. I've read some of the negative comments about doing this....but my gosh...they give me the LIST! How can that be negative???? A list of 5000 potential brides!!! WooHoo!
Anyway, 2007 is going to be good to us all!
a quick question for those of you who only do....or do multiple wedding cakes in a week....
is there a method to the madness?
i did 5 on one saturday (along with my other orders) and it nearly killed me.
i guess what i'm trying to say is ...how do you spread the work out over the week, and,
if you ice them a day or so in advance...do you refreeze the iced cakes or put them in the cooler or what?
i've just been baking them the day before...putting them in the freezer....and doing all the decoration the "day of".
of course with those time constrants it really limits the amount of orders you can take.
plus i'm a 1 man show...it can get very "interesting" at times.
I just took count of my orders and have 22 booked so far (I was shocked) 3 small due this weekend, 4 over $1000 and only one booked in June ($1800 massive with styro castles). None after June> what's up with that?
YeaH!! PieceofCakeAz
You know exactly what I'm thinking. I would need lets see only 3 a weekend, OK I'll take 4. Hahaha!!LOL!!
So I'm not the only one on the calculator always typing in different scenarios.
mpc
I just took count of my orders and have 22 booked so far (I was shocked) 3 small due this weekend, 4 over $1000 and only one booked in June ($1800 massive with styro castles). None after June> what's up with that?
YeaH!! PieceofCakeAz
You know exactly what I'm thinking. I would need lets see only 3 a weekend, OK I'll take 4. Hahaha!!LOL!!
So I'm not the only one on the calculator always typing in different scenarios.
mpc
It happens to all of us! My calculator comes out on every huge order. I swear the next time I go to my wife and say "Honey, check this out... if we can get our average price up to $X, then we can make $20K a month and work only 3 days a week" she is going to kick me square in the nuts. 
Seriously.... if I could start this business over again right now, our wedding cakes would start at $10 a serving instead of $3.50, we would do 50% fewer wedding cakes per month and each cake would get twice the attention that it gets now. We will probably produce about 300 wedding cakes in 2007 but I would much rather do 110 and make the same amount of money.
Obviously it is much more difficult to get established at $10 a serving but, at least in this market, that business is out there and I would love to have some of it.
I just took count of my orders and have 22 booked so far (I was shocked) 3 small due this weekend, 4 over $1000 and only one booked in June ($1800 massive with styro castles). None after June> what's up with that?
YeaH!! PieceofCakeAz
You know exactly what I'm thinking. I would need lets see only 3 a weekend, OK I'll take 4. Hahaha!!LOL!!
So I'm not the only one on the calculator always typing in different scenarios.
mpc
It happens to all of us! My calculator comes out on every huge order. I swear the next time I go to my wife and say "Honey, check this out... if we can get our average price up to $X, then we can make $20K a month and work only 3 days a week" she is going to kick me square in the nuts.
Seriously.... if I could start this business over again right now, our wedding cakes would start at $10 a serving instead of $3.50, we would do 50% fewer wedding cakes per month and each cake would get twice the attention that it gets now. We will probably produce about 300 wedding cakes in 2007 but I would much rather do 110 and make the same amount of money.
Obviously it is much more difficult to get established at $10 a serving but, at least in this market, that business is out there and I would love to have some of it.
Sounds like you are ready for the new year!!
I think too...too much!LOL
lora
littlecake, everyone has their own system. Mine goes this way: I bake all cakes on Wednesday. While the cakes are baking I make my icing. After the cakes are baked I wrap them in saran wrap, ect and into the fridge they go. I crumb coat them all on Thursday am and do the final coat/fondant in the afternoon. I also stack them if needed. Friday I decorate ALL of the cakes. If there are special ornaments (gumpaste or whatever) I start working on those a few weeks before. All I know is my cakes must be iced, stacked, and ready to decorate by Friday morning or I am screwed. If I have a lot of cakes due on one weekend then I will start the baking a week before and freeze the cakes. Next weekend I have two wedding cakes (the bride couldn't decide what colors so she ordered TWO cakes) and 12 birthday cakes. I've been closed since Dec 23rd but when I go in on Wednesday I will hit the system and make my $$! I work Wednesday - Saturday.
I just set up my first ever tastings. 2 of them. Wish me luck, I'm hoping to go 2 for 2 and I'll be off to a good start. Maybe someday I'll be booking 22 cakes!!
Congrats by the way! Something for me to aspire to. 
Your work is gorgeous!
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