i haven't done any wedding cakes yet but i definitely want to go in that direction. i am considering paying for a booth at a local bridal show this fall or winter but i am not sure if this would be a waste.
i can make up a bunch of dummy cakes for the display but i'm worried about my picture book not having enough wedding cakes to prove my abilities to the customers. i guess i can make a bunch of dummy cakes ahead of time to make up my portfolio as well.
what i'm wondering is if anyone here on CC started up their wedding cake business by doing a bridal show? i wouldn't attempt it until i'm legal of course. but, i'm just curious if it would be a waste of money to pay for a booth when i don't have years of wedding cake experience under my belt.
does anyone out there have any words of advice regarding this? i would appreciate any info - negative or positive.
thanks so much in advance. 
I did my first bridal show just about a week after I got legal....that was the whole point of me becoming legal-so that I could start advertising and going after business outside of my friends and family. It was well worth it. There were two other established decorators there but I still managed to get over a dozen weddings from that one show and people who picked up information at the show are still calling/emailing me 8 months later. It was well worth it for me. Do a bunch of dummy cakes and take pictures of them-remember you only have to decorate one side of them in order to get a picture, then scrape it off and do something different. Have several good looking dummies with you and don't forget brochures, business cards and cake samples.
If your target is brides, then you need to go to where they will be. I decided to do all wedding cakes as my biz, so the very first thing I did was register for the local bridal fair only 2 months after getting legal. At the time, I didn't have a huge portfolio. I had worked for a local bakery and had done a few weddings independently, but didn't have pics to show for it. So I iced a few dummies and let them dry (separately) for several days. (That way they are easier to handle.) Then I stacked, pillared, mixed & matched tiers, did all sorts of things to those same dummies over and over again without having to re-ice. Simple ribbon and flowers are in right now, and that made up about 1/2 the cakes. I also made some gumpaste bows and such for cakes without flowers. The last designs I did were the designs that would damage the BC if peeled off.
Then I made the 6 creative dummies for the fair and took the pics of the dummy cakes (only had about 20). They just assume you only brought the pics of your favorite cakes. I passed out samples and biz cards and let them know to visit my website. The brides were always so happy to hear they could visit a website for more info.
If you're sure of your ability and quality, then go for it. It is well worth it and a great starting point for getting your name out there.
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