Have any of you had brides that just wont tell you about their budget? For some reason this has been recently happening. I understand if they maybe don't know the cost of a wedding cake, but seriously I don't understand how they can't or won't give me some kind of number to work with. I simply ask, "Is there (or do you have), a budget for your wedding cake?". I ask it very politely and like a normal calm person.

Lately I have been getting the response, "No" [I have learned that if there is an unlimited budget, the brides will back up the "no" and let you know that price doesn't matter but these brides aren't doing that.], "I don't know", "We will see what your estimate says", and I even had a bride change the subject on me. I tried asking the question different ways, such as "Is there an amount you don't want to go over?" or " Is there a price point you would like to stay within?". For some reason they just wont give me something to work with. I even try explaining the reason I ask for a budget, that I need to know what techniques and designs I can do based on their details, I need to know what I can offer. They just seem to want to change the subject, like they are sensitive about it. Like I just said something mean or offensive to them. I feel like they feel I could be killing their dreams if I had the budget and didn't offer them everything. I think they are not being honest with me about what they really can afford.

This has only recently been happening. I have never had this problem before. I don't know if its some stupid magazine trend ("Oh brides no don't tell them your budget! They won't offer you all their options if you say that. You could be missing out on the best stuff!). I have yet to book any of these brides. I feel like they are a complete waste of my time. I could be doing something else. I feel like a need a way to weed them out but with out being a jerk business that seems siddity about budgets and working with people. I don't how to put it delicately.

Have any of you had this happen?

We haven't had that happen, but if a bride was reluctant to give us a budget, I would just start out the conversation with the starting price for wedding cakes and a rough estimate of the price for the cake they want. Then it's up to them whether or not they want to go ahead and book a tasting.

I have seen the glazed look the brides give when asked, and the sometimes not so nice look I get from the grooms. I think they think we are a used car salesman ready to up our prices because they say there is no budget. I usually folow up with " my prices are my prices and they don't change I just don't want to suggest a $1000 wedding cake if your budget is $400 either way your cake will be beautiful"

Yeah, I have this happen too. I think they are afraid if they give you a budget, then you are going to max it out. What ticks me off is the ones that ask for a 6 tier cake with detailed piping, airbrushed fondant, chocolate seashells, all on a bed of edible sand with their initials & a custom edible cake topper. All to feed their wedding of 60 people. Then they act like I have slapped them when I give them the price. But instead of downsizing & letting me price again, they just go somewhere else.

Sorry, needed to vent... Grrr....

I think they are afraid that if they give a budget price, that is what they will end up paying, but if they don't tell you a price, they might end up paying less. I think they are afraid they will get ripped off just because they said they could afford "X" amount. I think they are afraid that they would be charges $400 for a $200 cake because they said their budget is $400. JennieB is exactly right about the "used car salesman" fears. You never tell a used car salesman how much you have to spend on a car because then you would never get a "good deal".

I think it is becoming more of a trend because people are getting more and more budget conscious.

It's odd, I've tried that Jason. They still want to go through with the tasting though.

I don't really know what all will happen in the meeting with the client, so I feel like I have to give them the benefit of doubt and book them for the tasting. I never know who is going to turn into a booked client. Some brides may not know the cost of a wedding cake or didn't do her research, but after being educated she may actually be able to afford our prices. I don't want to miss out on an actual legitimate bride that just needed to be educated and has the money. I don't mind missing out on an fantasy land bride who wants to ignore the reality of what she can afford. It's not cool that they are not being honest with me and don't want to talk money.

