What's the deal with these brides who find you through the wedding websites where they enter their budget and send the info to several vendors at once..... a ton of brides seem to be looking for $1/serving or $1.50/serving cakes! Are they joking or what? I haven't been able to take any of them seriously if they really want cake for 120 people with a budget of $150.

People don't charge correctly and the word gets out. That's why you have to educate them and the vendors in your area on what it really takes.

No one blinks an eye at floral prices....florists aren't even making the flowers, they just put them together to make them look prettier.

i got a bride the other day said she had a budget of $500 for 300 people
and wanted a topsy turvy...with alots of specfic details...
wow. i nearly choked.

I've gotten several of those leads from some websites that tell me that the budget is anywhere from $1.00/serving to $2.50/serving. I just delete! It's ridiculous. Go to the grocery store and buy a sheet cake. Why are they even bothering with trying to find a custom cake?

I recently had a consult with a really nice lady....I charged her half of what another place she called charged for a topsy turvy cake (I'm not trying to undersell, I just charge what I can charge for now...it wasn't cheap) and even my "half price" was above her budget!

I hear you!

What are you doing up so late? Shouldn't you be sleeping?

I figure that if people don't even bother to go to my website, they're just shopping for the cheapest price, so that's not my customer.

Honestly, I've actually laughed at a few brides when I said that I had absolutely nothing to offer in their budget.

I don't suffer fools easily.

They just don't have a clue what cakes run....

Jen

I like the referral sites where you get to write your reason for declining. I'm assuming the bride/whoever sees it. You don't get a lot of space to be wordy, so I usually put "budget is unrealistically low for the number of servings requested."

Jamie, I do the same, but you should add the word "LOW" at the end. "Budget is unrealistically LOW".

I went into one of these sites so I could see what the brides saw. One site specifically said, when asking the bride to enter a cake budget, "most cakes run in the $3-$7/serving range." And they enter $1.50 anyway.

Another that is one of my biggest peeves is they don't do the math. You might remember my story of one bride who was given (gasp!) FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!! from daddy ...... to buy a buffet for 200 people! By talking to her, I could tell she'd never had (gasp!) FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! in her hand at one time in her entire life, and she thought this was a LOT of money.

When I said, "Honey, that's only two-fifty apiece!" she said, "oh no, he gave me five hundred!" I then had to explain how it breaks down to $2.50/person.

Sometimes, I swear to high heaven, they think, "I can't feed 200 people on $2.50 each but I can feed 200 people on (gasp!) FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!"

True story: I knew one lady who was looking for a new place to live. I swear she told me, "I can't afford that one place I looked at for $300 a month, but I did find a place for $75 a week."

And these people are allowed to drive, pro-create and vote. (big sigh!)

There is one that allows you to say why you don't want a particular lead...my typical response is...

"Budget is unrealistic for the size of this event" Total EVENT Budget $5000 guests 350. Just insane ideas people have.

I have also decided, after this last weekend's sampling (that I offered for free because she was referred to me by a loyal customer) that I am asking their budget BEFORE I even book a consult with them. This lady had a diamond on her finger the size of Texas and I had informed her that if her wedding was this year (DEC 31!) that she would have to book the day of the consult. I even gave her a discount on her cakes. She wanted a BC cake with a fondant swag square tiers counter turned to serve 100 I charged her $416 for the wedding cake then she wanted a 3D giant big mouth bass to feed 50 with a gumpaste figure of a fisherman standing on the fish with the pole & line hooked in the fish mouth...I charged her $400 for that. She said she didn't bring any way to pay the $408 booking fee. Had a feeling she was wanting it all for around $200. She didn't say that was too expensive but I really felt that "vibe" of sticker shock.

Oh shoot, yeah I do say LOW, for sure, just left that out in here.

I do admire your patience dealing with brides. I only help organizations to plan their receptions, and even then sometimes I get 100 people and DJ music on $2000 budget emails. And the same people who do not questions $36 per pound for chocolate covered raisins or $130 for a gallon of fruit punch, are surprised to learn that cake will cost them more than $500.

There was one that came through on eventective this week for 150 guests - total wedding budget $2000 - hubby & I had a quick laugh before I hit the delete button.

On another website forum, there is a bride who wants to know if it would be bad to make people stand for her whole outdoor reception. She points out they can go get their food then walk back and sit in the chairs (that are still in rows from the ceremony), but she ".....didn't want to do all of that work to set up tables and chairs for 500 people, and money is getting tight."

500 people ... she's inviting 500 people and she "can't afford" a table and chair for each person. She thinks it will be ok to balance a plate of food (appetizers, not a dinner), drink and cake on your lap, outside in the sun (no tents for the guests) oh and let's not even think about those with small children who want to sit in mommy's lap so now mommy doesn't even HAVE a lap to balance her food!

Amazing.

Indy your hubby is too funny!
OP I just delet and or tell them budget doesn't permit service