With a cupcake wedding it would seem to me that because cupcakes are more munchable, and you can help yourself to them rather than waiting to for them to be like a cake, that maybe you should make more than the number of guests at the reception. So I know that not everyone will eat dessert but some people will definitely have more than one cupcake, particularly if there are multiple flavor combinations.
I'd like to know if you just do the one per person on a cupcake wedding or does it stand to reason that you should make extra for those who will sneak extra ones? What are your thoughts???
Ashley
My recommendation to people planning parties is always to plan for about 120% the number of servings if you have more than one flavor, becasue there are always people who will want "one of each" . If it's all one flavor, you can most likely get just one for each guest, but for multiple flavors, always over order.
And cupcakes make it easier for folks to take one home "for later", too, which can explain why you might need more if serving cupcakes. But I let the bride/client decide how many they want. I can talk to 'em about wedding cakes, but cupcakes are a "How many do you want?" thing.
I suggest to brides that they use either a Texas Sized or mini cupcakes for cupcake weddings... The reason: regular cupcakes are not the same sized portion as a WEDDING cake slice (a regular sized cupcake will just about match a flat aluminum pan sheet cake slice by the time shrinkage is figured in, and there still is the lack of filling factor), and people consider them to be "munchies" more than a full dessert. I also think they cheapen the look of the wedding even if it is a backyard BBQ... And, a well decorated cupcake is going to end up costing the same as a larger wedding cake..
Here's why I suggest the mini cupcakes... The display looks fuller, guests each get 4 different flavors on their plate for the same price as one regular cupcake, it's unique, etc.
I'm NOT a fan of cupcake weddings by any means, but if that's what the bride wants, that's what she gets, she just doesn't get a discount on the cost/serving because of increasing the amount of dinker time I've got to spend with the thing or the setup...
I suggest to brides that they use either a Texas Sized or mini cupcakes for cupcake weddings... The reason: regular cupcakes are not the same sized portion as a WEDDING cake slice (a regular sized cupcake will just about match a flat aluminum pan sheet cake slice by the time shrinkage is figured in, and there still is the lack of filling factor), and people consider them to be "munchies" more than a full dessert. I also think they cheapen the look of the wedding even if it is a backyard BBQ... And, a well decorated cupcake is going to end up costing the same as a larger wedding cake..
Here's why I suggest the mini cupcakes... The display looks fuller, guests each get 4 different flavors on their plate for the same price as one regular cupcake, it's unique, etc.
I'm NOT a fan of cupcake weddings by any means, but if that's what the bride wants, that's what she gets, she just doesn't get a discount on the cost/serving because of increasing the amount of dinker time I've got to spend with the thing or the setup...
Really? I go by the amount of batter I use in a standard cupcake vs. a slice of wedding cake, and they're pretty much the same size. And all my cupcakes are filled. I tell brides that a cupcake IS the same as a slice of wedding cake and that's why they are priced the same. And some people take two slices of wedding cake to get a taste of the different flavors, also, so that theory is no different for cake or cupcakes.
CoutureCake, yes, you make good points, however i do beg to differ with you that cupcakes 'cheapen the look of the wedding, even if it's a backyard bbq'. cupcakes/cupcake weddings, is probably the biggest, hottest trend in desserts nationwide right now. there are cupcake bakeries popping up all over the u.s. and i think there is a huge market with cupcakes. i like to make them and there is a much more sophisticated way of displaying them than your average 2-year old bday party. i had 3 tastings this week which led to 3 bookings - all cupcake weddings. the larger of the 3 is well over $600. as i said, i do think you make good points but i do disagree with your thoughts about them looking cheap.
I'm happy to disagree with a bride's choice... all the way to the bank 
... I'll do whatever it is they want, as long as there's my favorite shade of green.
Trend or no trend, they look cheap in the times I've seen them live. VERY few times have I seen them done nicely (usually only in pictures where the ones that tipped over in transit are in the back). In one wedding, the bride only ordered enough for about 80% of her guests and they were the centerpieces at each table, yea, try explaining to guests who isn't worthy enough to get a cupcake? In other instances they've been icing slapped or big box sprinkle cupcakes...
As for the batter vs. cake serving debate... I used to think they came out the same, after all, it's a quarter-cup of batter used... The consideration is that a full cake has more room to rise that 1/4 cup than a cupcake does because of the crust area. A slice of wedding cake never comes out to only 1 1/2" tall tops which is the factor with a cupcake, then the filling is not equal to the amount of filling between at minimum 1/2"-1" total. The labor is increased with the cupcake as well.. Finally, a 2" round cake that's 1 1/2" tall is not going to fill the same sized area as a 1x2x4" space...
