I was supposed to be making cakes for a wedding this weekend and was looking forward to it when the call came. The mother of the bride wants half of the amount of cake and cupcakes all of a sudden. When she approached me in the first place 3 months ago she was originally going to split the order between me and another person close by who does cakes. Then after trying my cake decided to go with me. Everything was going along and then this. She said she did not need all of that cake since they are having sandwiches and felt that half the order would work. Then she said it was for "me anyway." (the mom) She wanted a plain sheetcake and cupcakes with a small swirl of icing--so most of the top of the cake shows. They want them the night before so I tried to explain the possibility of them drying out. I have other orders and one of them actually doubled in size so supply-wise I will have no waste. I don't know if she went ahead and let the other person do half the order or if they honestly didn't need as much as they thought. I don't want to mess with contracts since most people have been wonderful and easy to deal with. I feel like throwing in the towel and running for the hills. 
I guess I don't know how to handle it.
If she called to cut the order amount down she still needs to at least pay you for supplies and a little for the energy spent to get it. I don't think it matters that another order is taking up the excess stuff.
Did your contract state anything about last minute changes? If it did you need to stick to that.
Seems like it was pretty short notice I know you say you can use the extra stuff you bought but that was just lucky for you. I think she should still have to pay you a little extra for having gone and gotten all the stuff for her order and also lucky for you that you didnt have to turn down any other orders thinking that you would have to do her full order. So yes I think she should have to pay a cancellation or shrinkage fee lol however you want to call it.
I had a contract and it said in there that they could make no changes after 3 weeks before the date. So even if they wanted less cake they would be paying for it all. They just stuck with what they had.
Haven't they already paid the balance if the wedding is this weekend? I would tell them that unfortunatly they still have to pay the entire balance due, so it is their choice as to whether they would like the entire order to be filled or not. You've spent the time and energy to plan this whole thing out and a major change like that causes undue stress on you. Make them pay up!
Diana
Another option that you have is to insist upon her paying the full amount but agreeing to make some party cakes to compensate a bit.
Did she sign a contract? You can download contracts in several places and should probably start using one with all large orders. (I'm sure you've already figured that one out thought, huh?)
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For the future, you should have a contract to protect yourself. Also, it is not a good idea to 'share' baking for an event like a wedding. You will take the blame for anything that goes wrong with the other baker.
If you don't have a legal business, you would have no protection if something went wrong, and the bride sued for something the other baker did.
This kind of job sounds like it might have be iffy to begin with. It might not be worth the money to take this risk.
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