I Guess We Don't Offer A Special Service
Business By cai0311 Updated 20 Apr 2010 , 10:54am by JohnnyCakes1966
A current example for me is that I'm going to get my DIL a beaded mother's bracelet for mother's day. I don't bead (and I better not start because I know that hobby can be addictive, too!). I saw bracelets that I liked and they ran about $60 w/s+h. I will admit that it crossed my mind to just run to Michael's and buy the supplies. I figured with coupons and tax, maybe $30-40........but I can see this also having AT LEAST a $20 frustration factor built in........
I like your soapbox Rae! I'm a jewelry designer trying to learn to decorate cakes.
I spend a lot of time, and make a lot of money FIXING 'it was all on sale at Michaels' projects. I would love to tell them before they buy, 'Yes you can do it yourself, but you probably don't have the tools or the experience I do. So you can pay me for my know how and higher quality beads and findings now, or you can do it yourself and pay me later to fix that bracelet that fell apart the first time you wore it."
I have so much admiration for you all of you who make such amazing cakes, someday I hope to be like you, but for now I KNOW I am not capable of doing what you do.
Oh, how I DO always enjoy those DIY articles. Especially since they only ever seem to be about ...baking: a skill which (honestly) many women do NOT POSSESS in this day and age. It has gone the way of seamstresses who sit and handstitch garments from free-hand patterns. Most women I know confess to not being able to cook or not liking to bake. Why on earth should they be encouraged to try to learn on something as important and memorable as their wedding cake, even if it is..."not as forbidding as it seems"? ?? Good grief. If they can bake, still...why add the stress of this to your planning? Small wedding--maybe, but big party--uh-uh, baad idea.
*I* want to see a well written DIY article about an ENTIRE DIY wedding. Why just the cake? Why not do your own flowers (yes, it's possible. Flowers grow all over the place, and everyone has water), have your mom sew you a dress (she made those napkins didn't she? and she's got 4 months to learn), have your crafty friend hand print you 300 invitations (she's got time, right?), and have dad whip up a BBQ for dinner (everyone LOVES sauce on their fine clothes; it will be a memento of the day). Find some budding musicians to handle the music. (they ARE always practicing) It would definitely be affordable and...memorable.
LOL Chef Stef, they do seem to pick on us poor old bakers rather a lot. Over here in the UK we have a wedding magazine entirely dedicated to belittling the creative wedding trades which does indeed suggest that you can do everything yourself. They even provide helpful instructions for wedding cake 'projects' - unfortunately any cake virgin following them will end up with a large expensive mess that is good for nothing but featuring on Cake Wrecks. These articles make my blood boil - 'anyone can pipe a perfect pretty buttercream swirl to decorate a homemade cupcake'. As we say over here 'My A***'. 
lol Kita Technically... U CAN DO EVERYTHING fo ryour wedding or party... so why pick on the cake...
u can buy a pattern and make ur dress...
get recipes and cook the food...
buy crafts and make the party favors....
pleaseeeee gimme a break
hey don't go on a honeymoon... just fill ur tub with water and call it a date....
OK I had to run to the bathroom before I wet myself, very funny
Not to run over anybodys toes but I actually did plan the wedding and do the decorations and even gasp make my own cake and I would do it all over again because I wanted the cake to be something I made and I was proud of. I was really upset when I was not allowed to set it up the way I wanted bc my mother had already done it and i was in my dress but aside from that I loved my wedding cake. It taste how I wanted it and looked how I wanted it to look. I freaked out about that cake all week before the big day but you know what it was worth it. And hello didnt we all get started by saying "hey I can do that" and started with something simple. I know this article is making some people mad but it gets people into baking and decorating and hey if they do do it and make their own cakes they will understand how much work does go into it cuz I sure did.
Not to run over anybodys toes but I actually did plan the wedding and do the decorations and even gasp make my own cake and I would do it all over again because I wanted the cake to be something I made and I was proud of......I freaked out about that cake all week before the big day but you know what it was worth it. .
It's fine to do something yourself if you know what you're doing. You knew what you were doing, but you still freaked out about it, can you imagine what someone who doesn't know what they're doing would feel like after trying to do her own cake? What gets me is the articles that say "oh it's so easy, anyone can do it" when we know that isn't true.
