How to Determine a Cake Budget

My friend Stacey (who makes the best tasting "Crunch" snack ever!) has written a wonderful view of cake budgeting and the how's & why's that go into it. Brides will find it very helpful as they set up a wedding budget, and vendors will find some great tips on what questions to ask a bride to guide her thru the ordering process.

I am happy to share her blog article!

http://staceyssweetshop.blogspot.com/2011/08/howd-you-arrive-at-that-number.html

I Can Save You $1000, Right Here, Right Now

Keeping a wedding on budget is difficult. Things cost more than a bride anticipated, last minute guests to add to the guest list, little things pop up that weren't planned for on the original budget, and not knowing for sure how many people will actually show up.

I am always promoting my 60% Rule to brides (see article in this blog) but I also encourage other wedding vendors to use this rule to help a bride stay in budget so she can afford the things she wants for her wedding.

I had a fellow cake artist share with me the story of a bride who had a $600 budget but she wanted a cake that was going to total $1000. The cake artist was telling me she wanted to help this bride but just couldn't drop her pricing by $400.

The solution is an easy one.

Turns out this bride had invited 300 guests and was figuring 250 would show up. With my 60% Rule (60% of those invited will actually show up), I figured she'd have about 180-200 guests at her reception.

First I told my cake friend, "She only has to come up with $400 to get the cake of her dreams. Assuming she's getting her dinner for only $20 a person, that means she has to trim her invite list by 20 people (20 people x $20/each = $400). We're now in an attainable number range. Somehow, it seems easier to rule out 20 guests than it does to come up with $400!

But ... back to saving this bride $1000.

I suggested to my cake artist friend that she should educate the bride on the 60% Rule and show her that she can reduce her expected head count by about 50 people. This will save her much more than the $400 she needs for the cake. Reducing expected headcount by 50 people means she will also save on the following:

7 fewer tables to rent (8 guests per table) at $7/table = $49 saved
50 fewer chairs to rent at $3/chair = $150 saved
50 fewer chair covers at $3 each plus 50 fewer sashes at $1 each = $200 saved
50 fewer dinners to buy at $25 each (assume $20 each plus the mandatory tip and service fee) = $1250 saved
50 fewer appetizers to buy at $12 each = $600 saved
50 fewer on the bar tab at $16 each = $800 saved
50 fewer favors to make/buy at $3 each = $150 saved

Total saved so far? $3199

And I saved it in about 3 minutes, without breaking a sweat. AND ..... the bride didn't have to compromise on any of her foods or selections.

I have said it over and over: Getting control of the expected headcount is THE Number One method to saving money and staying inside a wedding (or any event) budget. Vendors can also use this to help a bride see that she can afford the things she wants when she's not paying for the guests who will NOT show up. (Pssst! And RSVP's do NOT work. For 30 years I have ignored RSVP numbers and went with my 60% Rule. My 60% Rule was always more accurate!)

I can't tell you how many brides were thrilled when I showed them how they COULD afford the chocolate fountain once they got their headcount under control. The bride spent less than she anticipated, got more than she expected and I made a bigger sale.

This method is a win-win for everyone.

"Just Serve a 'Cheap' Sheet Cake" she said

Well, this one pushed my hot button! Brides, please pay attention to this one. Please. I'm about to teach you how to NOT insult your guests at your wedding.

I actually saw an online article entitled "How to Buy Cheap Wedding Cakes". Now I understand in this day of a tough economy that we are all on the lookout on how to save money. And weddings can be expensive. So I know that anyplace where costs can be cut, all of us should endeavor to cut them. I get that.

However, I've never seen an article entitled "How to Buy a Cheap Diamond Engagement Ring" (bride, how would you react if you saw your groom studying up on such an article?) or "How to Buy a Cheap Wedding Gown" (or if mom was reading a series of these?).

But here I find an article (written, by the way, by someone who, based on her bio, is not in the wedding business and definitely not a cake expert) who is encouraging a bride, on her wedding day, to "oh, just go get a cheap cake!"

Wait ... it gets better.

Further down in the article is the tired and uninformed opinion about buying a fake cake (see my article on why THIS is false!). http://cateritsimple.blogspot.com/2009/07/fake-cakes-no-they-are-not-always.html

She says a couple can "cut" the cake of their dreams and "serve a cheap sheet cake to wedding guests."

Serve a "cheap sheet cake."

Doesn't that make you sad? It does me. It makes me sad that someone with some fake and self-imposed authority on wedding cakes is regurgitating the same tired, worn out, untrue advice about cakes and encouraging brides to serve their family, their friends, their guests who have elected to incur some personal expense of their own to come and share in the couples wedding day .... she tells these brides, "oh just serve 'em some cheap sheet cake."

This article of mine is in danger of going on and on because I am just in SHOCK that someone would actually say that to a bride. Am I getting my frustration across? Because the only thing that would appall me more is to hear a bride say, "That's a good idea! I'll spend a fortune on my venue, my dress, my bar bill and my fabulous dinner. Then I'll just slap some "cheap sheet cake" in front of my guests!"

As I take a minute to take a deep breath, let me clarify that a low-cost cake to fit in a budget is not a bad thing. Many highly skilled decorators have many options for brides to enable them to have a wonderfully decorated and great tasting cake at their wedding. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about serving guests cheap tasting sheet cake: Mass produced, frozen for months in a warehouse, shipped to a big box grocery store bakery, already iced when it arrives, pulled out of the freezer the day before it is due so a decorator can spend 4 minutes putting a border with icing that from a big bucket that is commercially made.

