I'm not sure how I feel right now!! I had a call a little bit ago from a girl that received one of my cakes for her birthday. Anyway, she said that she had some cake left (they had ordered two and there weren't as many people as they thought) so she took and shared with people at her work. They loved it she said!! AND she said one of the ladies said she wanted me to do her daughters wedding cake!!! FOR 300 PEOPLE!! oK, I know this isn't a big deal to some but I have never done one before!~!!!! She said the lady LOVED how my cake tasted!! Which made me very happy!!!
This is the part where I think I may have messed up::: She said the lady would like to see some pictures and to talk to me about a price. I explained that I had never done a wedding cake before and to please let the lady know!! I feel that it is a very important thing and I would never forgive myself if I messed it up or they weren't happy!! I just asked her to let the lady know and to call me if she decided she still wanted to talk to me about it! WAS THIS STUPID!!????

No, you did right... but what you need to do is make a dummy wedding cake and take pics of it.. then you'll have one in your portfolio .. that's what I did when I started out

No not stupid. You want to be upfront with people. Just make sure that you tell her that you haven't done one before, but you know how and if need be, you can do her a dummy so that she can see what the cake will look like. That should put her at ease. She'll be able to see it. You'll be fine. You can do it. Have her give you the number and call her.

Hope it works out for you!

No I think you need to do what you think is right I would have done the same thing be honest. My only concern is how to transport and not cutting myself short I ALWAYS do that not charge enough for my cakes because I think.....well everything. Better to be honest but hey remember it is 1 cake at a time just a lot of them to make a wedding cake!! And some of the wedding cakes are simpler designs than the 3-D's.

I would have done the same thing. If you've never done a wedding cake before, imo starting out with one to feed 300 is risky....even if the decoration was to be very simple, just working with, transporting, and setting up that amount of cake would be a daunting task to me. I'd be scared to death if someone asked me to do a wedding cake of any size right now!! lol There's only 1 chance to do it right, ya know what I mean? If someone wanted me to do a wedding cake, I'd tell them just what you did & if they still insisted that they wanted me to do it, then if it were to serve maybe 150 or less, I'd probably give it a shot...but I'd also have a "back-up" cake made just to cover my but!! lol

No, it's best to be honest about it! You don't need that kind of stress. It is good to challenge ourselves but that's a big responsibility to start off with. My first wedding cake was for 75 people and it was nerve-wracking, now that i've done a bunch it wouldn't be a big deal. If she still wants to talk to you after knowing this, and you want to do it, just get out all of your wedding books and show them those! If she calls ask what flavors they were thinking about so you can make up some small 6' samples. If you are afraid of doing one giant stacked cake, tell them the price will be lower if they choose a smaller stacked cake and then sheet cakes (kitchen cakes) to make the 300. Happy baking! Good luck!

You always want to be honest so you feel good about yourself! If you are ever in this situation again, maybe you could have the client call you directly or come over and have a cake consultation. That way you could show her pics of your other work and offer her a discount, explaining you are breaking into the wedding cake business and she would be one of the first to get a delicious cake baked by you before word gets out and your are so busy with orders. Making some dummy cakes and decorating was a terrific idea too. Your cakes look great, and a wedding cake is just a lot of separate cakes stuck together! Good Luck!

Wow - congratulations! That must make you feel really good! You were right in being up front with her. Practicing on cake dummies is a great idea!

You know, I think that was the right thing. She very well may call you just on the fact that you weren't lying about your skills. Congrats on your first potential wedding cake though!!

Thank you everyone. You all made me feel much better!! I really think you are right about doing a dummy cake! I think I will have to do that soon. I guess I always thought "someday" someone might ask me. I just didn't think someday would be TODAY!! Thanks everybody!

Charlotte

I think you did the right thing. I just did my first wedding cake. It was a gift to a friend but I still felt excited and stressed at the same time. I told them up front that I had not done a wedding cake and they were ok with that.

The dummy cake is a great idea but I would suggest doing at least one real cake sometime. Even if you only frost it and do not decorate the experience is good. Real cake does not feel exactly like a dummy cake and can be more fragile to work with. I did a cake the size of the one I was going to do for the wedding. I then took it apart put on a border and gave each layer to someone. One to my husband's office, one to our church staff and one to a family just going though a tough time. That made me feel more comfortable about doing the final wedding cake.

Cindy

You absolutely did the right thing. Now, start practicing, haha! Seriously though, make a small one, maybe a 6 and eight inch stacked, to get used to the dowelling and such. Or try the kind that you use two separator plates and pillars in between, you still need to learn how to dowel and these are the most secure of all of the designs. I really think you need to practice and get the feel for the construction so you won't be nervous that first time.
Congratulations on having your cake so well received!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Thanks Squirrelly and Cindy! Great idea!! The doweling does kinda make me nervous. Hopefully when school starts I can start working on this.. Thanks again to everyone.