I'm with Couture on this one. My personal opinion is that cupcakes are tacky. (Just my PERSONAL opinion!) As a guest, I buy a new dress, get all dolled up (which takes much longer these days!), actually wear makeup, to attend a formal function ..... and I'm them expected to shove some gooey covered cupcake into my face with my hands????
If it's an outdoor wedding with a very casual theme where all the guests are wearing jeans, I'm ok with it. Maybe it's the traditionalist in me, but I am also of the opinion that they look cheap, especially in a very formal setting.
If a bride wants them, she's paying more to me than she would for a regular wedding cake because they are a bigger serving and more work. So even tho' I'd issue a larger invoice to her for cupcakes, I'd subtley try (yes, it's hard to believe but I can be sublte! 
) to sway her to a regular cake.
just look through that and tell me if cupcakes at weddings seem cheap.
http://flickr.com/photos/7366896@N04/2038353065
http://flickr.com/photos/7366896@N04/2038353065
After looking through that, can you still say cupcake weddings are cheap?
Yes, I can still say they "look" cheap and tacky.
Again this is my PERSONAL opinion .... my PERSONAL taste.
There are people who think some of the most expensive cars on the road are ugly. I've been inside super expensive homes that I didn't like and wouldn't live in. It's all about personal taste and preference.
I've read lots of threads on the different opinions on topsy turvy cakes, on fountain cakes, on sheet cakes. This is just another category. (omg, you'd think someone would get executed on here for making a fountain cake, based on the opinions in THOSE threads! )
A cupcake can cost $10 apiece, but TO ME ... it's still a cupcake, and MY PERSONAL TASTE is they are inappropriate for a formal wedding setting.
here's one of my favorites...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yummypieceofcake/2313836827/
I also don't think a cupcake is the same serving as a wedding cake slice.
Using 1 cake mix box I can make a 9x13 cake that would serve 12-16 people (single layer). 1 cake mix box makes 24-30 cupcakes.
Wait a minute, I just thought of something: 1 cake mix box is enough for a 2 layer 8" round cake. According to wilton that cake serves 24. 
Wow, I was so wrong.
Have to agree with Deb, cupcakes are not for formal occasions. Again, my PERSONAL opinion.
If individual cakes are preferred, large petit fours or mini-cakes look so much more elegant to me.
And they are just as easy to do as cupcakes. Unless they want rolled icing, then it's going to cost them! ;o)
I do love the photos of the cupcakes that were posted. Very nicely done cupcakes.
Having photos of cupcakes for weddings that may look nice isn't the point, the point is LIVE what they look like (appetizers anyone?? late night snack maybe??). I used to work at a reception hall with three rooms and I've seen a LOT of cakes/cupcakes/desserts and cupcakes just don't work regardless of it being a pig roast or a plated sit-down dinner. I'm with Debi, IMPO, they look tacky/cheap/etc. at weddings REGARDLESS of what the couple spent on them or how well decorated they might be. As a guest, I WANT MY CAKE, not an appetizer for the $500 I just shelled out to show up at the wedding LOL!!!! (the average family will spend between $200 and $1000 to simply attend the wedding). Like Debi said, the last thing I also want to do is to have to eat a dessert with my fingers (you still have to dig your hands in to get the cupcake liner off) or clean up my kid after she had her fingers in it (o.k. friend just licked the frosting/stickiness off of their fingers, the next step is to go to visit with others and in many cases a hand shake for hello- yep - GROOOOOOOOOSSS!!!!). To have a cupcake look fancy it's going to COST, and what's the benefit?
The inherent problem with a regular cupcake is simply with the portion size. When is the last time you had a delicious cupcake in your favorite flavor with ooey gooey buttery flaverful mouth watering frosting and you stopped at ONE?? 'Nuff said! O.k. how many times on here have we discredited the wilton charts (except for price per slice of course 
) for being unrealistic on the size of slice it creates or the fact of the matter in the realities of getting the cutters in the real world to cut something like that? Earlene's charts anyone??? Our own serving charts that many of us have done up because of our experiences.. I can't get an 8" to serve 24 without having mutiny break out... The 8" cake I ordered from another baker for my own birthday (I didn't want to make my own cake or do the dishes this year, so I hired another baker to do it for me - at the level I'd charge!) I believe served us 8, maybe 10 slices 
all of which were after a full meal (and a couple the cake was the meal LOL)...
