You know I'm in the process of looking for a caterer & I just don't get this flea market mentality. I'm not haggling the caterers, we can either afford them or not. And there is other ways to reduce cost. Everybody doesn't have to have shrimp, just like you don't need 500 gumpaste flowers!

Um, good luck to the 1st time baker/bride on getting those razor-sharp corners on her square cakes like the ones pictured in the article. I've been "caking" for 5 years and still can't do it!!

My response:

This article is completely insulting. There is much, much more to baking, properly construting, decorating, and safely transporting a wedding cake than "a bunch of flour, eggs and sugar."

If you are not an experienced baker and decorator, trying to make your own cake is a recipe for disaster and is very unlikely to save the bride all that much money once all the pans, decorating tools, stands and support system, etcetera are purchased.

Furthermore, to suggest that wedding cakes are overpriced extremely devalues the work that we skilled artisans do.

I'm a baker and decorator myself, but for my wedding, I went with a high-end bakery, because I didn't want the stress of making my own wedding cake AND I wanted something even better than what I could do myself. My cake was $150 MORE than my dress and it was worth every penny.

Just because YOU don't value cake and don't understand the time and talent it takes to create these edible works of art doesn't mean every one else does.

Frankly, you would do a better service to the brides who come to this site for advice, by explaining to them what goes into making that cake of their dreams and why it costs what it does. The BEST way to reduce the cost of the wedding cake and the entire reception, for that matter, is to reduce the number of guests.

You get what you pay for. There's plenty of photos out there of the results of an inexperienced baker trying to make a wedding cake. Every weekend, brides are forced to send someone to the local grocery store to pick up some cakes from the pre-decorated cake case because they, a friend or family member, or the "cheap" decorator produced a total disaster of a cake.

I see from your Blog that you have no problems going on great vacations in the name of "research", perhaps you should be so dedicated to researching baking and decorating. Then you could give advice based on knowledge, not assumptions, untried theories, and prejudice.

WOW, that is the perfect response. Not snarky but very much to the point!

all these people want cheap weddings? my advice.... get a simple dress, have your groom wear his khaki's, a shirt and tie and go to the damn courthouse! Please! If you want an to plan such a huge event, then you need to be realistic and know that you're going to spend money for a dress, a cake and catering if you want it.

My husband and I got married at a little gazebo on the side of a mountain in Eureka Springs, AR. Just me and him. Cost us all of about $100 for gas and to pay the officiant. We're no less married than someone who spends $100,000 on their monstrosity of a "wedding", and I bet we've been married longer than most of those people who wanted that big expensive wedding.

Oooooh, I caused a stir... I read on here all the time about people expecting a cake for nothing, and it just made my blood boil when i came across all these sites showing how you can skimp and scrap on a cake - likes its not important what yous all do...

Fianlly I came past THAT quote: Considering all here felt that people are unrealistic about prices, now i know where they are getting these ideas from

I know one day I'll be starting to get my wedding all together and I turned to the internet for some ideas and big needed HELP!! (I'm the unfortunate girl who knows about her engagement ring, but partner wants to suprise me when he decides to actually propose - so we often talk of weddings)

So if I didnt have CC I would take these sites as a blessing - and I'll be completely misguided, like everyone else out there...

I hope i didnt stir yous all up too much, but i was truley horrified! I'm just lucky I know all your sides about the cake business!!

I am a baker, an event planner as well as a bride to be (well, we are renewing our vows with a small wedding and cocktail party) who just went and shopped for a wedding cake from a bakery in the town where we are holding the event. Not once did it occur to me to ask them to lower their costs because it was my design they were going to do, based on a drawing I drew, for me but it sounds like this website would have advised me to do so in order to save money! UGH! No, I'm not doing my own cake, I'd rather be a happy relaxed bride and let a trusted baker do it for me...and I will happily pay what they want to charge for the service.

As for wedding dresses...I couldn't afford a 3k dress, didn't even try, but I got a lovely dress in my price range. No, it didn't have lace made by nuns, or real crystals on it and it was not created by Vera Wang or someone in her league. But it's what I could afford and I love it. Did it cost a whole lot...yup, but then it was made just for me and to my measurements so I expected it to be more expensive than one I'd pick up at Target. I think expectations over wedding cakes vs supermarket cakes have gotten way over blown. People see the cake shows and suddenly, for 50 guests, want a 7 tier cake! That's just being ostenatious, not really getting cake for the amount of people they are entertaining. Top that off with the fact that instead of paying for what they really need, they want to pay the same amount for that ostenatious cake! If you can only afford a $200 cake then why try to order the 3K cake and expect the baker to eat the costs? Same with only affording the $700 gown and then trying to order the 3K dress and wanting the bridal shop to eat the costs? The expectations are overblown. Brides need to keep their expectations in line with their budgets and find something they love within those borders. THAT is what the article should be telling their budget minding brides. Figure out your budget and shop within that budget to get the most for your dollars, not how to cheat hard working people out of pay for their services. I mean, seriously, if you KNOW you can't afford shoes at Nordstroms then why go shopping there? If you ask a baker how much per person and she quotes a price higher than you can pay then WHY shop there? Keep shopping around and if you have too low of a budget for your cake/dress/photographer, etc then figure out what you can trim in order to get what you do want. It's all possible. Some things are DIY-able but unless you are an experienced baker then your wedding cake is not one of those things.

More than my two cents, I know, but as a baker and planner I know it CAN be done if expectations are in line with the budget and articles like this just piss me off.

