Wait a minute. Is that to imply there are decorators out there who will sell a cake that serves 150 to someone who needs 153 and actually charge for 153?? WTH???

This thread is kind of taking another dierction, but it's interesting...The way that I've started doing the cake serving counts is to say, for example, that a 6-8-10 will serve between 50-62 (I don't include the top tier in the serving count) and a 7-9-11 will serve between 60-76. I use the Wilton chart for the top count, and Earlene's for the bottom number. If a bride has 80 guests, thus needing around 65 servings using the 80% rule, she can decide which size she wants to go with. I charge a flat fee for the cake instead of a per-serving, then just add an extra charge if they want something really elaborate. The flat free covers standard decorating that wouldn't take me any kind of extensive prep work.

I started doing it this way recently after seeing how differently the various reception sites cut the cake. Something that I said would serve 100 was serving 120 or more, based on how think they cut the pieces. I figured this would let the bride make the decision of whether they wanted to have more or less cake based on the grey area of exactly how many servings would come from the cake based on how it's cut.

So, let me get this straight- snarky, your bakery will sell a cake to a bride that serves 165, but the bride only pays for 155 because that is what she needs. So she's getting 10 servings for free?
If I was that bride I would just adjust my count accordingly to get as much as I could for free.
So, if you book the 165 and then she calls and says, well I was at 154 and now I'm at 145, but the next cake down only serves 135, so you refund her the money? If you say that you don't make a bride pay for servings they don't need, then you would have to honor that, right?
I know from other threads that you make all scratch, creamery butter, locally milled flour, etc. Your cakes look awesome and you must be able to charge quite a bit for them, which means you could potentially lose quite a bit when its 10 servings.
Just trying to clarify. Its a new concept to me.
costumeczar- I like that range thing. I can see how it would be helpful.