The real problem unfolds when we are in the meeting and i'm trying a second time to get a number. They go home and fake being ok with my base prices (cost of the naked cake, delivery, rentals, and all that stuff added in). I design separate from our meeting and then send them the estimate with art/design and tax added in. I try to go for the lower end of design. Following up I get responses back stating they want to get the price lower, its over their budget, or that they found a cheaper option. Sometimes I don't hear anything back from the couple. All they had to do was give me a number, I wouldn't as pissed. That kinda makes me feel like a fool. So the whole time they couldn't afford me. Like I should have just wrote them off when they didn't give me a budget. I'm getting to a point where I really don't give a anything. I may just have to require a budget before booking tastings. Come and see me when you have it together. I don't care if discussing money is offensive to some people. They need to be honest to themselves and others about what they can and cant afford and stop putting up a front.

I'm sorry if i'm going into a rant, but I'm one person doing this and I really can't afford to wast time on somebody who lies to me and cant be honest.


I need a better budget radar. Mine is broken.

Do you charge for your tastings? If you don't maybe you should and then if they book with you, the price of the tasting is credited towards the cost of the cake? That way at least you are not wasting your time doing a tasting for those who just want free cake or are just looking for the "experience".

Honestly if I was shopping for a wedding I would not know how much to budget everything. I would definitely have to talk to people and find out their prices and then go back and do the math on how much total I have to spend and where to spend it.

Some people may just be uncomfortable discussing prices. Or may be waiting for that deal.

When I left a consult for a wedding, I think I would want to leave knowing the total amount of the cake. That way I could say, "You know I can't afford this, or this is probably more than I want to spend." Or know how much much it will cost me so I can go back home and plug that price in with other things to see if I can move money around to afford the cake I want.

Oh god Sebrina yes! They are doing that too! asking for everything when they cant afford it.

I really try and work with every couple to give them an awesome cake without sacrificing my time or my work in the pricing. Based on their details sometimes I can give them a couple of estimates. If I can I give them the lowest price using the basic techniques for their concept and try to come under their budget. Sometimes it may be at or around the budget and they get that. Even sometimes they give me awesome details to work with and I may throw in a estimate over their budget. I only will do the last option if I have at least two lower options or them. 9 times out of 10 our brides go with at budget, or over budget. On occasion they pick the one under budget.

I didn't want to discuss budget, cause I didn't want it maxed out. I didn't think the baker would give me a $300 cake and then charge the max budget. It's just a cautios thing, but it can be hard to work with. The cake I ended up with was several hundred dollars below budget.

I have had that a few times. I respond with:

"You stated that you expect 130 guests at your reception. My buttercream cakes start at $6 per serving, fondant starts at $7, so for a basic buttercream cake in the size you require would be estimated at $780. Please keep in mind I am using basic math to arrive at that figure and does not take into consideration how many tiers you may want or your final guest count. Any additional custom design work, color-matching, sugar flowers/fresh flower design, and delivery is additional. Does that sound like it fits into your budget?"

If I get a "well it might if your cake tastes good" type responses I decline the consultation. It's a big flag that they can't afford me but still want the tasting experience, which is a waist of my time and product. Brides may go over budget for a lot of wedding details like shoes or a dress, but in my experience a fancier cake isn't something they find more money for. So I now offer to do paid samples they can pick up if they want cake. So far this seems to be working, it weeds out the window shoppers and I can focus on people that are there to buy.

I don't ask what their budget is. When I get the call or email, I give them the starts at prices per serving with a list of cake and icing flavors in that price range. I tell them the cake will cost xx per serving time the number of servings. So they know up front before the consultation/tasting the cake will cost at least xx amount and can increase with additions like fillings, bling, specialty flavors, fondant etc.

Giving them a base price right off the bat lets the bride decide before scheduling consultation whether she can afford you or not. I don't want to waste hours with a bride only to find out in the end she only needs, wants or can spend $100 for $1000 worth of cake.

I do not charge for tastings for events with guest counts over 75 (soon the be 100). Everyone else pays for a to go tasting if they want one. The price on that is soon to go up too.

In the beginning we started with paid tastings overall. That really didn't go so well as no one in our area really charges for a cake tasting. Since removed and putting the 75 requirement on it, we have been able to have more tastings resulting in a higher booking rate.

