I made the following cupcake bouquet for an auction as a donation - I have not made any cakes for sale before and now I have been asked to make them for a wedding. I just am not sure what to charge. They want at least 200 cupcakes so that would be 11 bouquets, 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white with spring colors. I was told that the bakeries around here charge around .50 per cupcake but I know that it will take me some extra time to make the boxes that hold the bouquets and because I'm new to this yet - it takes me awhile to decorate. I do not expect to be paid for the extra time that it takes because I'm not very experienced at the decorating but I was thinking of charging $20.00 a piece for the bouquets. I need to let the lady know today what I'm going to charge. Is this too much?!?!?! Sorry - newbie question!
You should add up all of the supplies it takes to make one of these. And, mulitply it by 2.5 or 3. I would expect someone to pay for something like this. Cupcakes are one thing, but bouquets and the such are something else. Good Luck with it and by the way, I think the bouquet is gorgeous!!
I think you may be underpricing yourself! At $20 a bouquet, you are looking at not even $1 per cupcake once you add in the cost of the box, etc.
Honestly, I would look at more like $30 a bouquet....about $1.5 per cupcake.
Definitely add up your supplies first......just b/c they are cupcakes, does not make them any less valuable than a cake....you are still serving the same amount of people. Would you expect to make a wedding cake for 200 at a $1 a serving....no way!
Thanks for your input and your compliments. They are really appreciated.
I live in a smaller rural area and people around here can be rather - how-should-I-put-it - cheap? Maybe frugal would be a nicer word for it. I am sort of afraid that if I ask too much money, word will get around and I will have a hard time getting orders. Then again, I do not want to be taken advantage of. I would rather spend my time on a few orders and do a really nice job then get a bunch of orders and have to throw them together and risk getting burned out right away. There is only one other decorator in our town so I guess they could check with her if they feel I'm asking too much!
You stated that the bakeries near you only charge about .50 per cupcake...but what do you get for that .50?? My bet is it's just a simple cupcake with some frosting swiped on or piped in a quick swirl, at the most.
You're giving them fully decorated cupcakes, no doubt customized to their specifications (color, flower, etc.). And it's not like you're just sitting them all out on a tray or something....they'll be artfully arranged in such a way that they resemble a bouquet of flowers...and in a container, no less.
So trying to charge comparably to them is like apples and oranges. In my area, I would charge $40.00 for something like that...and if they're filled cupcakes, $47.00. I know you have to charge what your market will bear, but that shouldn't be your only criteria for pricing. The market where I am, as a whole, wouldn't pay thousands of dollars for a wedding cake....but there are those few who would and do...so I would charge them what it's worth....not just what I think everyone else would pay. And I don't think even a bakery would do that type of cake/arrangement for only $20.00 either. You might want to call, or have someone call for you, and ask them what they would charge for something like this. Don't forget that sometimes when you do a lot of something small that it can take longer than it would to decorate the same amount of servings in one cake...does that make sense...lol. 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%