Everyone is trying to save a dollar here and there, but sacrificing quality for money is not a good idea, and can often have negative consequences.
A photographer friend of mine was telling me about a wedding that they had photographed recently and there was a terrible cake wreck.
Essentially, the wedding cake was supposedly “damaged in transport”, and was in such bad shape that it couldn’t be used at all. To make matters worse, the person that made the cake was nowhere to be found to try and fix the cake.
I don’t know the facts as to what happened, just third-party knowledge, but I do know that cake was doomed from the beginning (the time the bride wrote that check to be exact), and the damage happened LONG before it was en route to the wedding.
It turns out that the client paid $200 for the wedding cake.
Really? Wow. The bride paid $200 and had NO CAKE AT HER WEDDING!
It is no wonder that the cake ended in disaster. A quote that low for a custom-designed, made-to-order wedding cake should raise a lot of RED FLAGS such as:
1) Why is the price so low when the average custom cake from reputable places is in the $600-800 range? Sometimes more than that.
2)How much experience does the baker have? How many weddings have they done?
3)What does their portfolio look like? Is this their first wedding? Even if someone has never done a wedding, their previous work should tell you if they are capable of executing a wedding cake.
4)This price sounds too good to be true!
5)No one has ever heard of them. Ever.
I could go on.
A lot of time, money, and work go into planning a wedding, so when something happens, that could have been easily prevented…it’s a karmic shame.
Not to mention, even a mass produced wedding cake from a grocery store will cost more than $200. Yes, you will be getting a cake that is not made fresh, contains icing with a lot of preservatives, and has a generic design, and you have to set it up yourself, but it will be done correctly. However, aside from the color, it will not be a fresh, made from scratch, custom cake.
Just like any other product (wedding dress, floral arrangements, catering, etc.), a cake that is done correctly takes a lot of time effort and SKILL to create. Skill cannot be emphasized enough! A beautiful and cake and great tasting recipes don’t just “happen”.
When you hire me, you are not paying for the cake per se, but my expertise, investment in learning a craft, skill in baking, decorating, construction, delivery, AND fixing the cake in case something happens.
A lot of people get sticker shock when they see the price of my cakes, but honestly, as the story above illustrates, you really do get what you pay for. I won’t take $200 for the amount of time and effort that goes into a high quality, designer wedding cake. I won’t even turn on my oven.
You can SEE the difference, as well as TASTE the difference in my work.
It is not JUST cake.
It’s a cake creation, that takes days to finish, handmade for YOU only, in your favorite flavors, and designed to match your wedding theme and colors.
THAT is what you pay for.
