Can not make up her mind on what size pans to use. She wants a square cake. She is planning on having 150 guest. They do not have to have a grooms cake but would be nice to have. I told her it would be best to have 4 inch for center purposes but could do it with 2. She first chose to do a 6,10, 14 with a 12 inch grooms cake total servings 232. Now she is says thats too much cake.
Listed below are sizes & servings please help not sure what to suggest to her
6=18
8=32
10=50
12=72
14=98
16=128
Also now talking about 4 tiers does not want the cake to look small please help sorry so long!!!!!!!!! 
I've never done a wedding cake before, but a couple things to remember:
1.) Don't count the top tier in the servings because it is usually saved as the anniversary cake.
2.) You have to account for serving size. If cake is the main thing people will be eating, the 1" X 2" servings usually listed is pretty small.
3.) If she wants a larger cake, but doesn't want it to serve more people, make some of the cake a dummy. I would still charge for it though because you still have to do the work on it.
HTH
you could do a 4,6,8,10 square tiered cake. at 4" each, the cake would be tall- 16-18"...that should serve 108. then a 12" grooms cake to serve 72 - thats 180 servings....a little more than the guest list, but nice to have extra. square cakes are easy to cut and figure servings...1x2x4
or if she wants tall- 4,6,8,10,12 =180 and a SMALL 8" (about16 ) round indulgent chocolate grooms cake w/ berries - something simple and easy, yet enough to allow them to say they had a grooms cake.
edit: take away 8 servings from the 4" top cake to equal 172. if your cake is tall 4-5" then a 1x2 size slice is more than plenty for most people. for those who cant get enough...thats a good reason to have a few extra servings!
They do not want to keep the top for the anniversary. They want to serve it at the wedding
Thanks
12, 10, 8, 6 which gives 154 servings
is that round? for squares it should end up at about 172. i just did a square wedding cake w/ these sizes and there was SO MUCH CAKE!!!!
I was just using the figures she had in her original post. I'm not sure about serving sizes. I still only do cakes for family and friends (birthdays, etc) and we like to have a nice slice of cake. Of course, mine aren't usually 4-5" tall either.
k brown would you say that this would serve in & around 150 guest & still have left overs?
You have to take into account what she will be using on top of the cake. Most toppers are too big for a 4in cake. The cake I'm doing in May was going to have a 4in top tier until we looked at the topper now the cake is a 6/10/14/18 and they are getting 230 servings instead of the 200 they need but they wanted 4 tiers and needed the cake to work with the topper.
I would do a 6/10/14 and smallish grooms cake if they want it. If you look at earlene moore's site she tells brides they won't be able to get the exact # they are looking for usually. For example, if they have 100 guests, they can have a cake that serves 95 or one that serves 115 according to her serving chart.
12, 10, 8, 6 which gives 154 servings
is that round? for squares it should end up at about 172. i just did a square wedding cake w/ these sizes and there was SO MUCH CAKE!!!!
I was just using the figures she had in her original post. I'm not sure about serving sizes. I still only do cakes for family and friends (birthdays, etc) and we like to have a nice slice of cake. Of course, mine aren't usually 4-5" tall either.
oops, didnt realize you were considering that the six inch wouldnt count as servings if they were to save it... "my bad" 
thought i deleted the post, but guess you caught it before i got to it.
k brown would you say that this would serve in & around 150 guest & still have left overs?
Using Wilton's chart for cutting and serving sizes, you'd have plenty making the 6,8,10,12 (174 servings including the top tier). Using Earlene's, you'd only have 136 (including the top tier). Here's her website about cake cutting, etc.
http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm
Sorry I'm not more help. Since I haven't done a wedding cake myself, I can only go by the charts.
I can't imagine cutting a 6" square into 18 servings!
6 rows by 3 rows (1" x 2") = 18 wedding cake size servings.
Look, tell her she's either getting a 3 tier cake or she's getting more than 150. She's not going to have 150 guests at the wedding .... we all know that. no one ever has the number of expected guests. She sounds like she wants that fantasy "BIG" cake but is trying to fit it into a 150-piece budget. Why do I feel a bridezilla in the making on this one?
If it was me .... I'd offer the 12/10/8/6. If she doesn't want to save the 6" for the anniversary, then she can shove it in mom's freezer or give it away.
I am making a 12.10,8,6 inch tiered cake for my nieces wedding. Normaly (according to wilton) that would serve 172 people. Serving sizes 1 x 2 inch. Way to small, my people eat normal size portions. I told her 1x 4 would get her roughly 77 servings with the top tier saved for them to eat later after the wedding. Convinced her to add a 15 x 11 inch sheet cake which would make up the diffrence for a total of 150 servings ( probably a little more). Plus I threw in a small grooms cake.
Some one here at CC had her husband cut diffrent size cake servings from old 2 x 4's and painted them so bride could see exactly size of servings. I just used construction paper. It's easier to decide when you can see exactly what you are going to get.
I'm sorry, who ever designed the 1 x 2 serving must have been anorexic, that size is for tasting not eating.
I have to admit that I like a nice size slice of cake, say a 2X2, instead of that 1X2, but that's the going rate. I'm glad that the friends who made my wedding cake gave the bigger pieces. My husband certainly took a big enough piece to shove in my face (HAHA).
I'm sorry, who ever designed the 1 x 2 serving must have been anorexic, that size is for tasting not eating.
ROFL!
I agree.
I agree also .... my family of 3 can wipe out an 8" round cake in one sitting! (ohhhhhh!!!! maybe THAT'S why I'm fat!).
