I am a new decorator in West Michigan, a.k.a. "The Dutch Capital of the USA". We Dutch folk (myself included!!!) are known for being thrifty, frugal, cheap, Dutch, whatever you want to call it. I've only been doing this for a few months and I have no formal price list - in fact, I'm quite clueless what to charge.
I'm meeting with a couple to discuss ideas for their wedding cake/dessert. They are undecided, but leaning towards the option of min-cakes, cupcakes, brownies, mini-cheescakes, something like that. They have met with another cake lady who quoted them $1.25 per cake serving. Maybe that's fine for a cake, but seems to me that mini anything would be more expensive, since they're more labor intensive.
Is this worth my time? I have a feeling that I'll be in over my head. And I guess I'm not terribly concerned about the money right now, since I'm trying to build a portfolio, but it would be nice to pay myself more than $1-2 a hour for all my hard work...
Any thoughts from other West Michiganders?

Mini = more money.. the smaller the cake they harder they are. I charge a minimum $10 each for mini cakes. They are a ton of work. And $1.25/serving isn't enough for a custom cake creastion. The only way to figure out your prices is to sit down and figure out what it costs YOU to make your recipes.. don't forget the gas for driving to get the ingredients and the utilities to bake and wash up. I have a hard time thinking that anyone who charges less than $2/serving is really making any money from their cakes.. at least not enough to make it worth it. Can you legally sell cakes from home in Michigan? That would be first on my list of things to find out.. after that sit down and calculate your costs. You will be surprised.. I know I was.

Ugggg. I did some more research and found out it is NOT legal to sell cakes from your home kitchen in Michigan. This makes me want to cry. I e-mailed the couple and told them I can't do their cake. I know that there are tons of people who sell their stuff "on the side", but just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right. Once I found out it's illegal, I felt so uncomfortable. I guess I'll stick to making stuff for friends and family... Would someone just get married already?! I really want to try a wedding cake!

I know when I got married in 2002, we ordered a cake from a lady who does it from her house. We went to her house for the consultation and she told us she just does all her baking in her kitchen. I didn't know that was illegal back then... she did a fabulous job, though!

Make a tiered, wedding-y cake for a family member's b-day! Practice your tiered cakes and don't make any sheets for b-days. Tiered cakes are much more festive.