It’s a question I get asked a lot! There’s a lot more that goes into pricing a wedding cake than people realise, and hopefully by breaking it down, it will shed some light on what makes up the price.
Administration
Theres a lot more admin involved than people realise! Ordering ingredients, liaising with venues and other suppliers, confirming your booking details to name but a few!
Consultation & Design process
I have a one-to-one consultation with each of my couples, capturing all of the details of your special day and getting to know you as a couple to ensure the design I create for you, reflects all that you have told me.
I hand sketch several design options for my couples to choose from, which also includes working out bespoke pricing for each design.
Ingredients
Ingredients are obviously a core part of what makes up the price quoted for a wedding cake. And whilst I always try to keep my prices as lean as possible, it will come as no surprise that the cost of ingredients have risen significantly over the last few years.
Making your cake
Depending on the design and size of your cake, there is usually several flavours of cake to make as well as any fillings and ganache. Once baked, my wedding cakes take several hours to fill and ganache to ensure they will be perfectly stable on the day of your wedding.
Decorating your cake
The price of my wedding cakes reflect my level of experience and creativity. As such, the process of decorating your wedding cake cannot be rushed – it requires patience and skill to a achieve a beautiful and perfect finish.
Hand crafting any additional design elements
Additional decorative elements such as sugar flowers, ruffles etc will also be factored into the price of my cakes. These elements by their very nature are often technically difficult and have taken a lot of time to perfect.
Delivery & Set-up
This is often a cost that is overlooked – most venues I deliver to are on average an hour from my studio, so a 2 hour round trip. Added to this is normally about an hour and a half to set up the cake at the venue as well as any additional costs incurred from the delivery such as petrol and congestion charges/parking.
Tasting boxes
A lot of my time pre and post wedding season is spent baking and packaging up cake samples for couples looking to try my cake, as well as experimenting with new flavours and new flavour combinations.
Other business costs
Like any business, I have costs that I occur as a result of running my business that sit outside of any costs directly linked to the actual making of a wedding cake – for example equipment, materials, training, utilities, marketing costs such as website hosting.
Ultimately, like anything you buy, the end product will reflect the skill, experience, craftsmanship and creativity that went into making it.
Image credits: Melissa Megan Photograpy, Meghan Claire Photography, Hannah Birtwistle Photography