I'm doing a wedding in November and need to see if I quoted her enough. This is what she wants for 300 guests:
A two tiered red velvet cake( 6" & 8") with buttercream and gumpaste flowers on top.
8" rounds to serve the guests. 1/2 will be chocolate with ganache, the other half red velvet with bc.
Am I figuring right: I would need 12 - 8" rounds. (the tiered cake is for the wedding party)
What are your guesstimates 
With those sizes the amount of servings you'll get will be 324.
324x$4.50=$1,458.00
324x$3.50=$1,134.00
324x$2.50=$810.00
It all depends on what your base price is, if you charge for premium flavors such as red velvet and if you charge extra for ganache compaired to bc
(serving amount came from wilton's wedding cake chart: 6" - 12, 8" - 24, 24 x 12 = 288 + 36 = 324)
The tiered cake is only for the wedding party, so it isn't figured into the headcount, just the final price. They invited 300. I haven't gotten a final headcount yet, but she wanted a ballpark price. I should also include they don't want square pieces, they want wedges, will that reduce my slices per cake?
Wedges will reduce it dramatically!
You'll only get roughly 8 slices per 8" cake.... depending on how thick they are sliced... it's going to cost them a fortune to do things this way... because those figures you have above will not feed 300 or anywhere near it....
What you can do to explain it to her... take your 8" pan, trace around it on some paper, use a ruler and devide it up into slices and show her how many she's going to get from each 8" round cake and just for a thinking thing... I charge $35.00 for a basic 8" round with butter cream and a regular flavor....
Wedges will definitely reduce your number of servings. Trace the bottom of your pans on some paper and draw out what size you want your wedges to be and see how many servings you'll get and go from there. Remember, not everyone will cut the wedges the way you calculate them, so factor in an extra slice on each cake for cake hogs. (that is, if you won't be doing the cutting).
ok I'm so confused now. She at first wanted sheet cakes but didn't want square cuts, only wedges. I recommended the rounds because it sounded strange to cut wegdes from a sheet. Am I wrong?
I'm meeting with her again tomorrow and need to discuss this with her. Ahh now I'm freaking out!
If she is hell bent on having rounds to get wedges... and instists they be 8" rounds... she'll need 38 8" rounds to serve 300 people....
(that's counting it at 8 slices per cake...)
Ok a few things ya need to figure out here... do you want to get paid per slice of how SHE cuts it, or how it's supposed to be cut? lol
It's very hard and weird to do wedges in a sheet cake and it's hard to get enough servings unless they are paper thin, from an 8" round. You've got it figured up that each 8" will serve 25 people, those slices are going to be very thin... sketch it out using your pans and see how it works out...
I would show her a few different ways of cutting and tell her that you charge per serving based on how many it typically serves with the "normal" serving shape and size which would be $xxxxxx...
I would then explain to her that the way she wants the cakes to be cut reduces the amount of servings for the party and therefor more cake is needed, and it is going to be costly almost double because you'll need so many to do wedges....
Maybe when you meet with her tomorrow you could bake a 6" cake just basic flavor basic icing and show her both ways of cutting face to face. Cut one side in 1x2x4 squares and the other side in wedges... show her the difference in sizes and explain to her that cutting into squares would yield more servings, while cutting into wedges would only yield less servings that are bigger.
Also stress to her that unless this is a CAKE AND DRINK ONLY reception... there is no need to serve that big of a slice of cake. When there are other foods being served or other deserts being served.... they won't have room for all that cake and most will be thrown out 
I second what OhMyGoodies says ... always stick with your normal servings chart for pricing ... let them cut it how they want, but if they want monster pieces, they'll have to pay for more cake. If they're inviting 300, they won't have that many actually come. I'd give her a price on 300 ppl for standard serving size and the price for 300 ppl in wedges (but price based on standard servings/round - explain that the price per serving goes up with the size of the serving) -- that way she'll know the worst case scenario for both cutting techniques and perhaps she can be talked into cutting the cakes the standard way ... or better yet, try talking her into one multi-teired cake that will feed all guests -- that will actually cut down on your baking time and be easier in the long run. She may actually think that multiple 8" cakes would be cheaper than one grand cake!
I bet she watched that episode of Bridezilla where the looneytoon bride made all her own cakes and had like 50 centerpiece cakes lmfao....
Great idea but very expencive when you aren't doing it yourself...
You guys covered this great, but I can't help but jump in.
I could care LESS on how she's going to cut it!! MY price is based on MY serving size allocation. If the customer sets the size of the serving, then the customer is in effect setting your price .... and that just does not happen.
When you buy a chicken dinner at KFC, they have already decided how many pieces they have allocated for a serving .... usually 2 or 3. YOu can't tell them, "But I want 6 pcs for a meal" and expect them to just throw it in.
You are welcome to cut it any size you want, but if that means you need more cake, then YOU will need to BUY more cake.
Also....
Debi's 60% Rule indicates when 300 are invited, she should plan on 175-225 guests showing up.
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You indicated the 6/8 tiered is for the wedding party and "not counted in the headcount". Per the wilton wedding chart, this is 36 servings. At $2.50/serving, this is $90 .... even tho' it's not "counted" in the headcount, are you charging for this or leaving it on the table? Even if you throw in the anniverary tier for free, you should still charge for the 8" part of the tiered cake.
