WEDDING CAKE COSTS

The two most frequent questions are, “How much should I budget for my bridal cake?” and “What is a broad and realistic price range for wedding cakes?”

For this discussion, we will answer the question “How much should I budget for my bridal cake?”

The subject, “What is a general and reasonable price range for wedding cakes?” is beyond the scope of this particular article.

If you are interested in finding out the answer to the second question, go to WeddingCake.org’s homepage and download a FREE copy of “How To Buy The Picture-Perfect Wedding Cake…GUARANTEED!" for the answer.

The straightforward answer is between 3%-5% of your overall wedding budget.

If you have budgeted $10,000 for your wedding, then putting aside $300-$500 for your bridal cake is a good estimate. If you have resources of $20,000 then setting aside $600-$1,000 for your wedding cake makes sense.

Initially, surveys were conducted by wedding cake researcher Ed Otto, across the country based on six geographic regions: Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Upper Midwest, and finally Lower Midwest.

He collected price samplings from each geographic region to create a generalized cost average for each of the six territories.

Unfortunately, his model did not work. To illustrate this theory, a cake produced in Miami, FL for 300 servings at a cost of $1650 was also produced in Charleston, SC for $975. Both states are in the Southeast region, but the demographics of the brides are completely different.

As another example, a cake designed in New York City at a price of $5,500 for 250 servings was reproduced in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for $2,500. Again, both states are in the Northeast region, but the demographics of the brides are dissimilar.

What Mr. Otto did find was a connection between higher prices in larger cities and lower prices in less populated areas.

This forced him to rethink the regional pricing strategy and change it to a pricing model according to relative populations spread across the US.

To illustrate this point, it is a better comparison of wedding cake costs between Kansas City, MO and Memphis, TN than Charleston, SC and Miami, FL.

Here’s a quick and easy way for you to check prices in your area: Go to a two baker/designers who appear to be out of your price range. Then, go to a two that are priced in the middle, and finally, go to a two lower priced baker/designers. After seeing what they offer, you’ll know within $100 what you’ll spend.

Keep in mind, shop the baker/designers you visit according to the four groups of baker/designers that are described in our article “WEDDING CAKE DESIGNER” or it can be found in its entirety in your free download "How To Buy The Picture-Perfect Wedding Cake…GUARANTEED!" by going to the homepage of WedddingCake.org.

In other words, remember to compare apples to apples.

Don’t make the all too common mistake of pricing grocery stores against specialty cake shops or a home cake studio with a retail bakery.

If you would like additional information on wedding cake costs, WeddingCake.org is creating an eye-opening video “How Bakeries Really Price Wedding Cakes.” We’ll take you behind the scenes and expose the whole thing in detail. It is scheduled to be released in May 2011.