Just deleted a "lead" from one of the websites that I'm on. Couple is looking for "elegant and tasteful" ........ for 200 people ..... with a TOTAL wedding budget of $3000.

god luv 'em.

And I wonder how much of that budget is allocated for the elegant and tasteful cake!! LOL!

Uhhh Huh....These couple nowadays who want the whole $100,000 dollar wedding like a movie star on a paupers budget!! I too get frustrated with the peeps who email and want a fancy cake for $20.00

Chin up...we will prevail!!!


LOL

Maybe they are getting married in the backyard by her Brother. Her dress was given to her by her Gmother. The food is being catered by HIS brother. They want to spend 3000 on the cake. OK OK highly unlikely LOLOL

Mike

Heck, I just did a quote for a couple where the 20% service fee and the sales tax alone came close to $3000!

OK, first I thought I read $3000 for the cake alone and thought, "Wow!"...but I had to re-read it and now I fully understand. Sorry, it's still early and I haven't had my coffee yet

$3000 for the ENTIRE wedding? That's just crazy...
I would respond and tell them they can pick up their CUPCAKE, cut it in half and feed it to each other.

Actually, my wedding was about $2,000 total for about 125 people, so it is completely possible. Of course, I got married at my inlaws' lake house and used the backyard for the ceremony and the basement for the reception. My sister-in-law is a professional photographer and did our wedding as her wedding gift. My parents-in-law own a restuarant and catered the reception. And my best friend is a DJ on the side and DJed as a gift too. So we really only paid for decorations that we put up ourselves, the cake, the dress, and the rehearsal dinner. ...And I spent less than $400 on my dress. Oh yeah, and my husbands cousin own a hair salon and did all of our hair! So I suppose if she has a lot of freebies, she could do it.

If it didn't cost me $5 to reply to them, I'd reply just for the entertainment value. But no, it's not just for the cake or the food. In their inquiry, they state they still need a venue, they want a dessert buffet and they request American, BBQ, Mexican, and Italian cruisine. For $3000. For 200 people.

you just can't fix stupid.........

Sure business is business and everyone loves to see a huge cake order but there's a but. So many people spend so much on the wedding and neglect the fact of living with the debt or lack focus on the marriage. When I got married my hubby and I paid everything and that was our budget. Though we went a bit over that we didn't pay for the church or reception site because it was at our church and my photography was gifted by a family friend-AMAZING album! Even the tables and chairs and linens were all taken care of. But I knew nothing about cake back then so I went to Publix and never questioned about price and just paid what they charged. We did good and people balked at learning we spent next to nothing on our wedding. Our rings were also paid for before hand during our year and a half engagement. Here we are 13 years later and no one thought us youngsters knew what we were doing and wouldn't have any part in paying for it.

My point is that regardless of a small budget your cake should cost what it normally does and of course you will charge that as you are a savvy business woman. Just don't knock a low budget couple. You don't know their story. What is wrong with having a low budget? In today's times it speaks for responsibility. They should have clarified what they would like to spend on the cake though. You never know how much of that is allocated to cake.

sadsmile, not knocking a small budget. But they've indicated they have a TOTAL budget of $15/person for venue, food, cake, dress, flowers, tuxes, photog, etc. They are LOOKING for a venue, which means they are not planning on using the church rec room or gramma's basement. *IF* they are lucky to find something big enough for 200 people for $1000, that gives them $2000 for cake and food and all the other stuff....$10/person. Let's say $3/serving for cake. That leaves $7/person for all the other stuff.

A Wendy's Meal #6 costs $6.42 and they dont' deliver and they dont' provide plates and forks.

A small budget is not the issue ... not doing the math is.

I wasnt' knocking them. I was actually feeling sorry for them. I'm afraid they are in for some disappointments if they want "elegant" for $7 a person.

Well, heck, if you can do that, I think my DD wedding just got moved to be with you! Her budget is triple that for 50 - 75 people and I just don't know how we are going to make a decent go of it. I have read the cheap wedding made elegant advice, articles and mags, but I will not have the bridal party making the cake while the groom's men bar-b- que the dinner.

It's not the 3000$ budget thats absurd it's the 200 people they want to feed on it.

Cut it down by 175, invite only close friends and family and make it a nice intimate affair, there's nothing wrong with small.

Of course if that was my entire budget for the wedding and honeymoon I would skip the ceremony tie the knot at the court house and hightail it to Mexico for a week or two, but thats just me.
I'm sure I could get a piece of cake or 2 south of the border, or at the very least a sopapilla, which are awesome!!!!

Yeah sure now you add all the other info in... I was just going by your original post. See now with the extra information that shows they are just being completely unrealistic. Sorry it sounded like you were knocking them for having a low budget with out knowing how much they wanted to spend on food. Which I see now was not the case.

Yeah, if you already know that they still have to pay for venue and food and such, it really is unrealistic. My example had all of that covered...And I should add that my $2,000 price did not include the honeymoon! We spent more on the honeymoon than on the wedding! And we're still paying for it!