Most people can tell the difference between this grocery store sheet cake and a wedding cake that is custom made just for the bride's special day. That is part of what is irritating me on this. That someone just so nonchalantly suggests a "cheap sheet cake" is good enough and that a bride shouldn't care if her guests actually LIKE the cake or not. That, too, is just sad.

Brides, the key to being able to stay in budget involves careful planning, including control of your headcount (see my "60% Rule" article), good comparison shopping, working with a wedding planner (yes, they DO save you money!), and being realistic about what you can afford.

But please. Please. DON'T slap your guests in the face with an attitude of they are only worth some "cheap sheet cake" for your wedding. Plan accordingly. And treat your guests with the respect they deserve.

A Lame Excuse for Losing a Sale

On the coattails of my November 4th article, "But I Don't LIKE Sales....!" I am proud to offer this link to an article by Wedding Marketing guru Andy Ebon about pricing and bridal budgets. I must totally agree with him that "brides do not have money allotted for most wedding expenses in a truly thoughtful and rationale way." That is why I believe a wedding vendor should be an expert in their field so they can help guide the bride through the process and why I believe that a business person's sales and marketing skill are key, absolutely KEY, to having a successful business.

Please take a minute to read Andy's article. I'm sure you'll enjoy his wisdom as much as I do!

http://weddingmarketing.net/2010/12/02/price-budget-simple-lame-excuse-losing-sale/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheWeddingMarketingBlog+%28The+Wedding+Marketing+Blog%29

Doing The Math or "Going Math-Dumb"

There are a number of websites that help brides find vendors for their wedding. Just plug in a zip code and check off all vendors that you're looking for and the bride's request for information is sent to all of the vendors in her area. Sites such as Decidio.com and Respond.com offer this service at no cost to the bride and a minimal per-lead-fee for the vendor.

I've received a number of inquiries from these sites and the one thing that always astonishes me is how brides can't seem to Do The Math when making a request. One example (and trust me, it's not the only one I received like this!) is the bride who checked off:
- "I expect a cake to cost $2-$3 per serving."
- "I need 250 servings."
- "My budget is $150."

Huh?

I am not making this up. I really received this lead info. Even at the lower end of the price range, $2 per serving times 250 servings equal a minimum of $500. How in the WORLD does this bride expect to get a custom designed cake for her very special wedding day at a price that is less than a pack of Twinkies? How did she come up with a budget of $150 for 250 servings at $2 each?

Do The Math.

What is a shame is that this bride, who obviously needs help planning her wedding, isn't going to get it. Because when I receive a lead like this, I just delete it. I am NOT paying $2 to $5 per lead just to get her email so I can tell this poor bride that she is being unrealistic in the $150 budget. And I'm not the only vendor who thinks that way.

Do. The. Math.

Part of the problem is that people are not used to planning food and entertainment for 100+ people. If I tell someone that it will cost them $10 per person to take 6 people out to dinner, they can do the math and figure they will need $60. But when planning an event for 100+ guests, they seem to go math-dumb. Tell this same person that it will cost them $10 per person to feed 100 guests at a wedding and the only thing going through their head is .......

A THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!

Yes, folks. A Thousand Dollars. Do The Math.

A relative asked me to look over the cost for her son's rehearsal dinner as it seemed high to her. As I looked over the menu and did some price comparing in her area, I found the prices were really a great bargain. But I told her, "It only seems like a lot of money because you're feeding 50 people. And 50 people times $20 a head comes out to a thousand dollars no matter how you calculate it."

Back when postage was $0.35, one of my brides turned to her dad during the consultation and said, "Oh, Dad. When we leave here, we need to go by the post office. I'll need $70 for stamps."

Dad went thru the ROOF!! "SEVENTY DOLLARS!!" I held up my hand and said, "Dad .... do the math. She's mailing 200 invitations and 35 cent stamps times 200 comes to $70 no matter how you add it up." Dad calmed down, but it's a great example of the reaction of people who are not used to planning events for 100 or more people.

Another common reaction is to focus on the total cost rather than comparing a per-person price. For example, when a bride gets a quote for $3/slice for a wedding cake to serve 200, she tends to focus on the total of $600 and some make comments about it being "just a cake" (oh don't EVEN get me started on THAT one!) and she can't see why it's so much. And I tell them ....

"Darlin', it's not a $600 cake. It's enough cake to feed TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE!!!"

A $4 cup of coffee doesn't seem like a lot of money .... until you have to buy 200 of them.

This is frustrating to everyone. It's frustrating to the bride because she thinks no one can meet her budget, when the truth is she didn't Do The Math to see what she would really need to budget. It's frustrating to the vendors because we WANT to work with the bride but we can not work with an unrealistic budget.

Here are some recommendations that a bride should do (and questions vendors should ask) when figuring a budget:

- What is the total dollar amount available to spend?

- How much will be spent on the wedding and how much on the reception?

- How many guests are you wanting to invite? Divide this into the reception dollar amount to get a per-person budget.

- Tell the vendor how much you have to spend. If a bride has only $2500 to spend on the dinner, the caterer will not try to sell her the $7500 package but will work to come up with a presentation that will fit inside that budget.

- Be realistic. I've had brides offer a per-person budget that was so unrealistic that I have honestly said to them, "Darlin' you can't get Happy Meals for that amount."

If the per-person budget ends up in the fast food range, then the bride should consider simpler ideas such as either reducing her invite list to a number that her budget can accommodate or having a cake-and-punch reception instead of a buffet or plated dinner.