Is it just me or has anyone else realized that lately more and more brides' definition of " I'm on a budget" really means "You need to give me exactly what I want for the price I am willing to pay."

I'm sorry.... to me "I'm on a budget" means you cut down on all the frivolous details you can't afford and be happy and grateful that for the small change you have set aside for a wedding cake you can actually get something decent!

I have a bride who is "on a budget" right now who has sent me well over 15 pictures of all these elaborate cake for "ideas". I'd dump her, but she's my husband's 50-something year old sister!!!!!!!!! Really????

How about sending her a price with the pictures that she sends you? Maybe she will start sending less elaborate cake photos?

Is she expecting you to do her cake as a gift? Maybe that is what she is hinting at?

The first thing I find out is just how much they have budgeted for the cake. If they want 100 servings and have $100 budgeted I send them to Costco; a $300 budget might be enough for a simple single tier round with fondant and some sheet cake; we only start talking multi-tier cakes once the budget is at least in the $600 range.

Did you offer to do the cake as a gift? If not, me thinks someone is angling for a free cake.

you set the president for how this interaction is going to go. if you are dealing through her in email then it's a lot easier.

you write "this is your X budget and this is what I can do for that price". that way you are not getting annoyed with her sending a bunch of elaborate photos. everyone's definition is different and she may just be excited to plan and is giving you ideas to work from. JMO

ditto to all the answers, maybe your husband should pay you and he can gift the cake. On another similar thread a bride wanted an elaborate cake for $75.00. Make her a 4 tier 5 inch mini, elaborate for a barbie doll. lol. As I suggested on the other thread, make one of these mini cakes as a dummy and place a barbie doll over it , then say, this is what I can do for you at that price.

I have already made it clear to her that as our gift to her I am doing the cake at cost to her, providing the decorations are within reason. And I have a per serving cost which I have already quoted to her. I have no problems telling her that she is going overboard or that she might have some things to consider (which I already did after I submitted this post). Sometimes after I vent it makes it much easier to put my foot down. It just amazes me that people who are on a limited budget would even still be looking at these elaborate cakes. I don't mean just her... other brides too.

Two months ago I met with a bride who was also "on a budget" When I told her my prices, she literally excused herself went to a corner had her little meltdown and then came back to the table refusing to look at any pictures because she could only afford $250.00 for a wedding cake and the cake was supposed to serve 250 guests! I had already suggested they hit the sheetcake section at Costco when her cousin who was with her offered to pay for the cake for her. After that she was as sweet as can be. Spoiled much?

Yeah, I had a customer recently who wanted to feed 150 people a white chocolate mud cake filled with caramel filling, iced in caramel SMBC, covered in fondant, with a cascade of red gumpaste roses (4 tiers) for the bargain price of $300. Ahem. I don't think so.

I know! It finally dawned on me a few years ago that to turn down a cake order I won't make money on comes up to the same as to take an order I will lose money on.

The 5 words I'm most tired of hearing are "I'm on a tight budget"....especially when in the next breath they're telling me they're having 400 guests.

NEXT!!!!

I've worked in the bridal business. I think part of the problem is brides don't know how expensive it is to have a wedding and a lot of them are paying for it themselves. They have all of these ideas of what they want for their wedding but they don't realize how much it will cost. So then they try to have that ideal wedding for what they can afford. Trust me, florists, dress shops, rentals, etc. they all hear the same thing we do! The economy right now doesn't exactly help either. I always appreciated a bride who did her homework and knew what to expect for prices!

Whenever I get "pictures/photos" like these and they are on a "budget" _ I normally reply back something along the lines of, "Oh, those are such beautiful $500* cake pictures, I can see why you like them... maybe we can incorporate some of those ideas in your cake that you're ordering" ....

She/They usually get the idea of what they are wanting is WAY over their cake budget and they are then often more receptive to hear my realistic ideas of what they can afford...

I really just think most people don't know or realize what is involved in making a wedding cake.. Unfortunately, it's our job to bring them back down to Earth.. in most cases

lol love this post, you're all so funny!!