I was asked to make cupcakes for a wedding in September. The mother of the groom told me they are inviting 163 guests but they would like 150 cupcakes (assuming some people won't come).

I was thinking (and from talking to someone I know who owns a catering business-she caters food not desserts) that one per guest isn't enough.

I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and they had cupcakes catered from a cupcake shop. I watched to see how many cupcakes each person took, and I would have to say that a lot of people took 2 cupcakes (and some went back for more) because they had 5-6 different flavors.

What do you think? I'm going to be talking to the mother of the groom tomorrow and I want to give her some advice as far as number of cupcakes.

Thanks!

I always reccmmend that they order 125% of the expected number. Becasue you're right, when it's cupcakes, people take more than one.

also ... the number "invited" is not the same as the number "expected." As I explained it to my brides, "Even Donald Trump didnt' have a 100% show rate and he PAYS people to be his friend!"

Under my 60% Rule, if they invite (for example) 163 people, then they can reasonable expect 98 (+/-) to actually show up. Then using leahs 125% factor for cupcakes, they would need approx 125 cupcakes.

Number invited ..... number expected to show up ..... two TOTALLY different numbers.

Good suggestions above.

Another thing you may want to consider, and this is what I learned early on, when you write up your contract (very important to have a contract, not just a verbal word and a handshake--a contract makes you look more professional--AND get a deposit), be specific.

This way, if someone complains that they ran out of cupcakes, you can just politely say that the mother of the bride only contracted with you to make 8 dozen cupcakes.

For example, do NOT write:
Cupcakes for 75 people.

Instead, write (example):
8 dozen (96 count) regular sized cupcakes as follows:
2 dozen white cupcakes with cherry buttercream
2 dozen carrot cake cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting
2 dozen chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache buttercream frosting
2 dozen lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting

You might also want to include any special features of the cuppies, i.e. will there be chocolate chips on the frosting, will there be a cherry on top of some of them, will there be a small slice of sugared lemon on top, will the chocolate cuppies have chocolate chunks in the batter, will they have any disco dust on them for shimmer--i.e. what will you do to make them "wedding special" i.e. maybe the frosting colors match the brides' colors?

The more flavours available, the more people will take. And not necessarily eat the whole cupcake - they may take a bite of each of 5 flavours and leave the rest, you know? If they want to keep the number of cupcakes down, tell them to keep their flavours to just 1 or 2.

I don't understand, if you went to a wedding where a wedding cake was served, and the tiers were different flavors, you would choose which flavor you wanted. You wouldn't be offered every flavor, the cake would have to feed twice as many people. I've done a few cupcake weddings, and the brides all ordered based on how many people they were expecting, ex: 150 responses = 150 cupcakes. I always leave a few extra, because the recipes don't make exactly 150.

I did my sisters cupcakes for her wedding! She had 189 people reply to come . I made 200 cupcakes 3 flavors. There was none left. Everybody was trying one of each flavor. They were out on display for grabs. Some people were telling me that they did not get to try this flavor or that one. They were meant to have one each (full size) but mmore flavors they want to try all of them.

[quote="indydebi"]
Under my 60% Rule, if they invite (for example) 163 people, then they can reasonable expect 98 (+/-) to actually show up.


Unless of course you are baking for a traveler's wedding or a wedding in a small southern town...here a lot of folks thinks they are welcome to drop in on the reception even if they weren't formally invited! In other parts of the country I think you call them wedding crashers!

I also go by the 125% rule for cuppies and advise against getting a billion different flavors. Honestly they are about 1/2 the size of a normal piece of cake so it's not totally bonkers for people to want to eat more then one, and if you have 10 varieties then people will grab 10 cupcakes. I've seen this for myself at a wedding where I made the cuppies and attended as a guest - they only ordered 1 per guest against my advice... It was crazy, the bride's aunt started helping herself straight after dinner and grabbing cuppies for her kids before they were even invited to do so (even before the bride and groom had their cutting), which started a domino effect of everyone grabbing cupcakes. Nobody told them to only take one, so people took as many as they wanted. But if you weren't part of the crazy rude piggy mob, you got none. It was sad, there 1/2 eaten cupcakes all over the place from people just "tasting" each flavor, with many guests getting no cake at all.

I've shared this before. Cupcakes are considered a 'casual' food so people have no qualms about eating 2 or 3, whereas taking 2 or 3 plates of cake is considered gluttony. A mom will tell a kid "you're not getting another piece of cake! too bad if you don't like carrot. you're eating that one!" But a mom will tell that same kid, "If you don't like the carrot cupcake, go get another one." People are also more quick to grab a cupcake to take home ... they are easier to slip into a napkin into a purse than a plate of sliced cake.

I made CCs for a wedding last month...
I made 160 for 160 guests, 3 flavors, there were no leftovers for sure... But I saw people with literally 5 cupcakes in their plates at one time :O
So I would go with more... leftover cake is always good (at least where I come from )... Better safe than sorry.

I wonder if often cupcakes are not served, but guests are invited to get their own. That will also play into the "more than one per person" problem.

I went to a wedding where they actually SERVED the cupcakes. I guess it was to stop people from taking more than 1. They had a small cupcake tower with a 6 inch cake for cutting and all the extras disappeared off the tower.

i'm similar to leah in the 125%...IF they order one or two flavors. from there, it's a tiered effect.

ie. 3-4 flavors, 150%
5-6 flavors (which i advise against), 175%

the more flavors, the more you'll need b/c people will take a lot to try bites of each.

i've got a couple cupcake weddings this summer and i actually convinced them to do minis. That way, if people want more than one flavour they can try a couple, there shouldn't be any "half cupcakes" left on the table, and they're cute!
As for the 125% rule, the brides i've worked with actually order fewer cupcakes than people attending, but the cupcakes are for the dessert table later on with other things on offer, not served as the actual dessert. For the future, would you still advise the 125%? Or go fewer as these brides have??

I just did cupcakes for a friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago. They requested roughly enough for everyone to have 2 cupcakes (based on RSVP's and not invites), since I was at the wedding I saw first hand that people were taking 2-3 cupcakes (there were 3 flavors). They were put out on display for people to help themselves. At the end of the night there were only a few of one of the flavors left. And they did have fewer the the expected number of RSVPed guests.

This was my first experience with wedding cupcakes, before this, I would have assumed 1 per person... but seeing first hand how things went I think you need a surplus. Even if it isn't 2 for every person... I think the 125% rule sounds good... You'll have some guests not show up, some not want any cupcakes, and then from my experience the rest take multiple cupcakes...