Indydeb, I forget that you cater the meal as well. So $3,000 for just your services is probably really pushing it!

I, for one, am totally not knocking down low budget weddings. Heck, I was just married in February and I was on a budget ($15k).

However, I did my homework and realized that if I wanted to go the venue, cater, cake, centerpieces, transportation, etc. route, then it was going to be $18K. And this was for 100 people...and I was keeping it very simple.

The Hubbs and I decided to do something different (and a little wiser) and said, "Let's get married on a cruise!" We invited 100 people. Whoever wanted to set sail with us to the Bahamas came and whoever couldn't joined us at the ceremony and reception. Catering & Open bar for 3 1/2 hours was $30/pp. This included unlimited appetizers, drinks, cake, tables, napkins, linens, and flowers.

My total cost for my wedding: $10K.
Did I mention this also included my dress, hair, cruise and ALL INCLUSIVE 7 DAY HONEYMOON TO CANCUN?!

I don't regret having a semi-destination wedding. We had 45 guests at the Bahamas with us and when we returned, we went to Cancun for our Honeymoon.

Wondering what I did with the left over $5K?
Down payment on my house

Babarooskie that sounds like the perfect wedding and great planning on your part! I hope you had loads of fun!

I don't have a problem with small budgets either, I just don't understand some people's thought process when they are "budgeting" I can see $3000 for 200, but then you got to go to Wal-Mart and get their premade packs of food with Wal-Mart fried chicken. You can get everything you need from Wal-Mart & D.Y.I everything you can. Skip a good photographer. I wouldn't try to find one in my budget, cause you definelty pay for what you get when you pay cheap on a photographer. By the way there is nothing wrong with getting your food from Wal-Mart. Just don't contact an actual caterer & cake designer with a $3000 budget wfor 200. Think & be realistic.

I spent $3000 on my wedding, but I budgeted like crazy Did a lot of stuff ourselves, got married on the beach by a friend, only had a tent and chairs because hey, we were on the beach

Heck, we had a small-ish wedding (around 75 people, including wedding party). Got married at my parents' church. Had the reception in the church hall. Rehearsal dinner was at a local bbq restaurant. My wedding dress cost LESS than my senior prom dress. Local lady did the "tea" reception for waaaaay less than she really should have charged us. We did all the deco ourselves. The only flowers done by the florist were the bouquets/boutenniers/corsages. My parents gave us $3000. We picked up the remaining $4000 (although this includes our honeymoon to NOLA). And this was in rural NC where things are MUCH cheaper than much of the rest of the country.

People seem to miss out on the single most important information when wedding planning: your budget determines the size of your guest list!

Say it again Prterrell! Say it again Prterrell! "Your budget determines the size of your guest list!"

I'm just wondering if they do, in fact, have a highly limited budget or if they are just saying that they do hoping that you will bite at a hugely reduced price. It just seems too naive.

I feel bad for these folks. $3,000 for 200 people is just not feasible - in ANY part of the country. Not if your talking about paying for a venue, food and everything else that goes along with a wedding - dress, tuxes, flowers, etc. Everyone here is so right - the amount of people is determined by your budget. When we first started putting our list together, we could have easily been up around the 400 mark - that's inviting everyone from work, etc, etc. We trimmed it down to 220 and had a fabulous day. My budget was more than this, but like others have said - there were things we were okay forking out money for, and other things we didn't. I applaud people that can get married for $3,000-$4,000. For my husband and I, we got married in the fall - outside is not feasible in CO - could be 80 degrees, could be a foot of snow. We knew what we wanted to food, and weren't willing to negotiate. We knew we wanted a Saturday evening wedding, and paid for it. We took out a loan for part of our wedding, and I'll never regret doing that. It allowed us to do what we wanted, have the meal we wanted, venue, etc. We paid for our bridal parties attire and the girls hair the day of. It was something we wanted to do, and because we skimped other places, we were able to do it. Looking back there are three things I would change, but NONE of those things had anything to do with the money/budget part of it. I'd love to see these folks get the wedding of their dreams on that budget, but I just don't see that happening.

I read this whole thread yesterday and thought "wow, only a $3,000 budget...crazy" My DH and I had a very low key wedding, we did have linen table cloths, real silverware, and glassware (however, we weren't opposed to nice plastic ones just turned out renting the real thing was cheaper than buying plastic).........and all totalled up we spent over $25,000 over the course of the year before our wedding. I didn't set out with a "budget" just kept careful track of all money spent......we couldn't believe it a month after the wedding when we added it up!

Anyhow......I get an email this morning with THIS lead on it! You think $3,000 is unrealistic? Check this out!!

Event date:   Saturday, July 17, 2010
Service needed:   Cakes & Bakers
Event location:   Orbisonia, PA
Budget:   $50.00 to $75.00
Estimated number of guests:   50


That's right..........they want a WEDDING cake for around $50-$75!!!!!!!! If I pay the $5.00 for the lead I'll have given away 5 free servings of cake already at those prices! I wouldn't touch this with a 100ft. pole
Estimated size of bridal party:   6