http://www.fireyourweddingplanner.com/GoingPublic/
Scroll down to Cutting that Cake Again.
Now she's convincing them that it's cheap to do centerpiece cakes. Great.
I really don't see how that saved that bride money. Other than she didn't have to also pay to have centerpieces. Perhaps it cut down on the total cost of the wedding, but is sure wouldn't have made the cake price any cheaper.
I just hope that I don't run into any brides who follow Stephi's preachings. It's hard enough to get people to understand nice things cost money as it is, let alone with her telling them to bargain with us!
I think that was the point of the letter, that's how she saved money. BUT the way it was worded, making it seem like the decorator showed it would save money or something.
And each cake throughout the tables can be a different flavor???!!!??? Is the baker NUTS? I guess if she wants to spend all that time making all those seperate cakes, more power to her, but the minute you get into mutiple flavors with me, I'm sorry, my price is per flavor, per cake...am I unreasonable???
Yeah it may be the same amount of servings, but I'm gonna charge less for a 4 tier cake that serves 200 than I would for 200 cupcakes or 200 petit fours (sp). I mean come on. Just because something is smaller doesn't make it cheaper!
How many tables is this woman going to have at her wedding? And the bride and groom are going to go around and do the first cut on each cake? Do they want everyone to watch them do this and oo and aww each time and take pictures? After the 3rd or 4th table I'd get annoyed lol
This is why I subscribe to Steph's daily email (and others) .... just so I can be up on what brides are being told, so I can counter it with "the truth".
The one that really gets me is the list of questions to ask your caterer, florist, etc. Most of them ARE good questions, but they fail to inform the bride WHY they are asking them. For example.....
"How many staff members do you bring with you?" Why do you want to know? I don't charge extra for staff members, so whether I bring one or seven, it doesn't affect your bill. And if I *DO* tell you how many I'm bringing, do you have any idea at all if that is enough or too many? Then why are you asking?
"Do you use fresh or frozen?" Are you saying I have to kill my own chicken? Grow my own corn? Are you saying that I can't buy my chicken more than one day before your event and keep it in my refrigerator as opposed to buying it in advance and keeping it in the freezer? After I cook it, can you tell the difference? Why are you asking?
"How will you arrange the food on the plate?" Huh? What the he** is this question all about? But it's on the list so they are asking it! And they have no idea why they think they need to know!
"Will you prepare the food in advance?" No, honey, I'll throw food for 150 people together in about 20 minutes! DUH!!!!!
"Will you cook the food on-site?" I ask them: Is there a kitchen on site that I will have full access to? I luv it when they tell me, no, there isn't and I tell them, "well, then obviously it will be prepared off-site." DUH!!!! What? Am I suppose to build a little campfire in the parking lot and cook it wagon train style?
When I encounter a Stephi-bride, I lean back, cross my arms and I start out my "mom" speech with "No those (dummies, mini's, sheets) are not cheaper, contrary to what all the internet websites and bridal magzs tell you and here's why ....... " Then they get to hear the lecture on what's involved.
Good lord, I could ramble on for days on this one!
I was totally thinking the same thing about Indydebi. I had this picture pop into my mind, hee,hee...I wonder if she looks anything like the way we imagined her!!
Kristin
That's good to know. It really makes me sad that no one wants to pay for that.
Sorry, I just had to add that this is the biggest day of your life and there are some things that you just can't go skimpy on. Also you don't go to Costco and bargain with them for their cakes or any other bakery for that matter...they tell you your price and you pay for it. Why is it any different for us?
http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page11.html
Ok.... just for you guys! I put the lastest pic of me and hubby on my website ... link above. There is a reflection in the pic .... I do NOT have a missing tooth, like it looks like in the pic! 
Look fast, 'coz I'm not sure how long I will leave it on there!
And don't think I'm kidding about how I let brides know what's what. I get my "mom" finger going in front of lots of 'em! 
Wow, for once I was right on, you look exactly like I pictured. I met a friend of DH's the other day and he couldn't have looked more different than how I imagined him..
Kristin
It's good to know what they are being told. And, at the very least, it sometimes provides a good laugh.
.....And, at the very least, it sometimes provides a good laugh.
Oh THAT'S the truth! You will find a common thread tactic she tells brides is to pretty much bat their eyelashes and tell us how much they LUV our work and they would SO much like to use our services but we'll just HAVE to lower our pricing!
Sorry, babe, but the phony compliment and batting eyelashes never worked with me in the beginning, let alone when I have a full calendar anyway!
Oh... and she sells her book to them for slightly under $30 a pop. Do ya think SHE lowers her price when they tell HER it's to expensive for their budget? HmmmmmMMMMM?????
She's nuts. Everyone knows that individual cakes with the wedding vows written on each one in Aramaic is waaaaaay cheaper than doing table cakes.
Granted if you are one of those brides that is looking at putting a $200 floral centerpiece on each table, and having an $800 wedding cake then yes table cakes are going to be way cheaper, but most times... not so much. But then I doubt those are the types of brides that are buying her e-book.
http://www.fireyourweddingplanner.com/StressRelief/
Here's the latest email from her, with a nice large section on wedding cakes!
OMG, they charge $15 to decorate a dummy cake. I doubt that could be true and please show us a picture of this beautiful $15 cake. If they want to pay that then the cake they will get is one that I let my 4 year old decorate from a can of duncan hines frosting with the dog's assistance 
Kristin
Here's the latest from her and a good example of why she is not logical in all things (remember, I tend to agree with her philosophy, but sometimes her advice is not exactly 'on the button'):
From her column:
.....if a caterer tells they'll allow you to bring your own alcohol, but they're going to charge you corking fees, question the rationale!
I mean, when you eat at a restaurant, it's part of the waiter's job to open bottles of wine, right?
So why would you pay extra for this at your wedding just because you're providing your own alcohol?
Here's the rationale..... when you eat at a restaurant, you bought the bottle of wine from the restaurant. The restaurant is making money from the bottle of wine. So of course they will cork it for you.
When you bring your own, the restaurant/caterer is not making any money on that bottle of wine, but Stephi expects them to PAY an employee to cork the bottles for you.
How many of you cake decorators will drive to a reception to cut someone else's cake AT NO CHARGE? Well, that's what she is expecting this site to do..... she expects one of their employees to drive to the reception and open someone else's bottles AT NO CHARGE. Uh .... the caterer has to pay that employee and the caterer is not making money on the wine.
She CAN give good advice .... but she is off base on this one.
That's so funny! When I was a bride 4 years ago I came across her website and signed up for her daily e-mails. She actually sent me the online version of her book for free because I "corrected" one of her tips! At the time I was the Exec. Asst. at a beer distributor. One of her money saving tips was to take your own alcohol to your reception but here in Arizona it's against liquor laws to take your own booze into any establishment (such as a restaurant) that is licensed to sell alcohol. You could actually lose your liquor license for allowing that. She was so grateful that I informed her of that so she sent it to me!
This was all before I started cake decorating so I didn't know how much work went into making cakes. Our cake was included in the caterers package so I didn't try to haggle, although I wouldn't have had the gall to haggle with any of my vendors even though we were on a tight budget as well. And to think...some brides actually fall for this stuff!!
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