Hi y'all, 

I was curious to see how many wedding cakes everyone does in a day or a weekend. I'm starting to get more and more requests for weddings and they are starting to inquire about days that I already have a wedding booked. I know I could manage more than one wedding with cupcakes on the same day and just schedule delivery times accordingly. Do you have a hard rule about only a certain number of wedding cakes/larger cakes per day or do you play it by ear? Not really looking for advice in my situation just seeing what everyone else does. 

Thanks!! 

Ali 

AFor large multi-tier orders (~$500+) that require delivery and setup, we don't schedule more than 3 per day: one morning, one afternoon, and one evening, with a minimum of 2 hours extra time between deliveries just in case something goes wrong.

I work full time, cakes is my side business/hobby. Last year I took up to 3 weddings per weekend but it almost killed me. I was so tired, had no free time all summer (my wedding season) and by the end of the season I was not enjoying making cakes.

So this year I have limited myself to 1 wedding per weekend. The cake money is saved for a rainy day (in my case the rainy day is a new car next year) so I don't need to take on more orders - which is nice that I don't feel pressure to take on more.

Oh I like the hours in between deliveries in case something goes wrong. I probably wouldn't have thought about that until something went wrong. Thanks Jason! 

AI don't take more than I can do. Last wedding was huge with lots of detail, so just that one.

I can do as many as 3 small cakes or 2 small cakes and a crazy sculpted...it depends.

When someone calls, I check my calendar. If there is a name, I pull the file to see if I can this additional cake. I also leave wiggle room for last minute birthday cake or additional gueat count. Once a day is really full I highlight it so I know no more!

We have 2 full time decorators and last week we did 19 wedding cakes, which is pretty typical for us this time of year.  They aren't responsible for much baking but they do a couple of consultations each week and make buttercream and fillings too.  During our busy season we have to have at least 8 per decorator to help offset the slow times of the year (in AZ, that means the 105*-115* months, where we will do 12-15 weddings in an entire month). 

Thanks Piece of Cake! I don't know how decorators do it in Arizona! So much heat. I ended up doing my first stacked cake in 112 degree heat in my tiny apartment in college without air conditioning. Its good to know how many decorators you have. I'm trying to decide how many I should hire when we open full time. I can't decide which should come first, the decorators or the work. I know that I'd be able to take on more custom cakes if I have more help but I don't want them to sit on their hands when I don't have custom cake orders. 

In AZ we live in air conditioning...just have to make sure that things don't melt from the driveway to the service door.   The heat is such a part of life that I don't think that there are many brides that try to pretend it doesn't exist and plan an outdoor ceremony or reception at certain times of year.  We get to live outdoors for the winter, so there is no pressure to be out in the summer, unlike some 4 seasons climates that are house-bound during the winter and have to make up for it in the summer.  

I'm a solo shop working cottage, so I only take one big order or two to three smaller weddings or party cakes. Usually no more than one wedding per day, unless they are both simple drop offs.  I try to space out prep as much as I can during the week so that I can have some weekend with the family. I'm looking forward to the summer lull, though.  This has been a busy spring wedding season for me.  

last year I did 95ish weddings total, and turned down about 40-50. Some weekends had 6-8. Most had 3-4. I can tell you it was way too much for just one person, especially when all of them seemed to want sugar flowers and/or elements that took a lot of prep time.

This season, I am back down to 1 friday, 2 saturday, and none on sundays. I'm thinking it will be a 65-70 wedding season for me, and that is perfectly comfortable.

I've done up to 5-6 a weekend during the busy season from April-October for the past few years, but more commonly three or four per weekend. Last year just about killed me, though, because I have so many other things going on and I'd overscheduled myself more than I usually do. So this year I'm doing only two wedding cakes per weekend, with a few weekends here and there with three. So now with everything else on my schedule I'm back to being normally overworked from being horrifically overworked

When I worked at a banquet hall it was 6 to 8 per weekend. We had only one person baking and decorating those. But we really didn't have any fondant cakes.