For that reason, we’re going to help you prepare for your “wedding cake appointment” or what is referred to as a “wedding cake consultation.”

By the time you finish this tutorial, you’ll have a good understanding of:
• Pre-Appointment Planning: What questions you should ask every baker on your initial phone call.
• Appointment Preparation Planning: How to come prepared to your consultation.
• Questions A Baker Might Ask At Your Consultation: Essential questions you can expect to be asked at your appointment.

You’ll want to begin by “pre-qualifying” the bakers you’re considering. Pre-qualifying is a technique used to make sure you’re making appointments with bakers who meet your needs, and weed out those who don’t.

Brides have told us repeatedly, “You’ll save a lot of aggravation, if you first call all the bakers you’re thinking about using to see if they “meet your needs.” As one bride clearly put it, “It doesn’t make sense to make an appointment with someone you won’t use.”

For example, if your budget is $450 for a one-hundred serving wedding cake, does it make any sense to make an appointment with a baker/designer who begins their wedding cake prices at $600?

In another example, if a baker only delivers in a 30 mile radius and you need a wedding cake transported 50 miles away, is there a reason to consider them?

To compile a thorough list of questions for you to explore, we documented 129 FAQs from 500 bakery websites, in addition to the bakers and brides we’ve surveyed.

We gave them the title “129 Pre-Qualifying Power-Shopping Questions That Will Help You Choose An Awesome Baker/Designer” because they really do. Without a doubt, there are some very helpful topics and questions to think about. ( As a reminder, they are included in "The #1 Ultimate Bride's Guide To Buying A Wedding Cake" )

They are divided into 7 groups: Consultation, Baking/Flavors/Frostings, Wedding Cakes Design, Delivery, Pricing, Contracts/Legal/Licenses, and General.

In addition, we took it a step further. After surveying 12,000 brides over the last four years, here are:

The top 10 “pre-qualifying” questions brides say helped them the most!

• 1) My wedding date is_______________, are you available?
• 2) How soon do I need to order my wedding cake and how far in advance of my wedding date should I schedule a consultation?
• 3) What should I bring to my consultation?
• 4) Do I have to make a deposit to reserve my wedding date? If so, how much is it and can I get a refund if necessary?
• 5) Can you give me an average cost and a price range for your wedding cakes?
• 6) Do you recreate wedding cake designs from the Internet and magazine photos, or are they all original works?
• 7) What flavors of cakes and fillings do you offer? Of those, which are the most popular? Do I order samples prior to coming in?
• 8) Do you frost and decorate your wedding cakes in buttercream, whip, or fondant? Do you offer other types of frostings?