YOU ARE WELCOME LADYCAKE~
Seems we always agree on things!!

Ok you beat me down. You win....but thank you!!! you guys are great!!!!!

o.k. well i guess you all are wondering how much i charged.
i only charged $200. before you all go nuts, let me just say that it was a plain cake, no filling no flowers. i just did the borders. she picked it up and assembled it herself. i am not in the wedding cake business. i just did this out of the kindness of my heart. i did, however get her and her squadron's future business. for those of you who are not familiar with the military, a squadron can have over 300 people in it...so in the end, i got free advertising because there were over 100 people who saw my cake, including italians! i am very busy each week doing cakes, now i think it's going to get really hecktic. all in all, i made almost $400 this week alone. i say that's pretty good for a part-time job!

A 10", 12" and 14" last minute wedding cake and a grooms cake for $200???? Personally...... think that's a steal! I think you are selling yourself short!

no not really, like i said, i'm not in the wedding cake business. i have enough business that i don't need to do wedding cakes. i've had people ask me to do their wedding cakes and i turn them down...this, however was an emergency. being here in italy, us americans don't really have someone to do their wedding cakes. the commissary doesn't do it, so we're forced to look elsewhere, i.e. the italian community...and italian cake is nothing like our cake, so i did this out of the kindness of my heart. we military people are all we have here. i am not selling myself short. i know how skilled i am and charge accordingly, and my customers realize this and often tip me. this one incident is the exception! i might add that if i were in the states, payment would be different!! like my signature says at the bottom...do unto others as you would have them do unto you!!!

..well, the title of your post is "What Should I Charge?"...so I was just giving you my opinion! For all that free advertisement, I probably would have done the same thing! As long as you are happy in the end, that is all that matters, right?!

exactly!!!...and if she does say how much she paid, well that's on her, but that doesn't mean that anyone else is going to get the same price. if someone wants a wedding cake done, my prices will not be what i charged her! don't get me wrong, i know that was a bit cheap, i really think that this one cake will be a benefit to my business. now i have italian exposure, which i didn't have before. i knew that this cake was going to be seen by many italians, and that was what i was looking at most. that price will never be given out again! let's just call it a free-bee, which it was, but now that i have exposure, i don't need to do that anymore. i appreciate what you all are saying, i really do...and i thank-you all for your comments!!!!

Diane~ I'm so glad everything turned out ok for you & the wedding. If anyone wants a wedding cake & brings up what the mother paid I'd just tell them that it was a one time thing, like you said, it came from the heart~ They were in a bind because of a death & really needed help. You were there & helped them out. That you can't charge everyone that price because your not making anything from it.

I understand where your coming from because I'm doing the same thing with the wedding I'm doing in April. My 1st wedding!! I was only going to charge the mom (of the bride) $175. For a cake to feed 200. She had went to another decorator & she wanted $400 for the same cake... I guess the mom realized that that wasn't enough for me so she said she'd pay me $250. That was fine w/ me! I'm also doing the groom's cake & I charged $130. Plus I'm transporting the cakes 125 miles so I charged them a delivery fee. They groom's parents are old friends of my parents & I used to babysit the groom & his brother. So I wanted to help them out... a gift from the heart... Also I'm getting experience from this! From this wedding cake/groom's cake I have used all the money to buy more pans, supplies, cake boards, etc.... So I actually came out great in the end. Right now I'm just doing cakes here & there for family & friends. They pay me good! So everything goes back to buying pans & supplies. One day I hope to be able to open up a small shop & have a small business.

Doing good deeds like you did with this cake just gives you more jewels in your crown when you get to heaven!! And a bigger mansion!! LOL!!

~~~If you feel good about what you did then it was a good thing
Wipe the flour off your apron & pat yourself on the back!!!

Glad things worked out for you Diane.
When you think about it- what you may have lost in profit from the cake would probably equal what you would have spent on any type of advertising.