Are you kidding me? Last night after I delived a cake a lady looked at me and said "Did you bring a knife?" Uh--no...I brought a three teired cake and four children, no knife.
Seriously, I was not in charge of forks, drinks, plates or decorations. Di I have to bring a knife and cut the cake too?
What occasion was this for? I don't cut a cake unless it's being served at my house or is for my children's birthdays, my MIL hounds me into by not shutting up once in a while. When I did my sister's wedding cake I told her months before that I would not cut it.
Are you kidding me? Last night after I delived a cake a lady looked at me and said "Did you bring a knife?" Uh--no...I brought a three teired cake and four children, no knife.
Seriously, I was not in charge of forks, drinks, plates or decorations. Di I have to bring a knife and cut the cake too?
Uh--no...I brought a three teired cake and four children, no knife
Love the "four children part"
It was for a spring vocal concert. Jimminy Christmas!
This type of thinking is really common. When a bride tells me she is getting her cake from another source, be it bakery or Aunt Sally, I have to remind them that they are also responsible for the plates and forks and table linens for the cake table. "If I don't provide the cake ..... I don't provide the cake plates and forks." I also remind them to bring a knife to cut the cake.
They know they need a cake ..... but evidently they aren't sweating the details! 
What timing on this one!
I just got home from a wedding catering (so if my feet are hurting so bad, why am I on here and not soaking my feet!). The couple were personal friends of mine. A relative did the cake.
The DJ came and asked me if I was cutting the cake. I told him I don't normally cut a cake that isn't mine ... but since they were friends of mine, I told him if they didn't have anyone designated to cut it, I would do it for them.
Then I corner the groom and ask "Do you have plates and forks for the cake?" Uh.....no! I told him, "Then it's a good thing I'm here to take care of ya!" I had brought some extra disposables (plates and forks).
I share this story just to affirm what I said above. It's the thing they always don't think of. And if they weren't friends of mine, it would have been different.
God Bless 'em anyway!
What timing on this one!
I just got home from a wedding catering (so if my feet are hurting so bad, why am I on here and not soaking my feet!). The couple were personal friends of mine. A relative did the cake.
The DJ came and asked me if I was cutting the cake. I told him I don't normally cut a cake that isn't mine ... but since they were friends of mine, I told him if they didn't have anyone designated to cut it, I would do it for them.
Then I corner the groom and ask "Do you have plates and forks for the cake?" Uh.....no! I told him, "Then it's a good thing I'm here to take care of ya!" I had brought some extra disposables (plates and forks).
I share this story just to affirm what I said above. It's the thing they always don't think of. And if they weren't friends of mine, it would have been different.
God Bless 'em anyway!
Indydebi,
If these were normal customers not friends, I am guessing you would have extra disposable plates and stuff in your kit for them right?
Now how would you handle that situation ? 
I know many venu's will charge per plate to cut the cake if it's not theirs. I remember a friend of mine saying that it was going to be $3.00/piece. 
Or they told her she could order the cake from them and the cutting and plating was included. She ended up somewhere else, she was having an aunt make their cake.
But I am thinking that if you quoted an amount with your service, people would tend not to forget their stuff right? Or has that happened?
Some of my friends say I should try and do a catering/cake business. I love to cook and we like to have parties at our house. But I am thinking logistics here (for the future maybe) just wondering what a pro does?
I wonder if we should all start to carry around a spare kit for those who forget with some type of disposable cutting tool of course? Does that exist? And of couse charge by the slice!
(Maybe, I am too much the planner... but tell you what when we go camping if someone needs something, guess who they come and see!)
Good Luck
I actually had a wedding where I did not offer any plates/forks. I did the catering .... family member did the cake. They had asked me if I would cut the cake. I told them I would be happy to show a family member or friend how to cut the cake. So we're back there and I said, "Ok....first, where are the plates for you to put the pieces of cake on?" Groom asks if I had the plates. I said, "I didn't do the cake, so I didn't bring cake plates." Groom starts scrambling with the facility to find some plates. The facility dug up some 6" paper plates out of a supply closet. They brought the plates to us. I said, 'Uh.....forks?" They asked, "I thought you brought forks?" I said, "I brought forks for the buffet ..... those are dirty and I don't bring double silverware ... I bring enough for the buffet." So they are scrambling again for forks. They finally found them.
This has become such a commonplace problem, that we've added it to our Terms of Agreement "....If the wedding cake is supplied by another vendor, the bride is responsible for securing plates and forks for the cake."
I used to carry extras all the time because I knew the bride would forget these, but it got excessive. So now I spell it out during the sampling (including telling them "write this down...") and when asked, I tend to smile sweetly and say, "I didn't do the cake."
The one today .... like I said, they were personal friends and I had stocked up at Sams' and happened to have the case in the van so FOR THEM, I was glad to be able to come to their rescue.
Addressing your question of "...if I quoted it with my service..." my wedding cakes are sold in package form just for this reason. It's my way of guaranteeing that I have everything I need to cut and serve their wedding cake. (Silly brides! They think I do it to make it easier on them! ). But someone else made this cake.
I am doing my BFF's wedding cake in two weeks. I called her yesterday and said "I am not cutting your cake." She said "I know your not." I said "I am not bringing a knife or plates or any other cake paraphanalia" She said "I know. I want you to enjoy the wedding." I love her so much, that is why she is my best friend.
Ok, I'm done with it. Here's my final answer. 
Wedding this weekend .... the same deal. Ordered the cake from somewhere else and they didn't get the plates/forks. I had provided the choc fountain so I had extra disposables from that and let them use them. Hard a$$ as I can be, there are more times than not that I just can't intentionally ruin a reception for a bride when I have the solution in my hand. And to give this couple credit, they both came back to me and apologized for the oversight and thanked me profusely for helping them out! I told them there was only one catch .... they had to tell everyone how great I was! 
However.......!
Effective today, on my Wedding Cake Pricing page, there is a new notice (bottom left corner - http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page2.html ) stating that we will be automatically adding a minimum $35 plate/fork fee when the cake is ordered from someone other than me. If the couple remembers to provide those items, then the $35 will be deducted/refunded. I have updated my Invoice Summary form with a $35.00 line charge (that I can erase if they order the cake from me).
So from this point on, I am assuming that I am providing them unless I see the provided plates at the reception (just telling me you have them will not do it ... it's too easy to tell me the Maid of Honor is picking them up, only to get there and find out she forgot).
I have tried explaining it to them; I have tried adding it to the Terms of Agreement; I am tired of dealing with it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. they order the cake from someone who sells them just the cake.
So I'm charging for it up front. I'm not dealing/arguing it anymore.
I know of the site Gateaux was mentioning! They notoriously charge $3 just to cut/plate the cake regardless of if the couple is doing table cakes where the guests are doing the cutting. For doing cupcakes, plated on THEIR OWN stands, the caterers still charged $1.75 each even though the bride/groom tried to insist that they didn't need plates/forks for the cupcakes.
I make the option available in cases like that to do the cutting and bring plates/forks along with me. No one has taken me up on it, but the brides all know that I can do it if their caterer or site charges an excessive amount for that service but that I will only serve the cake buffet style not delivered to the tables.
I've seen more than my share of cakes butchered over the years. What gets me is that I put time into doing up a cutting diagram because my slice size is larger (1x3 slices) and it's totally ignored. Of course, I also make it a point to detail it in the contract that it falls upon the cake cutter to determine if there is cake leftover from the projected order.
Ugh... Of course, what can you do though..
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