Perhaps I didn't word my comment properly -- when I stated she should give the customer the price for each type of serving (standard on wedged pieces) she should still use the standard serving size to get the price of that cake. For example, if you say a 8" round serves 24 and you charge 2.50/serving, that's $60/8" round. Say you want to cut that 8" round in 8 wedges -- divide the $60 by 8 and that comes to a $7.50/serving amount. The customer is just able to see how much more per guest she's paying for by cutting in wedges. Are wedges worth $5/guest -- not to me ... I'm too cheap!
smoore, I think we are saying the same thing. 
I won't go into different per-person pricing for the same cake.
The 8" cake is $60 (using your numbers). I'm not going into an explanation of how I came up with that price and I'm not changing the internal numbers just to come up with the same $60.
It's $60. Period. Cut it any way you want.
Oh my gosh, I can hear the bride right now, because I had something similiar happen a few months ago.
Bride calls me up
Bride: My wedding is such and such, I would like a 4 tiered cake
Me: How many guests will be at the reception.
Bride:50
Me: I recommend a certain size, can't remember
Bride:But I want a 4 tier cake.
Me: Ok, here's the minimum I can do for a 4 tier cake, it serves such and such servings, here's my price per serving, so your total would be $
Bride: But I'm only serving 50 people, won't my price be based off of 50 people?
Call ended soon after that.....
Expect to run into that, even though you tell your bride your price/serving is based on a certain size, she'll expect the same price for a larger serving!
Wow I'm so overwhelmed. I normally charge $2.25 per serving for weddings. The bride wanted sheet cakes, but cut wedges. I told her that would be very difficult and waste cake and would be easier to do 8' rounds. She was concerned about price because she was hoping for sheet cakes.
Do you still charge per slice for sheet cakes or go back to your sheet cake prices?
Well, first it would be hard for me to not laugh out loud when she tried to explain how she wanted wedges from a square cake because she thinks sheets are cheaper. Get real!! Flat out ask her how SHE expects that that to happen ... how SHE figures you can cut round wedges from a rectangle cake?
My sheets are lower priced but they do not include delivery, so if she wants sheets, she can come and pick them up.
I don't do sheets for weddings because I charge the same for wedding sheets as I do for wedding tiers. Same amount of cake .... same service ... same price.
Sounds like she has fallen into the trap of listening to the wedding magz and websites without really thinking about how it will happen.
Like the bride who asked me "Do you make the food in advance?" I fought the urge to say, "No, I cook it all on a hotplate 10 minutes before you get there, but instead I asked, "Is there a kitchen on site that I can cook the entire meal there?" She says, "No" and I say, "Then OBVIOUSLY I will have to cook the food in advance."
This is why I do not like weddings, there is so much more stress around them and more people to deal with. I originally wasn't going to do this but financial things came up and I decided to do it. Now I'm kicking myself. I'm so green at everything and I hate making people mad. She already knows I charge a cheaper rate for sheets.
Plus it is actually the MOB that I'm dealing with. The daughter lives over an hour away and told her mom that she wants a small tier and then the rest sheets and it was up to the MOB to decide. Again, too many chefs in the kitchen
I would just stick to your price per serving that you charge for weddings. So what that she knows you charge less for sheets, those aren't sheets for weddings. Besides, I don't know about you but I don't do fillings on sheet cakes, so maybe that would take that idea away all together. Why is she set on wedges anyway, that is stupid!
Here is how you can break it down to her.... sorry my writing with paint brush isn't very clear but you can get the jist of how you can cut a sheet into wedges and how many it MAY yield and how many an 8" MAY yield...
I'm with someone else who said that the hell is with the wedges? What difference does it make if the cake is cut into squares, wedges or any other shape? I swear, I think as soon as these girls get a rock on their finger they suddenly go completely stupid and act like the world is supposed to cater to them.
I'm so thankful that my DH and I eloped and had a small reception later.
Now, I'm just making generalized statements, but geez.
And my question is, who'll be cutting the cakes at each table? Staff? The guests sitting there? Will they be handed a chart?
This situation is just too much work.
one other thing..
Who the heck is cutting the cake??
I can't wait to see the expression on a cateer's face when the bride tells him/her she wants all of her slices in wedges!
I don't see why she's so caught up in this wedge thing? Are guests going to look down at their plate and say..
"Look, we are so special, our cake is a shape of a wedge!! Now that's something to write home (or email) about, because all the other weddings it's a rectangle, oh my goodness, this bride is thinking so much about us to give us this special wedge of cake!!"
I think not.....
Personally, I wouldn't sit there and try to figure out how many "wedges" are in a certain cake. You do your job which is designing the cake and tell her how many regular size servings are in each cake. If she's so gung ho on her wedge thing, let her do the math and figure out how many "wedges" she's getting. Let her take that responsibility. You have cake cutting charts for normal wedding cakes, there's no sense on coming up with a special chart for her dear wedges!
If you try to tell her how many wedges she'll get, the person cutting the cake may not cut it properly (without a custom chart from you), and she may end up a wedge short.
Personally....I think a wedge is missing out of her brain!!
Getting off my soapbox now... 
I think 8" rounds are going to be WAY too hard for them to handle like that... maybe sheets would be the best route with that being the case... maybe it can be done the way I showed.. I dunno I can't say I've never tried it myself because no one ever wanted that... everyone wants the normal square pieces lmao
I think it's in the garbage disposal...
Getting back on track I would offer her your WEDDING price on sheet cakes to feed 300 if that's what she wants... tell her it'll feed 300 if cut into 1x2x4 squares and you are not responsible nor do you guaruntee it'll feed them all if cut a different way.....
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