But......
The wedding cake was never designed to be a meal. It is a symbolic sharing .... it really WAS designed to be "just a taste". The original tradition was breaking a loaf of bread over the bride's head. The guests would scramble for the crumbs that fell to the ground. Presumably the consumption of such pieces ensured fertility. The original guest piece of cake was actually just a "crumb".
Maybe because I'm one the gray haired ladies around here (well, practically gray!), but I'm amazed at how many 20-somethings I meet with who have no idea of why they are doing certain ceremonies. Like when I suggest they do the cake cutting picture immediately, before the buffet is served (so when the meal is done, I can cut the cake for the guests and not pay my staff to stand around waiting for the bride and groom to REMEMBER they have an expensive cake to cut!) and I explain that the sharing of the wedding cake is traditionally the first meal shared by a newly married couple. I usually get a puzzled look from them and a response of "really????" 
... and I explain that the sharing of the wedding cake is traditionally the first meal shared by a newly married couple. I usually get a puzzled look from them and a response of "really????"
I didn't realize that either- Neat! Thanks- Indydebi
if the cake is tall (2 cakes on each tier, torted w/ 3 layers of filling, 4 layers of cake- it easily reaches 4-5 " tall. that x1"x2" is really not that small. plus at weddings, most people have the decency to not pig out- its typically a formal occasion.
When people say a wedding cake serving is small, I agree, but I describe it to them as about the size of half a sandwich (1" x 2" x 4"), and they always go "Ohhhh, yeah, that makes sense."
It's a dessert and a treat, but it's not a meal or the whopper chunk we serve ourselves at home, thank goodness. I'd hate to make THAT cake to serve 150...um, 
let me think, an 8" for every 4 people, times 150 guests... LOL
With Wilton serving sizes, there isn't a perfect cake that will serve 150, if serving the top tier. In rounds, an 8, 10, 15 would do about 152. A 6, 8, 10, 12 serve 130; 6, 9, 12, 15 serve 189...Squares show 6, 10, 14 serving 166. 150 is a nice round number, but it's hard to come up with, in cake. I've tried. All you can do is offer her more or less, and she can buy a sheet cake if she thinks it won't be enough.
you guys are so awsome! I have no idea what I would do with out this site. My husband would probably have to have me commited!!!!!hahah
I use Earlene's chart for weddings and the Wilton party chart for everything else...
Also I don't really let the bride "choose" what size cake she wants. She tells me how many people she expects, and I come up with a couple of different options (maybe 3 or 4 tier options) along with servings and price that she can choose from. If someone is adamant about four tiers, try to make it work...but if not, just charge for how many servings it really is. They want four tiers....they pay for it.
...Also I don't really let the bride "choose" what size cake she wants. She tells me how many people she expects, and I come up with a couple of different options.....
I do the same thing. One of the first questions I ask during the sampling is how many people are they expecting and how many did they invite?(*) Based on that, I tell them "you can have a 3-tiered (or a 4-tiered) cake with those numbers."
(*) The reason I ask those 2 questions and in that order is to get a feel for how close to reality they are working. If they tell me they are expecting 175 people, but their total invite list is 200, then I know they are dealing in fantasy .... under Debi's 60% Rule, they should only expect 125 guests to show up .... (MAYBE 150 if any of my 3 exceptions apply!) Brides who deal in reality are much easier to work with, so the numbers they give me, tells me alot about the person I'm working with.
i did a 6, 8 , and a 10 in cake for my sisters wedding ( fruit cake ) she was going to use the top for the 1st anniversary but we ended up cutting that cake also, its funny how there are many people who say that they dont want cake and then they end up taking home with them 2 - 3 pieces of it...i told my sister that i would make her another cake...that was 4 years ago...oops i still owe her that cake......lol you can never tell how much cake you will need it is better having too much than not enough.....
by the way there were only 60 guests at this wedding
What are the 3 exceptions indy? I remember you've said if it's a military wedding you get a higher turn out but what else? I know where I live if they are members of a large church they get a big turn out too.
1) If bride and/or groom are active members of the military.
2) If bride and/or groom are very involved in their church.
3) If bride and/or groom are African-American.
If the couple meets one of these, I tell them to figure 65-70%. Two of these .... 75%. If I get an African-American Baptist Marine, then we go all out! 
I had one African-American bride who started laughing when I told her the 3 exceptions. I said, "I'm just assuming that the African-American community is very family oriented." She said, "Nah ...... we just like free food!" I laughed and said, "Oh that's not just African-American's! You mention free food in my family and I suddenly see relatives that I havent' seen in decades!"
I think most people forget just how "tall" the pieces are going to be. They are all stuck on the fact that it's only one inch "wide". That's still alot of cake for a serving. Especially if you use three inch pans for the layers. That's like a six inch "tall" (at least w/o filling). slice. If you use a two inch pan that's a four inch slice. With fillings n such it would most definitely be taller.
When people say a wedding cake serving is small, I agree, but I describe it to them as about the size of half a sandwich (1" x 2" x 4"), and they always go "Ohhhh, yeah, that makes sense."......
Hey, I wanted to tell you I used this illustration yesterday with a bride and groom and it works great! They were looking at the decorated styrofoams I have sitting around and were concerned about how many pieces come out of "that cake". When I used the sandwich example, I got an "Oh, well, yeah, that'll be fine!"
Good tip!!!! Thanks for sharing!! It's now part of my standard sampling language!
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