I'm having my first meeting with my first bride. What are somethings I should have ready for the meeting and what are some questions that I should be prepared for?? What do you do at your first meeting? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks....

A good source for this info is theknot.com or brides.com. They usually have something called "questions to ask your baker" or "how to find a good baker" or "choosing a baker". This is a good place to find questions brides may ask because chances are they have read these lists too!

I do my tasting right away at the first meeting. I start off with sort of a get to know the bride and the details of her wedding. In other words, building rapport with her so she thinks I've got her best interests at heart and understand HER wedding dynamics . From there, we design the cake (usually by then she'll have mentioned a budget, if not, remember the first person to talk money is the one who's going to lose the negotiation)... I also mention things to help them save money on the cake right away, things like if their wedding is over a certain size it may be best to go with kitchen cakes for a number of the servings instead of having a huge mega-cake with tons of detail work.

Basically, if we run out of time, I send the samples with the bride to enjoy later on, but normally the tasting part I run as what I call the "mini dress rehersal" for cutting the cake (I bring along a cake cutting knife and trowel. I tell them, it's no where in the etiquette books for how to cut the cake, and there is some technique to it especially if you're using fondant. Then I go through with them the "how to" and it's always fun.

Thank you!!! I appreciate you help!!!!