Yes, you read that right! Bride doesn't care what cake looks like because she wants me to cut it the day before the wedding! I explained the cake will dry once cut and that it doesn't take much time to cut it during the reception. Have you ever run into this? Am I correct that it's a bad idea or has anyone made it work?

Thanks!

That a bad idea and the bride has lost her mind.

Ok I have no advice here but curiousity is making me ask, did the bride say WHY?? If she doesnt want a cake on display then why not get kitchen cakes and cut them right before they go out? Weird. Is the venue charging her to cut the cake so she wants you to do it to save her money?
Maybe she would go for cupcakes? No cutting required.

She may be thinking of a couple of things:
a. Save the cost of a cutting fee at the venue
b. Save time by having the slices pre-cut
c. Fear of having the servings messed up if the "cutting" will be done by her MIL, a friend, her mom, etc.
d. Simple ignorance of why this is NOT done. Ask her why and listen. Then patiently explain why it is not possible. (Cake muggles have no idea of the specifics involved in a large cake presentation/cutting/serving.)
Once you explain WHY this is NOT done, she'll probably be fine. Provide a cutting chart. Ask that the person who "may" be cutting the cake be present when you deliver. Show the person who may be cutting the cake how to do this when the cake is delivered at the venue.

I'd treat this as you would any inappropriate wedding cake behavior and tell her you as the baker have a reputation and you will not release a cake that is seriously flawed because it carries YOUR name as the baker. A cake that would be pre-cut would be seriously flawed. The guests will not know why their cake is stale and you do not wish this to reflect on your business.

If her reason is "d", ignorance, then here are some tools that you can give to the bride/venue/cutter when the cake is delivered. A paper "slice" of wedding cake(for size reference), a pair of gloves (for the cutter), a copy of Indydebi's pictorial, "How to Cut a Wedding Cake", a kitchen trash baggie (for trash like cardboard cake circles, dowels, etc.), a roll of paper towels or a 99 cent store T-towel for wiping the serving knife.

"Sample Cake Serving Sizes -- made of Paper or Cardstock"
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=142470&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

"How to cut a wedding cake"
http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/search/label/cake%20comb
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I'm looking forward to hearing her reason for wanting the pre-cut the cake!

If the bride absolutely insists, you could do kitchen cakes, cut them and freeze the slices (not exactly sure how you would do that), and then charge her the same cutting fee that the venue would. And maybe get her to promise not to tell anyone who made the cake.

I'd like to know too! I would also say that she could probably have her cake cut...a kitchen cake...and just leave the slices in the tightly covered pan(s) to be removed at the time of the reception. That way, the cake would not be exposed to too much air and maintain freshness. Then someone can just lift the pieces out and serve.

I went to a wedding about 15 years ago where they used kitchen cakes to serve and they were pre-cut. I was asked to serve the cake, so that's why I remember. They were pre-cut, but the whole thing was iced over after it was cut. The decorator iced decorative lines where the slices were separated, so I just had to cut gently on the lines down to the cake and then lift the slice out.

wow

"Precut before frosting, with cut lines marked", and the cupcake idea, do seem like the logical ways out of this box.

Incidentally, since "onelook" could not find definitions for the terms, there are now new entries in Wiktionary for "kitchen cake" and "dummy cake"; I defer to the experts for further fleshing-out of the entries (I already had to correct an omission introduced in "kitchen cake" by another user's clean-up edit, only minutes after I created the entry).

I'm definitely curious as to the "why" associated with the request.

I definitely wouldn't be agreeable to the way the bride is envisioning it. I would much prefer sliced before iced and clearly marked as to where to make cuts on the day of the wedding.

Has she considered boxing cake slices and stacking the boxes in the shape of a cake? People can take cake and go, if she is on a time schedule, and these boxes double for favors.

Thanks for all of of your advice & suggestions! Sorry I'm so late in updating! She'd wanted it precut because she thought it'd take too long to cut & serve at the reception. I tried talking her into other options but she went somewhere else. Wonder if she'll be happy with her precut cake??

Thanks for the update. Sorry you didn't get the order.

(When the wedding cake is fruitcake, it is OK to precut because you then wrap into plastic, and then box or fancy foil.) A pre-scored sheet cake is really easy to serve at a large function and does not dry out if it's not separated ahead of time.

But I digress. Maybe her venue/caterer was trying to force her into buying her cake from them. I have heard of this before. Maybe they would even charge her a cutting fee like $5 per slice for an outside cake...or maybe they told her that it would be "impossible" (read between the lines, for THEM) to serve your cake in a timely manner.

Or maybe there was a family member controlling all the details and yammering about serving the cake or paying the serving fee. I don't think you lost anything--if it's a small enough town, you might even hear about the eventual disaster and be very thankful it was somebody else's cake.

I'm glad it's tradition in my family for one of the bride's aunts to cut and serve the cake. Luckily, my mom has four sisters, so I had plenty of help in cutting and serving my wedding cake!

I'd agree that some of the venue's or caterer's cutting and serving fees are ridiculous! The fee could almost be as much as the cake cost per slice!