@RunningNewbie: My FH and I are going to go with a two-tier wedding cake then my FMIL is going to bake cupcakes, pies and other desserts. We had two reasons for this 1.Like you, we think the price of a wedding cake is crazy! and 2. My FH hates cake, so we don't want a lot of leftovers because it'll just be me eating it!
We cut down the price by ordering a three tier cake, and adding an additional 1/4 sheet cake of the same flavor. It would have been almost $200 to add a fourth tier, and it was less than $50 to add the extra sheet cake. The sheet cake won't be displayed, just cut up and served with the rest of the cake.
We did a two tier cake in the smallest sizes available- I think a 4" round and a 6" round. We set it on a nice cake stand with flowers around and used that to cut for pictures. We ordered a flat sheet cake for everyone else- same filling and icing, but no decorations, borders etc just cake and frosting. The sheet cake was kept in the back with the caterers, they sliced it and set the slices out on the cake table for us after we did the cake pictures. It saved us a good bit of money and made serving the cake soooooooo much easier.
We are doing cupcakes. They are $2.60 a piece vs. $6-$7 per slice in my area. I have also seen the sheet cakes. It works fine, but guests will know that there are two cakes because that one cake won't feed everyone.
We are buying a 3 tier wedding cake from Walmart Bakery. It serves 130 people and it's $125. It's great for pictures and then people can eat it.
We're supplementing with sheet cakes that can be cut out of the view of guests. That's a much cheaper option.
Were doing cupcakes. The average price of a wedding cake in our area is around $5 a slice, whereas cupcakes are $2, plus I like the variety of flavour and you skip the cake cutting fee that most venues have.
@RunningNewbie: There's a few options I've seen when doing my own research for our wedding.
* Have a 2 tier simple cake for pictures and cutting. After feeding eachother it's taken in the kitchen to be cut along with a sheetcake. Your guests will assume they've been served a piece of wedding cake.
* A cupcake tower with an assortment of flavors. Let the guests choose their own.
* Rent a "Dummy" cake. This was something I seriously considered. It's made from tiers of styrofoam that are beautifully decorated. You "rent" the cake through a local bakery or online (it's boxed and shipped to you) and can even have it custom made. Theres a wedge cut out in one of the tiers and you insert a real slice of cake to feed each other. Then it's removed and taken to the kitchen while a sheetcake is cut and served. Here's a pic from a fellow bee.
Thanks for all of the suggestions so far! Very helpful! Did those of you who went with a 2-Tier and either a sheet cake or cupcakes, also do a groom's cake? Or did you cut that out of the budget? Thoughts?
You have several options.
1. You can buy a few supermarket cakes which are iced etc and then layer them up and add a few decorations and a cake topper on the day.
2. You can buy a single, pre-decorated supermarket cake, add a cake topper, and display it with cupcakes you either buy in or make yourself.
3. You can ask your cake maker to make and ice a small cake with a few dummy polystyrene layers at the bottom, to make it bigger.
4. You can make your wedding cake yourself, which I am doing. Think very hard about this before you commit. Is baking your strong point? How about decorating? Do you have your heart set on a fondant iced cake, because unless you have experience with fondant and a large kitchen in which to roll out the layers, then (in the words of my Stepmum). that ain't happening. Also, think about the logistics of this. Is it logistically possible for you to do this?
You can also do a few combinations of all of the above.
We saved a good bit of money by going with a local grocery store bakery that I know makes good cakes, and by buying each cake separately instead of having the bakery stack them. We put the cakes on a Wilton "Graceful Tiers" cake stand that I bought on eBay, and my mom added flowers to the cake and ivy to the cake stand. All in all, even with the groom's cake, stand, and accessories, we spent about $250.
We are having a small cake made at a grocery store bakery, and then a dessert spread of small pies, a blueberry dessert his mom is making, and cupcakes. I want my cake to be very simple so this works for me! I just want the cake to be covered in rock sugar so it's sparkly :P
I had a friend who also got a very pretty two teir cake from this same grocery store bakery, and they made and decorated a simple sheet cake similarly. It tasted WONDERFUL and worked so well.
Maybe look into cake bakers that are new to the scene? I had my MOH's Mom do ours and it was free (for me my MOH paid as a present) but even if we had paid it would have been a helluva lot cheaper had we actually paid because she's 'new'. Plus the cake flavor was the best... who wants a 'store made' one when you can get flavors passed down from a great grandmother. Here's what our cake looked like:)
We did a three tiered cake but the top two tiers were fake so just the bottom was real then there were two sheet cakes in the back. No grooms cake. I was like you shocked by how much wedding cakes were!!