Remember my business motto phrase: "Whatever the bride wants on HER day, it's not my area to judge, I am entitled to my own opinion, and she hers, my only job is to take the money to the bank and show up with what dessert SHE wants to keep my lights on."...
Tackyness aside... 
if the customer wants cupcakes.. so be it. I just did filled cupcakes for a bridal shower. They were also topped with a small chocolate high heel (pocketbook/shoes was the shower theme). The MOB ordered 60 cupcakes for 50 ladies, she figured she would have some to take home. WRONG! She called to tell me how great they were and how so many people were taking/asking for more. I would suggest at least 25-30% more servings than people. (100 people=125-130 cupcakes)
I know this is got off subject with whether cupcakes were tacky for weddings. I have seen many photos of wedding where cupcakes look tacky, but I have stumbled upon a website where they do cupcakes at weddings, and they do a superb job. I have attached a couple of photos also. www.perfectfrosting.multiply.com
I think cupcakes are lovely for *some* weddings. I just went to one that was served picnic style in a park. Cupcakes would have been much better IMO since they had no hired help and there was nobody that *wanted* to cut the wedding cake, so people were hacking off their own pieces after the first few got cut.
I just don't think that anyone who is attending a very formal wedding wants to mess with a cupcake. Unless they are being given as boxed favors to take home.
I don't think cupcakes are tacky for a wedding.
There are some magnificent wedding cupcake displays on flickr.
The look quite elegant to me.
The one I did didn't look half as good as those...but I am new to the cupcake wedding trend.
Hopefully my next order will look as gorgeous as those
perhaps i shouldn't take offense, but being that my business is built around cupcakes i take offense to others saying they are gross or tacky or cheap.
i'm in the baking business and the truth of the matter is, no one gives a sh*t about cake at a wedding. the bride does because she's told by society that she should have a big fancy cake and the baker is the only other one that cares. nobody remembers after the wedding what the cake is like. it's just like everything else with weddings, it's all marketed to be a big, huge deal but really it's not. the most important day of your life my ass. it's all just a hubbub. cake and all. cupcakes included.
i don't think people (guests) give as much thought to eating dessert; knife/fork, fingers or otherwise.
Whoa, now, easy...Cupcakes or not aside, people do remember good wedding cakes! I have people call me for their second daughter's wedding years after I've done the first daughter's, and they tell me that people still talk about how they enjoyed the cake.
They'll also remember a bad cake, believe me! I've been to some weddings where the afternoon's entertainment was watching the cake sloooooowly lean over.
If someone doesn't like cupcakes, don't buy them, get a cake. And if someone doesn't like cake, buy a pie. No big deal. Don't take it as an insult, it's just personal preference.
okay, i have a little hostility. it's just hard not to take offense to other's remarks about the appropriateness of cupcakes at a wedding.
this is coming from someone on 4 hours of sleep, a completely stressful day and missing my lexapro for a few days! my husbands been miserable around me, too, today. sorry but my last comment was how i was feeling at the time.
mom42ws, I understand your feelings and believe me, I am not criticizing anyone's work or skill or even their own personal preferences. I sometimes feel the same way when people talk about how ugly and tacky fountain/stairs cakes are when I built my business and skill level making those every single weekend for what seems like an eternity (sorry, but I LIKE those cakes! ); I sometimes feel the same way when folks poke fun at us BC-Only decorators with comments about how we need to "come to the 21st century" and how "old fashioned" our medium is (yet at the same time, these same people are lamenting on how hard doing BC is and how they can't do it, but insinuating that *I* need to "update" MY skills ).
But at the end of the day, I understand it's just personal preference among hundreds and hundreds of cake makers around the world.
It's definitely not intending as offensive to those who like doing cupcakes or those who specialize in cupcakes.
mom42ws, I understand your feelings and believe me, I am not criticizing anyone's work or skill or even their own personal preferences. I sometimes feel the same way when people talk about how ugly and tacky fountain/stairs cakes are when I built my business and skill level making those every single weekend for what seems like an eternity (sorry, but I LIKE those cakes!
); I sometimes feel the same way when folks poke fun at us BC-Only decorators with comments about how we need to "come to the 21st century" and how "old fashioned" our medium is (yet at the same time, these same people are lamenting on how hard doing BC is and how they can't do it, but insinuating that *I* need to "update" MY skills ).But at the end of the day, I understand it's just personal preference among hundreds and hundreds of cake makers around the world.
It's definitely not intending as offensive to those who like doing cupcakes or those who specialize in cupcakes.
Ladies,
If it pays your bills then to h*ll with the naysayers.
Work that bc/cupcake and get you money!
Cha-Ching!
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