Okay i have a girl that wants me to make her wedding cake for Nov.30, 2010 and wants it at an affordable price. I priced out most of the supplies tht the cake needs which comes to like $250.00. What do you think I should charge her for the whole thing. She wants it blue and all, and do I buy the flowers that is wround the fountain she wants?

If she has stated to you that she wants this at an "affordable" price, then she is NOT going to pay what the cake is worth.

So, you can either charge her the $750 this set up is worth, or the $300 that she'll probably think is still too much.

I have no idea what sizes those cakes are, but my price for just the cake would be $2.50/serving. Then the additional cost of the stairs/people/fountain. I personally would do rental on the fountain and supports (or an equipment fee) but i would make sure that the cost of the stairs are in the total price so they're paid in full by her. I haven't seen a cake with stairs done in sooooo long around here that i wouldn't get my money out of them if she didn't pay for them.

I'd ask her what her cake budget is. It might be so low that you can save a lot of time and hassle by not even pricing it out. Why do people on a budget always pick elaborate designs and then expect it to be "affordable"?????

As far as the flowers go, she should order them when she orders the rest of her flowers so they all match.
As far as pricing it out. If all the supplies come to $250 I would charge at least $500. Unless you want to do the whole rental thing, then you could figure all that out. Just because she wants an "affordable price" doesn't mean that you should suffer.
I'm just a casual maker/seller- and I'm still pretty new to things, but what I did for the wedding cake I've sold was come up with a few options that I was comfortable with first and then asked what the budget was. The budget knocked out one of my options, but there were still 2 options left for her to choose from.
Since this is he actual set up she wants price what you think is fair and then come up with a couple alternatives that are essentially the same but lower the price. One alternative could be that she gets the the figurines, fountain, etc. and you simply make and decorate the cakes. You could also assemble it for her at the location with the stuff she purchased. Make sure you keep in mind travel/time for setup, so you aren't driving/ spending hours on the day of her wedding and not really being compensated for it.

You never know what "affordable" means though.......I just met with a B&G who said.....we're shopping around for something "affordable" I thought.....OH GREAT..........then when I asked their budget they said $750 and they needed to feed about 100 ppl........now THAT I can do!!!! lol Turns out, other places they looked were starting at $7.00/slice and went up from there.........I charge $2.50/slice and go up from there.


Best thing to do is ask her total budget for the cake........then tell her how much THE CAKE will cost her, and point her to the fountain and stairs set up and let HER buy them!

I would think you probably wouldn't use those stairs and fountains often (didn't know people still liked them), so I'd have her buy them. She can probably buy them at Joann's or Michaels, and if she uses the 40% off coupons, they should be "affordable".

Then calculate your price for the cakes, and add in time for delivery and set up. I'd also have her provide flowers so they match the rest of the wedding flowers.

I would definitely ask her what her "affordable" is, in my neck of the woods, $250.00 will already be beyond what most people think is "affordable." Once you figure out what her budged is, and if it's low, I also second the suggestion that you calculate your cost for a cake and get her to purchase the set up (stairs, fountain, ppl, etc.) and flowers. That way the "cake" will be more reasonably priced, and all that plastic is her responsibility.
Hope this helps, P

I would, first, see if all of the plastic "parts" are still available. This cake is from a Wilton yearbook many years ago. Wilton has discontinued so many things. Everything may not be available.

If you were searching for a dollar amount answer, for me, I'd charge a minimum of $840 for the cake only, not including the plastic, delivery, or any other options you may charge for what you might consider difficulty of design. You may want to check for prices per serving for you area, and of course find out how many actual servings they require so you can adjust the tier sizes that are needed.

(I seriously doubt that this cake was actually published in any Wilton yearbook because the photo quality would be better, the background would have been set up better, and Wilton would probably not showcase a cake with the crystal-look plates and pillars on all tiers except for one oddball scalloped white plate that appears on the main base above the tallest pillars.)

You can still get all that staircase stuff. I'd charge her double just so that I wouldn't have to do such a setup But seriously, figure out how much you would charge per serving, how many servings it has in it, then get ready for her to try to argue you down on the price regardless of what you tell her. It sounds like she's going to want a "bargain" which is code for "I don't want to pay you anything close to the true cost of this."