Cat

I love shoes from Nordstroms...when I used to be able to afford it!

haha...I got my wedding dress for $150! Talk about cheap, huh?! Nothin' extravagant, but that's all I could afford. My husband and I took some of our wedding pics with our longboard skateboards. Totally awesome

Some of these people really irk me the wrong way. I'd like to see them spend 3 hours in the kitchen or more to simply bake the cakes, then cool them, level them, etc.... and then spend COUNTLESS hours frosting, covering, correctly stacking or tiering, Then finishing decorating them, then have to delivery. These people are ridiculous. Oh and have to deal with the final preps for their own wedding. OMG......people need to get a grip on reality. Or maybe just ask their dear old grandma to make them one. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Well, if you want to do it yourself go ahead! I do not worry about articles like this.Some people do it themself, some buy from Wal-Mart, but people that buy it from me will always do so. I would like to think that my customers don't read this cheap publications.

350 Baker....I love it! The skateboards! Too cute! See, as a planner, I really appreciate that you were able to live within your budget expectations with your dress...and I love that you went whimsical with your photos! That's something that you will look back on for years and just smile!

And yes, I've put two hours, without baking time added in, decorating the bon voyage cake I'm working on now...I have about another two to go before presentation. So if you add in the one hour baking and the delivery then I'm paying myself about $50...yup, about $10 an hour, to do this cake. That is NOT a high paying job. Rewarding, yes, high paying, NO. But I charge per serving and this cake is a 3D cake so that's $5 a serving for 15 servings. The presentation, I hope, will wow people but I'm sure that there are plenty out there that would have bought the $14 Costco cake rather than the $75 3D cake. Fortunately, the hostess really wanted to give the honoree a great send off and loves my cakes and is willing to pay my charges. She's ordered from me before so I can't imagine she would dream of haggling with me (not that I would allow that). I just hate articles in magazines that infer that you CAN and SHOULD haggle with your baker for your wedding cake. Drives me up the wall.

BTW...anybody telling anyone to LIE about their cake or their food for their party is stupid...I mean, this is food you are going to EAT...do you really want to piss off the person who is making it for you? LOL! Just a joke but you all know what I mean.

Ok, ranting again..I gotta let this one go for my own good! LOL!

Cat

one more thing...............shows like Cake Boss are a great thing to show the day to day hard work and the dead lines and stress and every day pain in the ass problems a bakery has, it will educate the public, so thats a plus in all of your sides...

Did anyone get a reply back from this chickadee?

I did not read all of the reply's but this frustrated me alot. I still consider myself a novice to this industry but it definately takes time and technique to master!! I did write in because what we do is a form of art and yeah =( ahhhhhhhhh sorry here's what I wrote;
I think you need to revise what you stated about cakes being just some flour sugar ect... Cakes are expensive because of quality products, time and techniques. When a bride shops for her dress she's not complaining about price, why because of the cost of fabric and time and technique it takes to make them. It is the same for wedding cakes they take time and depending on the intricate work that can add to the time taken. Cakes are edible art, and we don't complain about the cost of a painting or drawing. So making it sound as if you throw some eggs, milk and flour into a bowl and bake that you can do what those whom take the time to learn and improve on skills is a sad tip to give brides for hopefully what will be her big day.

So there's my two cents.

I should warn you... This page was just ONE quote i came across... this site yes was insulting - BUT!! there were many others... some supporting the cake bakers but making people aware of cake prices and why it was sooo important. and some sites that put them down, like the one i outlined...

your all leaving comments on this one site - but no one ever thought maybe they got these ideas from other sites... like the MILLIONS i visited... Yes that one was the most insulting... but it wasnt the only one!!

I'm now feeling sorry for the sites creator with all the responce they have just recieved from most on here! but like i said its ONLY one site!! and they probably got there information from another...

I suggest stop targetting THAT ONE SITE. Because I'm telling you Now, there are many out there that insult the cake makers and decorators!!

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

How do you stop these lies from being spread?

One website at a time.

when my son got married, i wanted to make their wedding cake... simple enough i thought!!.... well, the day before i baked all the layers, had the cakes shoved to the back of the counter to keep out of reach of my beasts , i made the buttercream, pulled layer number 1 forward, turned SLIGHTLY to fill my bag... i turned back, not 5 seconds later, to find half of my layer GONE.... i looked at maggie (85lb. goldendoodle #1- most likely suspect) she is looking innocent... i looked at charlie (55lb. goldendoodle #2- least likely suspect) and he has cake crumbs all over his face... now, i had time to make another layer like i had time to learn how to fly...but what could i do? so i mentally moved some lists around in my head, ran to the store for more eggs and finally it was done, and it looked wonderful. a very dear friend helped me decorate it ( i am a fledgling decorator) and the very last thing we did was insert hydrangeas into those little water spiky things to keep the 'poison' out of the cake.... figured if all else failed, i would only be poisoning family....but i vowed that when my daughter gets married somebody else is doing the cake!!

I just feel bad thats all... anyway, i was pleased when I did come across some GOOD sites, and they actually set everything straight regarding cakes to flowers, basically stating "you get what you pay for"

The part of giving advice, especially on the net, you can count on getting some back. If they can't handle the response when they give idiotic advice, maybe they should stop giving it!

This is True!! Well I'm glad I brought this "quote" to every ones attention.

I know this is an old thread. I was just sent a link by my sister to a DIY article

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129403566&sc=fb&cc=fp

That's actually not a bad article, she states it's not easy or quick and how her cakes did not look perfect.
Her view point focuses more on the gift giving and tasting good aspect more then "how to make a cake for cheap" view that a lot of those articles take.
She even says how she practiced and studied for months, I've read ones where it basically says "even if you've never baked a cake you can make a wedding cake for cheap", this one wasn't like that at all.
I liked it.