200 Cupcakes For Saturday (Long Rant)
Decorating By 2508s42 Updated 24 Jul 2007 , 1:24pm by tiptop57
After two years of reading this website, I really need to ask our CC community......how do we always attract such oddball clients with strange requests or clients that continually try to barter and/or dicker our pricing structure?
::in best imitation of Rod Serling::
dododododododododododododo
you have entered the CC Zone!
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it's not that we attract them more --
it's that we finally have a place to vent about them!
Also, they didn't put off the cake until the last minute. She said they had someone lined up to do it, and at the last minute that person bailed.
hmmmmmm..... 
i wonder why!!!
a solution IF you want to do the papers and make it a tad bit easier, is to use the candy/nut cups (wilton $1.50 for 24 pk). the sides are much straighter than a regular cupcake liner. i think premeasured and cut papers (done by her) would go on faster- use double sided tape. when i've done ribbons on 3 or 4 dozen cupcakes...it took quite awhile.
since it is not yet in writing, you may want to consider upping the price anyhow.
I would definetly tell her that you cannot put the paper on them. That is going to take you FOREVER to cut, position and affix those to the cupcakes! 
For the price and such short notice you are still doing her a favor.
It's no wonder the other person she had lined up bailed!! 
If you want to take the order I have a suggestion. Maybe you could tell the bride that a real cake would come to the same price as a dummy cake and that she can freeze it for her first anniversary if she'd like that way your saying the time of getting a dummy and worrying about a deposit. Also suggest that you can make her sheet cakes in the different flavours and icings and then design the sheet cakes like i've seen on here where they put icing stars to make squares (like where you cut the serving) and put a daisy on each square and put the paper around the whole side of each sheet cake. This would make it a lot easier and less time consuming for you and each guess would still get a little individual squyare. If she doesnt like that idea then I would just tell her that you dont have time on such short notice to do it the way she wants. Just an idea for you and I wish you good luck
this is what I'm talking about in case I didnt make sense lol
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=11515
I definitely see the point of the bride here... well maybe. Maybe they really don't have a lot of money for the wedding. My husband and I spent $300 on our wedding and our honeymoon because we were both in school. But you see true love couldn't wait!! My husband's grandmother made us an absolutely beautiful cake. OK, the moral of the story: if you don't want to spend the money you don't get to be picky and some things you need to do without. But who needs it when you're livin on love! They can live on love in their own kitchen making their own cupcakes. 
Sorry, this is going to be a tangent... bear with me!
I HATE when people want you to give them a deal because they are on a budget. I work in a hair salon, and I see this ALL THE TIME. Women come in with fried hair, color treated on the ends, black roots, and want to be honey blond. When I quote a price of $90, they look at me like I have two heads. That's for color, toner, cut, treatment, and style. I won't do the color without the treatment or the cut, because they are not walking away from my chair and then telling people that I jacked their hair up. Someone just last night told me that my price was ridiculous, and she could get it elsewhere cheaper... I told her to go right ahead, it's not my problem.
You stick to your guns, don't lower your price (obviously, by the responses here, you're too low already, lol) and if she doesn't want your expertise, tell her to feel free to go to Walmart and try to get all of the extras she's asking for for $350.
You don't need that kind of business.
Ok, tangent over.
That's the price our salons charge and I don't think twice about it. They work on your hair for hours.
After two years of reading this website, I really need to ask our CC community......how do we always attract such oddball clients with strange requests or clients that continually try to barter and/or dicker our pricing structure?
Stephie Stewart, internet websites and bridal magazines who are telling brides this is how it works.
Sorry, this is going to be a tangent... bear with me!
I HATE when people want you to give them a deal because they are on a budget. I work in a hair salon, and I see this ALL THE TIME. Women come in with fried hair, color treated on the ends, black roots, and want to be honey blond. When I quote a price of $90, they look at me like I have two heads. That's for color, toner, cut, treatment, and style. I won't do the color without the treatment or the cut, because they are not walking away from my chair and then telling people that I jacked their hair up. Someone just last night told me that my price was ridiculous, and she could get it elsewhere cheaper... I told her to go right ahead, it's not my problem.
You stick to your guns, don't lower your price (obviously, by the responses here, you're too low already, lol) and if she doesn't want your expertise, tell her to feel free to go to Walmart and try to get all of the extras she's asking for for $350.
You don't need that kind of business.
Ok, tangent over.
That's the price our salons charge and I don't think twice about it. They work on your hair for hours.
Valora -- I wish you were in my town!!! A REALLY good cut/color/glaze, etc. is between $150 and 250. I have A LOT of hair and know I am a lot of work and have never minded paying someone to do it the way I like it.
Its the same as cake, you are paying someone for their skills. I like paying the price I do for my hair, as I know the young lady who does it goes to conferences, reads the latest magazines, etc., and keeps up her skills. Same with a cake, you are paying for someone who is constantly learning how to do new things to keep your cake modern and up to date. To some people, they are just paying for cake and never think about the rest!
you know, the best thing that I think I have seen was on Ace of Cakes when they said that they wouldn't do the cake because the check bounce. Remember? The cake was $3000, and the lady owned a granet store. Duff refused to make the cake EVEN WHEN SHE OFFERED DOUBLE. I want to really direct every person like this mother of the bride to that show. Who knows what Duff and the gang would have designed for $3000, but who cares????? I love that he stuck to his guns, no apologies.
I still don't think that I will see or hear from her ever again. You just should have heard her voice. She was obviously not someone who likes quality products.
So the lady who gave her my card called me today to tell me she gave me a referral. She asked how it went and I told her what she wanted (I do daycare for the reffering lady) and she was SHOCKED. She said that she hoped I told her $500. I was like.. um... I told her $350. Then my daycare mom told me that I way underpriced. I told her that the lady acted like that was too much and she said that it was because they are cheap people. Nice.
I have a feeling you will hear from her when she can't get the price anywhere else.
If you did you should tell her that you worked on numbers and it's not possible to do it for that price and I would tell her you need $400 if not $450.
Seriously!
There's a bakery that's just opened here on the coast - ALL they do is cupcakes,plain & fancy etc - the starting price (starting price !!! ) is $36AUD for 1 dozen 
....so for your 200 cupcakes that would be about $600AUD just for the cupcakes !!!! (about $526US )
I think you're definitely undercharging !!!
WOW! Can you imagine ONLY doing cupcakes? How tediously boring.
I am seriously struggling tonight. I just finished a 16" one layer from scratch white cake with bc icing for Probation and Parole. It is law enforcement appreciation week. It has a gun and handcuffs and badge made out of modeling chocolate. The badge has one of those edible images to get it exactly right. What would you have charged for that? There are no tiers or fillings. (obviously)
OMG, I was just thinking about the other thread with the Bridezilla doing her own mini cakes...... http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-418173-bridezilla.html..... could they be "Separated at Birth," by any chance????????
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