When I got married I did a lot of DIY--I did loose flower arrangements using wholesale flowers, I used my mother's wedding dress and added hand beading and some alterations to it, and I did a dessert buffet on my own. However, I was an art student who could manage color theory for the flowers, I had experience in sewing and costume design for the dress, and I was a baker for the desserts. I hired a caterer and musicians, since I am neither of those things! And I'll say it since I know he'll never read this, my BIL took photos at our reception and they leave something to be desired. I'm a big proponent of "do what you know how to do" but I also think that people should know their limitations.
I can see both sides, I know that I see cakes all the time on facebook and think 'okay, so I REALLY hope the kid helped...' LOL and I'm not good enough to really pass judgement! LOL
But in all honesty, I started doing cakes (And again, I"m NOT That good, I cant do alot, and I'm just doing it because I love it... yes I have people offer to pay me to bake and decorate a cake, but here, its a walmart sheetcake or nothing, I can do better than that, LOL ) anyway, I started doing cakes because one year I was down to no money and couldnt even afford the walmart 1/2 sheet cake. So I bought 6 or 7 .88cent boxes of duncan hines, green food color, and made me a HUGE BAseball feild. I was happy with it, everyone loved it and a passion was born. I've started trying new things, I"ve learned so much from here. But, truthfully, I am not especially talented, I just had the desire. and the NEED. LOL
NOW, all that said, as an 18 year old getting married, my grandmother redid the dress she hand sewed for my mom, with THOUSANDS of seed pearls, SHe curled my hair, and she did ALL My flowers, (She was a florist, and grew up poor, so she could sew like noones buisiness). As a kid, very little of my clothes came from the store. mostly jeans and panties. LOL I did my nails (cause I was poor, I had learned how to do acrylics. LOL I always did my own nails), We BBQ'd and did the tater salad, and the beans, the whole nine yards. Thats just what we do, eveyone in the family has a specialty and they made it. I didnt even know what a wedding planner was, much less could I have afforded one. My wedding was beautiful.
THE ONLY thing store bought was my wedding cake and my photographer. THe cake was 137.00 3 tiered From the local supermarket. It was exactly what I wanted. adn it was VERY PRetty. and even a year later it tasted wonderful. MAtter of fact, thats what my cakes get compared to- people will tell me, OH YOUR Cake is SOOO GOod, it tastes like Brookeshire Brothers. LOL 15 years ago would I have dreamed of making my own cake? heavens no. That was the ONE thing I KNEW I Had to buy. Now? I would make it myself.
Of course, I might should clarify and say that I refuse to pay someone for something that I can do myself. WAterleak? buy PVC and fix it. Toilet stopped up? snake it out or take it out adn fix it. Washer doesnt work? it has ONE Belt, fix it. DIshwasher? I bet you $100.00 that the motor is just gummed up, turn off the breaker, and get a screwdriver and turn the motor till it unsticks. The only repair man I've ever called to my home has been the AC guy, and thats cause I didnt have a freon tester thing, and it was cheaper to call him and have him do it then to buy the tester and freon. And I WILL admit when I cant do it. want a 7 tiered cake? no. I am not that confident yet.
I also dont cut my own hair (I HAve a cousin for that) but my boys heads are fair game. LOL giving birth? yep, I wanted my epidural.
KNowing your limitations is the main thing. IF you cant compare your finished product to pictures in a magazine and it be hard to tell the differnce, you should practice more. BUt I think that between the DIY movement and the shows on TV, there will be alot more 'emergency cakes' having to be made, or more that look like they were the art project from a 3rd grade class.
giving birth? yep, I wanted my epidural.
.
Oh, yes!
....I just had one bride email me and say that she had thought about making her own cake, .....
i was in my cake shop about 3 weeks ago and there was a young women with a magazine page torn out and buying up everything from numerous pans to a spatula, this was the cake picture she had. she was up to about $300 when i left the store, i felt like tapping her on the shoulder and telling her she might not save any money but she would save herself ALOT of stress to hire a professional
The words next to the picture of that cake say it all...PIPED DREAMS!
My thoughts on people who want to bake/decorate their own wedding cake are the same as the people who say they can buy a cake at Wal-Mart for $10: Go for it! 
I don't give them much of my time because either they wouldn't want pay my prices to begin with - you won't even get a sheet cake out of me for $10! - or they'll be the most demanding customer you've ever worked with! I'm worth what I charge and Wal-Mart is worth what they charge. You get what you pay for! In fact, I talk budget before I even do a tasting because that tells me how realistic they are about paying for a professional.
If a bride wants to add "baking a cake" to one of the most stressful days of her life, have fun! But can I please come watch??? LOL
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