We did a 6" cutting cake and 70 cupcakes for our guests. Total cost, including delivery and setup in Chicago came to just over $200. Everyone LOVED the cupcakes and the variety! Here's a picture.
What do you consider expensive? We found a phenomenal baker, they have amazing reviews and their cake is delicious but they don’t have a huge nice bakery. I had to call probably 12 (and visit a few other) bakeries before we found ours. They are doing the design we want, giving us a dummy tier and our top tier free. The cost is ~$380 I think for 75 people. The cake will be all butter cream and doesn’t include the floral top. It would have been $300 without the dummy tier but I really wanted a 4 tier cake. We had quotes from other bakeries around $600 but they had really nice bakeries so that makes sense. We also found one close to our venue so the delivery fee is lower. Here is a picture! Do you live in the Dallas area by any chance?
Edit: This isnt our cake, its our inspiration.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I consider myself a strong baker, but I do not have the skill/experience with fondant. Bummer. My Great Aunt made a cake for my cousin, and it looks a bit oldfashion, but nice. My issue with asking her is the drama that comes when you start including family in different tasks. Which would happen with my family. Lol I would like to try and hire someone outside of family just for peace of mind.
I do like both of these ideas so far:
1) Get a small two-tier cake for cutting purposes. Add a sheet cake to be cut in the back.
2) Get a small two-tier cake for cutting purposes. Add a variety of cupcakes.
Maybe only the top tier would be real?? All the suggestions on here so far have been amazing! I am still on the fence with the groom's cake. Can anyone give me an idea on how much their groom's cake ran?
P.S. Attached our my cake inspirations. FH likes the paisley designed one the best. Do you think either of those would be considered "intricate?" We are having a fall wedding, and our colors are Gray and Orange. So the colors may vary slightly on that first cake.
@sn2bmrsmntgmry: Thanks for this. FH and I talked about entertainment last night, and it sounds like that is where he would like to splurge. Quote from him "You only get married once, and if it's going to be a big party then..." LOL So, I'm trying to cut costs in other areas. Groom's cake seems like a good place to start.
@OldMrsMcDonald: Wow! That is VERY reasonably priced, and I love the cupcake variety. Especially because not everyone loves chocolate or vanilla. :) $200 is what I am thinking as far as a budget for this goes.
@sheepandbear: Thanks this helps out tremendously. I'm trying to stay around the $200 mark. Not in the Dallas area. Darn!! However; having the dummy tiers seems like a great ideea! The prices I'm finding in my area are around $3 or $4 a serving and we will have at least 200 people, if not upwards to 250 at the reception. This does give me ideas to check around with friends because it does seem like everyone knows someone who has a special skill. Whether that is baking, automotive repair etc. So thanks for that!!
@RunningNewbie: Yup, even if you dont get your cake from a "baker," I've seen some really nice cakes done by some of my friends mothers actually! It just takes time and work to find what you want in the price you want, but you will find it!
I tried to keep the price down, but by the time I finished with the alternitives, it wasn't actually cheaper.
I paid $300 for 300 mini cupcakes (including delivery, set up and cake stand rental) and then we paid for dessert seperately from our dinner so we could have pie from a local bakery. I think I paid about $250 for pie for 200 plus ice cream.
So really, our "cheaper" cake alternatives really weren't cheaper. - $550 in total.
Honestly cakes are super expensive! So I made sure when i was looking for a caterer that their price included everything from alcohol linens food and the cake. Just to make it easier and i was more estatic when they deal with the top baker around! So if you are getting food catered i would ask them if they have speacial pricing or if they offer and discount at all for a cake.
@RunningNewbie: Thanks! I think the total was $235. We had 4 flavors:
Our wedding cake was strawberry shortcake. Everything was DELICIOUS and our guests raved. Our bakery gives a discount per every dozen purchased, so the total per cupcake came to around $1.70. Good luck!
@RunningNewbie: You mentioned you are a decent baker as is an Aunt in the family. What about doing the sheet cakes for the guests to eat yourself, or have your Aunt do it, and you'll only be out the cost of the ingrediants. Then do a small cake for cutting, and or grooms cake from a bakery.
we are having a simple, two-tiered cake for pictures and cutting. then that cake will be taken in the kitchen to be cut along with enough sheetcakes to feed 150 people. the price for all of this is only $300 (this includes delivery and set-up too) with a choice of three different flavors. we are doing chocolate with chocolate mousse filling and yellow cake with strawberry filling all with buttercream frosting. i can't wait!
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I knew wedding cakes can be expensive, but I did not realize HOW expensive. I am considering alternatives to serving traditional wedding cake. Has anyone served something different? Did it work for you? Did you still consider a groom's cake? Help!