I would like to be able to design and price live and give the estimates then and there, but that has never worked for me. I only confuse the couple. I do not know how to quite change my method as come at it more with an artist point of view. I'm probably going to get jumped on for my method but here goes: Before caking I was a general artist. Anything art I just did. So when designing for a bride, for me its natural to have way too many designs pop into my head. Every time she says a detail, another idea or variation comes into play. If I started working these ideas out live our meeting would go on forever. I like to narrow it down on my own time away from the couple. I like to make sure I accurately price only the final designs i'm going to present to them, and sometimes I may need to research a technique or look up something. I'm ocd and must present a formal typed estimate on letterhead. Sketches must be formal and in full color with all details. It embarrasses me to show a client my rough draft, chicken scratch, stick cake drawing and I am always apologizing for it. So now I try to never pre sketch for a client. I don't like to show my problem solving and back end details. The ocd in me says everything must be presented perfectly and formal. I know a lot people don't agree with my method, but really I don't understand how to do it any other way.

I like the no in person tastings, that would make things easier and free up more of my time. At the same time I like meeting face to face with my couples, I like being able to read them a little better and sometimes implement their personality into the designs. How do brides respond to the no in person tastings? Are any upset that they can't have a sit down meeting and go over things?

I think that the "I don't know the budget" thing is a combination of the brides really not knowing how much a cake should cost, and the fact that wedding magazines routinely tell brides not to mention their budgets. It's along the lines of the advice of not saying that the cake is for a wedding, because we supposedly jack up the price if it's a wedding cake instead of a party cake.

It's a general distrust of wedding professionals.

It's what I call "Used Car salesman Syndrome". They have been "trained" not to tell how much they can spend because they think we'll jack up the price to that amount.

I rarely ran into this problem because my pricing was on my website, plus my intro packet had all pricing info, plus the intro packet had an interactive spreadsheet where they could figure the cost of their cake/food down to the dime before they even picked up the phone to call me.

On the one or two that were reluctant to give a number, I'd start out "humorously" telling them "Oh good! I haven't done a thousand dollar cake in a long time! This will be fun for me!" That usually gets them down to reality.

On the serious side, I always told them, "My objective is to give you everything you're looking for AND leave you with money leftover in your pocket."

I only had one mom who refused to give a number but she WAS kind enough to explain "But I thought it worked that you gave me a price and then I'd come back to you with my ideas of changes.?" I told her, "That sounds fine if you're buying a car, but why would I want to go thru the quoting process twice when I can give you what you're looking for hte first time round, *IF* I know what you're looking for?"

But it's Used Car Salesman Syndrome. they've been scared of dealing with anyone on pricing of large items because of past practices.

I really genuinely didn't have a 'budget' for my wedding cake, or any wedding item, really. I spent about $500 more than I was thinking on my dress, and much less on flowers and photography than I thought. I had to go and look at what was available for what price, then I decided what I wanted to spend more or less on.

If I'd seen a 'dream' cake for over a thousand dollars, I might have bought it. I really didn't have a number to give someone.

I think it depends - there could be a couple of different situations. It could be that they have NO idea what to expect. They may be looking for a general idea of how much it would cost, expecially if you don't have "starting at" prices posted on the website. (Example like someone above said, "well, cakes start at $4/serving; if you expect 100 guests, thats roughly $400."). This is especially true if they are in the beginning of the planning process and trying to make a budget. How can they know their budget for a wedding cake if they don't have any sample prices? If you and two bakeries give them sample prices, THEN they can work it into the budget. If they've already done some research, then they would be able to come to you with a budget.

Another could be if they tell you the budget is $800, then you're going to give them an $800 cake, when what they really want to know is how much the cake they want will cost, even if they HAVE budgeted for more (or less). I usually say something like the above "cakes start at....." then I will let them know that we can work from that basic price, raising or lowering the price based on the options they select.