I have a wedding cake to do in September (it is my first one), well I get an eamil today from the bride to be and she wants me to make a full scale practice cake of the one I am going to do for her. She wants to see what it will look like without flowers, so she can decide if she wants icing flowers or real flowers. I was gonna practice some on my squares since it will be a 3 tier square cake but I had no intention of doing a full stacked cake. Won't this be kinda Pricey??? Is this normal practice for any of you guys and gals? Plus what the H*#l am I going to do with all that cake once I am done? I am diabetic, I cannot eat it...LOL

What do I do?

No...this is not normal practice and I would suggest to her that it is very costly to do so even if you use dummy styrofoams.She can tell whether she wants flowers or not...I think she is trying to get free cake!! Inform her you do not do this...if she cancels...fine..you don't need the agrevation!!

I have never heard of that. You can always quote her a price and then if she still wants the scale version do it and then give it to her or is she doesn't want it you can give it to a local womens shelter or homeless shelter. Just my thoughts.

I've never heard of such a thing. I'd tell her you can make a practice cake if she wants, but it will cost her the same price as the wedding cake, and I'd get my money up front. Or you can do what I'd be tempted to do, which is tell her to draw a picture and use her imagination! (sorry, that's my crabby self poking it's head in)

I would tell her you'll make one layer and sell it to her at the cost you would charge anyone else for the one layer!!! If she can't tell from that ...then I would tell her she needs to buy the flowers from you and you'll meet with her an hour before the ceremony and hold them up to the cake and she can see if she'd like them or not being that she already owns them LOL

When I told DH about it he too said I should charge her full price for it. I have sent her several pics of cakes of what her cake could look like with or without flowers. I don't really see what more else I can do for her.

Uhm, no...This is not normal practice. If she wants to buy the cake I would do it. People just amaze me sometimes!!

I think even the big time decorators would scoff at that idea. But it won't be as funny if she would be willing to pay the same price as the wedding cake. LOL. A lot of people (myself included) do sketches to see if something works or not. But I guess some people would like to see something more physical to have more grasp of the idea. I suggest that you can make a mini cake of the same shape (maybe 2"-3"). You can also take a close ip picture of it to make it look more big. But you still have to charge her for your time. I agree that even making it with a dummy is still pretty expensive.

I've never heard of a bride asking the decorator to make up her wedding cake so she can "see what it looks like" beforehand..heeheee....I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh ..it just struck me as really odd! Does she really expect you to make 2 wedding cakes? Probably for the price of 1 right? Oh, & I have an idea that she would have gladly taken the cake off your hands after you did it... Now, if she offered to pay you to do this then that would be different.

Tell her to look through magazines & on the internet & that will give her a good idea of what kind of flowers she wants.

Now I've heard everything! lol! No way! This is not done. You've already sent her pics, she should be able to decide from those. If they're not to her liking, then she should search the internet and bring you a picture.
If she insists, then she has to pay for it, get the money before hand. If she doesn't want to pay, then wish her well & farewell.

Uhmmm...( Bridezilla come to mind.)

I agree with the ladies here.

Never heard of it, and I'm here in the "sticky Southeast," -- where they do "dry runs" on things all the time, due to humidity, etc.

BUT--if she's willing to PAY, hey?!?

I'm dealing with a bride & groom-zilla myself these days...

--Knox--

I like Didi5's idea of mini cakes - just do 2 layers. I've seen some beautiful ones posted here, although I will admit I had a difficult time with buttercream on such a small cake, but others must not have that problem!

I just saw a website where the cakes average $15/slice and the decorator states that if you want even a SAMPLE of a cake the charge is $75. I hope I wasn't ever as nutty as some of these brides!

The bride sounds like she is very picky about things. It might turn out to be a pain to deal with her...

I have a wedding cake the end of July and we are doing the last minute details on it this week. The bride wanted to know if I could incorporate several different ideas from 3 different cakes....for MY peace of mind, I made a very small (2-layer 6") cake with the designs she decided on and she stopped and picked it up yesterday - and was absolutely thrilled with it. I just put the cost of that little cake in with the cost of the whole wedding cake package and we all were happy! She got to see what the REAL cake will look like - (as well as me seeing how hard the design was going to be)

So maybe this is something that brides are wanting to have made available now? (small sample of what the big cake will be??) I didn't have a problem doing it - and she didn't have a problem paying for it. It might be something to consider......I know the more experienced decorators may not be interested, they know they are good! But for me, who has limited experience with the wedding cakes, I felt much better seeing and doing the small version for her ahead of time.

(Just my 2 cents)

Ask her if she's kidding and then start laughing!!

I agree with khalstead, tell her that you will do a layer cake, at the normal charge, she should be able to decide with that. Good luck.

OMG - Wow - I snorted my coffee reading your post! This is another case of a Bridezilla out of control, but this one needs to join the Scarecrow on his trip to get a brain!

Geez, what is with the young woman today - it is just a wedding for crying out loud!!!! It is not like she is a princess going through a coronation to become a queen. (And I still bet that Princess Di never requested a full trial run of her wedding cake!)

RUN, don't walk, away from her! She is a freak.

If you do end up making a small scale version, then charge accordingly. Frankly, I am too busy to start offering that service! Do you have pictures of your work that she looked at before? And not to be funny, it is very easy to imagine what a cake would look like without fresh flowers on it!

thanks for all your comments...She is a friend of the family I think that she thinks maybe this is why she could ask something like that.. who knows...I think I will do maybe a 6 and 4 inch and if she wants to buy it then great if not my mom has a b-day in a few days..LOL

Thanks for all of your advice and I will have to come by more often with my questions because I of course have NO CLUE at this point and you all seem well educated in the cake business... I am not sure after this wedding cake that I will ever do another one because of the stress. I may stick to kid's cakes. I like them much better!!!!

Again THANK YOU!!!

Jennifer