I found this article online - feel like I should enlarge it and post it in my bridal consultation area!
How much should I spend on a wedding cake?
Wedding Cake Price Guide
As of February of 2010, these were the prices we found around the country from well-established bakeries:
California: 9 - 12 dollars a serving. (250 guests = average $3000.00)
New York and Eastern seaboard: 12 - 30 dollars a serving. (250 guests = average $3800.00)
Midwest: 6 - 12 dollars a serving. (250 guests = average $2100.00)
Most of the incredibly intricate and artistic cakes you see in wedding magazines range from 12-15 dollars a serving (find the price in the fine print at the bottom of the page). This will make a cake for 150 people cost about $2000.00. Does this sound expensive? Just think: In the grand scheme of things, the cake is the least expensive thing at your reception. It only costs a few hundred dollars more to do the best cake, whereas the best gown or the best flowers or the best catering will cost thousands of dollars more. So if you're on a budget, the first thing to consider spending a little more on is the cake. Every wedding guest looks forward to the cake. Taste and smell are the strongest memories. Long after your centerpieces and everything else is forgotten, your guests will remember the cake!
I think I got this link from a previous post on here. You can look up the average prices of all sorts of wedding stuff from any zip code you wish:
http://www.costofwedding.com/
It's a good link to give your potential clients so they can look for themselves.
Where is the "Like" button.
no kidding! 
I think I got this link from a previous post on here. You can look up the average prices of all sorts of wedding stuff from any zip code you wish:
http://www.costofwedding.com/
It's a good link to give your potential clients so they can look for themselves.
This site is a good starting point but as I posted on Wedding Wire, it is sorely lacking in REAL information.
First it deals in averages, which I am not particularly fond of. If you have 4 cakes at $100 and one cake at $1000, the 'average' price paid is $280, which is nowhere CLOSE to either price. The median price is $100. I prefer to deal with median prices.
4 weddings that cost $5000 and one wedding that costs $100,000 will render an "average" of $24,000. Again ..... nowhere close to the median (most common) cost of $5000 and WAY short of the $100K.
Second, It shows the average price PAID for a wedding cake. This includes giving Aunt Sally fifty bucks to cover ingredients to the $500 paid to the expensive bakery for the very same cake. The average cost of $280 is very unrealistic because most brides don't have an Aunt Sally in the mix.
It also doesn't tell you if the $400 cake is for 500 people or for 50 people.
It's strictly a collection of averages but has no REAL information. It has just enough info to educate people in a bad way.
Maybe averages don't tell the whole story, but I'll happily take the average price of $12-30 for the Eastern Seaboard that they're listing. If people would pay me that I'd do one cake a week and get more sleep!!
Maybe averages don't tell the whole story, but I'll happily take the average price of $12-30 for the Eastern Seaboard that they're listing. If people would pay me that I'd do one cake a week and get more sleep!!
Amen, sista!!!
I guess the point that is missing is that the very first sentence says " well-established bakeries" and so they are talking about Buddy Valestro , not home bakers. In fact, I would say that the price in the northeast is probably higher because most states from Maryland through New York don't allow home baking thus making the market possible for artisan bakeries. If you take a look in the South with it's hot and cold running cake ladies, you'll see a much lower average price, in fact, they don't even bother to mention an average price in the South...hmmm?
I guess the point that is missing is that the very first sentence says " well-established bakeries" and so they are talking about Buddy Valestro , not home bakers. In fact, I would say that the price in the northeast is probably higher because most states from Maryland through New York don't allow home baking thus making the market possible for artisan bakeries. If you take a look in the South with it's hot and cold running cake ladies, you'll see a much lower average price, in fact, they don't even bother to mention an average price in the South...hmmm?
Innnnteresting....
Maybe averages don't tell the whole story, but I'll happily take the average price of $12-30 for the Eastern Seaboard that they're listing. If people would pay me that I'd do one cake a week and get more sleep!!
Oh just to clarify ..... my above post is referring to the www.costofweddings.com, not to the article referenced by the original poster.
WOW, I just clicked on the article "Hows to shop for and select your wedding cake" from that site, there is SO much misinformation there I was getting very aggravated just reading it. The fact that the title is "HowS to shop for..." rather than "How to..." just goes to show how wrong they are .
Especially love the part that compares cutting fondant to cutting chewing gum 
and the taste of fondant to cardboard; also love the warning that baking a cake days before the wedding and freezing it will result in a poor tasting cake.
noticed one big piece of bad advice.
site rants about NO FROZEN cakes.
then says that they are ok if stored in refrigerator -- but NEVER below 44 degrees.
WRONG! ! ! !
proper food storage (see ServSafe) requires cold foods to be held BELOW 40 degrees (range of 33-40) -- frozen is to be at zero or below.
So, site is encouraging people to eat unsafe cake!!!
------------
ALSO
did you see that they site has a link to Leah_s !?!?!
on the very bottom of the how to shop page.
Scary. The average bride may not know any better and believe what she reads on this page. So frustrating.
I hadn't noticed the link to Leah_S' bakery. Wonder if the bakeries listed there would prefer not to be associated with all of this incorrect information. They do say good things about these cakers, but still.... Leah_S, are you seeing this????
noticed one big piece of bad advice.
site rants about NO FROZEN cakes.
then says that they are ok if stored in refrigerator -- but NEVER below 44 degrees.
WRONG! ! ! !
proper food storage (see ServSafe) requires cold foods to be held BELOW 40 degrees (range of 33-40) -- frozen is to be at zero or below.
So, site is encouraging people to eat unsafe cake!!!
------------
ALSO
did you see that they site has a link to Leah_s !?!?!
on the very bottom of the how to shop page.
It is not unsafe to store a cake at 44 degrees anymore that it is unsafe to have it sitting outside at 80 degrees.
It is not unsafe to store a cake at 44 degrees anymore that it is unsafe to have it sitting outside at 80 degrees.
depends upon the filling.
refrigerated anything, including fillings needing refrigeration, according to ServSafe & FDA requirements, are to be kept BELOW 40 degrees.
when health department checks temp in fridge -- they are checking to see it is no warmer than 40 degrees. NOT 44 or 43 or 42 or 41 -- but 40 or down to just above freezing.
knowing that is a part of getting health dept. certification as well as ServSafe certification (look for the certificates next time you are in a restaurant)
I've been licensed twice for two different restaurants and currently hold a vaild license in the state of KS-- Inspected numerous times and never once failed or gotten a 'ding' for improper storage of foods. I do know the rules.
Nearly every cake, and most fillings are stable at room temperature. If that were not the case how could any of the chain bakeries have stacks of cakes of all types out for you to simply pick from a display? Why the author of that piece chose 44 degrees is beyond me. Maybe it's a temp he/she finds most beneficial to the fondant/glaze/whatever. Maybe it was a typo...
If cakes were not stable enough to be held at room temp for long periods of time there would be lines around the block at the ER every weekend from food poisoning due to wedding cakes.
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