Hi, all.

I'm going over all these "other people's pictures" posts, and a thought occurred to me.

When I am booking a cake, I meet potential customers at a local restaurant, where we discuss the design of the cake (this is not a tasting, it's a meeting). The way I do it, I have a book of my own cake pictures, and then, depending on what the folks have said they had in mind, I might bring a book or two, for ideas. Usually a Wilton book, but have used a few others, too. I also try to have one page with a few pictures of cakes I have done printed up for them, cakes similar to what they may want, that they can take home to think on.........

Back when I was booking my wedding, that's how the bakers I met with did it. A few of their pictures, and a Wilton yearbook or two or three. I've never had any complaints, people that way get to see what I can do as well as some ideas that I may not have done.

Is this how y'all do it, and if not, what do you do? I'm not talking about wedding cake tastings, that's a whole 'nuther thing, and I'm not talking about someone who calls me on the phone know what they want and how much is it, this is a meeting where I have talked to someone maybe once on the phone, and they want to meet and see pictures.

If that is what works for you, do it. I think the easiest thing is to have a website to refer them to with pics and basic info then go from there. If they want to see pics there are the ones on the site and you can email them other pictures if necessary. HTH!

I have a book of cakes I've made and a book of cake photos that I've collected from the internet, magazines, etc. I've even (don't gasp!) cut the wedding cake pics from the 20+ years of Wilton books and put them in the cake photos book, each page in one of those plastic sleeves. This really helped reduce the number of books my brides had to sift thru. You've probably seen the list of "10 Questions to Ask your Caterer" on some internet sights and one of them is to be sure to ask to see photos of the actual work. What I tell my brides is that cake decorating is like any skill or hobby. I ask them if they sew, or crochet, or do woodworking. I tell them that "if you can sew, then you know that you can follow a pattern to make any blouse or skirt you want. The first book shows you that I can follow a pattern.....the second book is a book of patterns." This helps them relate to why I'm showing them "other people's" cakes.