I'm so nervous, I just sent off my first real wedding cake quote. This lady received a link to my web site and contacted me about doing her wedding cake and a grooms cake.
I met with them yesterday, did a tasting and came up with a design. I just e-mailed them my quote.....and good golly am I nervous. It all comes down to that same old problem....pricing. Did I charge too much? Did I charge to little? What if she laughs at the price? Aaarrrgghh! This is killing me. My husband finally said "just send the &@# e-mail already!"
I'm hoping by putting this in writing here I might be able to relax a little. I know so many of you struggle with this.
I think this is the single most stressful part of selling cakes, I worry about it so much too. I try to think though, before I was doing cakes, I paid $400 for my wedding cake and didn't even think twice, that just seemed normal to me.
Well, that would have made my message more complete wouldn't it have...
the wedding cake is to feed 100 - it's a 6", 9" and 12". French vanilla with chocolate ganache filling. Home made fondant (Toba Garrett kind). The fondant will be caramel colored with royal icing flowers painted on the side. I quoted $244 for this cake.
the grooms cake is more like a smaller wedding cake that will feed 50 - 6" and 10". It's a spice cake with butter cream icing and small gumpaste daisies as a border. I quoted $107 for it.
It averages out to be $2.34 per piece. The total was $351. This is clearly the most I've ever charged for one of my cakes...and the biggest I've ever done (though I'm not really worried about that part of it)
I'm confident I can make them both look nice, it's just freeky asking for over $300 for cake....even though I know how much it takes to do it ...not everyone in the real world knows that.
They will book you dont worry! I think you are giving them an incredible deal! (Im originally from St. Louis, price per serving for basic fondant at most bakeries is 3.50 per serving and up).
Pricing is hard, especially in the begining, but remember you are selling your talent, that is what they are paying for! Dont sell yourself short! 
I just read what you're charging and even in my area where cakes (even wedding cakes) are underpriced, yours still seems very reasonable.
I always freak out when trying to quote a price. I drive my husband nuts 
But your price definately seems more then resonable, especially for a fondant covered cake. Don't stress (yeah right, I know)
Well SLK, I think they got a steal of a deal and will come running back to you!!
I'm doing my first wedding cake in two and a half weeks and I'm charging $525.00 for a 3 tiered 8", 10", 12" vanilla with french vanilla buttercream cake, with fondant daisies.
I was really nervous, too, asking for so much money, but I took a different slant on it. Instead of thinking, "It's my first wedding cake so I really can't charge much" I decided to think, "It's my first wedding cake, so I'm going to be putting a lot of extra time and effort into this cake and I should be paid accordingly." 
I didn't want to post later about how I felt that I didn't charge enough for all the work that went into it.
I think you could have charged more, but I'm glad you didn't price lower as I have often read here. I do think you should let her know (on her receipt) that this is a discounted price due to her being your first wedding cake customer. That way when you charge more (and based on your description you should), you can state that she received a discount and not your standard pricing.
Good luck,
Kathi
It averages out to be $2.34 per piece. The total was $351. ..... it's just freeky asking for over $300 for cake.....
dont think of it as a $351 cake, think of it as DESSERT FOR 150 PEOPLE! you definately didnt overcharge, by any means. your work is good and i dont know your area and its prices, but personally, i think its on the low side. DONT get nervous and offer a lower price, i dont doubt that they'd jump at the chance to get their cake from you at a price like that!
don't worry about the price you quoted. they're getting a steal. both cakes could of easily been quoted at $450.00 especially with the fondant. they're gonna' snatch you up in a minute. you think pricing a wedding cake is bad...try explaining why a birthday cake costs $200.00 .....LOL
[quote="...try explaining why a birthday cake costs $200.00 .....LOL[/quote]
That's funny!
Kathik - I like your approach...I just wish I had your guts.
I already feel better - I knew I would...
The thing I was most worried about was that I prefer to use fondant - I'm afraid of bc...I know, that's crazy isn't it. They were leaning towards a bc cake for the main cake because she had tasted fondant before and thought it was terriable. Fortunately, I took a 6" coverd cake with the Toba Garrett fondant and they really liked it but she still wasn't sure. Then when she found the design she wanted (royal icing piping and painting) I told her she couldn't do that on bc so she agreed to fondant. I was worried that if it was too much in her mind, she'd just drop back down to bc...which I did not want.
Thank you all for helping me feel better. What would we do without this cc circle?
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