How much does a wedding cake cost?
How much does a wedding cake cost?
We all know the whispers and gossip when it comes to the price of anything with the word ‘wedding’ in front of it. Often cakes are the worst affected by this, this is mainly because it’s not seen an essential part of a wedding, unlike say a venue, a dress (although I would argue that nothing is essential, as nowadays weddings can be as unique as your are). It is understandable when couples see how much a birthday cake is compared to a wedding cake, often they are hundreds of pound apart. So here I’d like to clarify the difference between a birthday cake and a wedding cake. Strap in….
Back to basics
Pricing starts with the basics…good quality ingredients. When I first started making wedding cakes I remember getting a comment off a disgruntled bride after I’d told her my price that said ‘but it’s just eggs and flour, how can it be so expensive?’ and this is an understandable but a very misguided statement (more on the misguidance later). Cakes are made up of eggs, butter, sugar, flour, cream, chocolate, jams etc. all of which when broken down are relatively inexpensive, but quality plays it’s part. Wedding cakes are (hopefully) a once in a lifetime purchase, and something that deserves to taste the absolute best for you and your guests, as well as being environmentally and ethically as good as possible. I only use organic free range eggs, higher welfare grass fed butter, Matthews Cotswold flour, the finest Belgian chocolate and so many more high quality and therefore high cost ingredients. I could of course use less expensive ingredients but my couples expect and deserve the best, and you can really taste it in my cakes. I make my own jams and caramels which tastes time and of course an extra cost of having the hob on for longer, but again my couples taste the difference. I do actually use the same ingredients for my birthday cakes, so for me this isn’t an area that changes the price from birthday to wedding cakes…so what is it? read on.
Experience is key
When I was little I started baking alongside my Granny, I was probably 4 and it was 1985. I’m now 42, that’s 38 years of baking under my apron, but I still wasn’t confident to bake a professional cake (birthday) until 2014, this was when I first took money for any cake, I didn’t take a wedding cake order until 2016 and you know what? It fell over! I still wasn’t professional enough to know how to make a structurally sound wedding cake to sit on display for hours. Luckily this cake fell during the 10 minute journey to the venue, so I saved it and restacked at the venue, and as far as I’m aware all was well after that. But I was shaken, I realised just how out of my depth I was, so I invested in a course with one of the countries best cake artists, to learned how to make the cake more structurally sound. This meant changing my recipes, my coverings, my supports, delivery methods and so much more. All of this costs money and time and we all know time is money right? This is a value that needs to be covered and an experience that deserves a higher price point. This isn’t something that is required for most birthday cakes (although all experience helps). This investment made me a better cake designer and one that couples can trust. Of course the odd accident happens that none of us can control, I once had a cake fall over as I had to slam my breaks on to avoid hitting two horses in the road, or a very hot day might need a different approach to the care and attention of the set up…again this comes with experience. If you had been in an industry for 10 years and were still paid the same as you were when you were newly qualified you’d be asking questions wouldn’t you? Most people can make a pretty adequate birthday cake after a few months of practice but wedding cakes take years to master, most designers continue to hone their skills year on year to stay ahead of the trends and techniques coming out, it all adds value to the product, most of this investment is required for weddings rather than birthday cakes.
Skills to pay the bills
Like any profession skill level is vast, there are cake artists that excel at buttercream, others are amazing sugar flowers artists, some are just starting out but make a great brownie, but have never stacked a cake. This is all skill, and this craft is something that costs money. The same way you’d pay an architect to design your house rather than the builder, yes the builder can make an amazing house and indeed advise the designer, but you want someone with the design skill and knowledge to come up with the perfect design. Many people can build a tasty cake but not all people can design a beautiful looking cake that also hold up well. Skill level again comes with time and practice, and industry knowledge. I no longer use buttercream for the outside of my wedding cakes, I don’t feel it’s safe enough for a wedding cake, but I’m very happy to use it for a birthday cake, this is knowledge, I know that there are numerous hazards to having a buttercream cake on display all day long, this took me time to understand. Time is money. I can create beautiful handmade sugar and wafer paper flowers, this takes lots of skill and investment in training, and time. Time is money. I can advise my couples on the best flavours and design to suit their venue, their budget, their style, this all came from experience and on the job learning, which took years. Being a cake designer is very different from being a cake maker, and a lot more time and effort goes into a wedding cake design than your average birthday cake. Most celebration cakes don’t require a sketch or numerous sketches, colour matching or bespoke structural supports or design details. But if someone wanted a birthday cake that needed to serve 100 guests and had lots of sugar flowers and design details then this would of course be the same price as a wedding cake… or would it?
They want their cake and eat it? Cheeky
“So you want a cake that feeds 100 and is covered in sugar flowers? Great I can do that, see you on Monday for collection…bye.” - said no wedding cake customer ever.
I’ve never had a birthday cake customer ask me for cake samples, also most are very happy to collect their cake, not-so-much a wedding cake customer. I have a minimum spend for my wedding cakes that need to be delivered, this is because I need to make sure that if all of my time is spent on one cake that I earn the correct amount of money, if however a couple would like to collect, allowing me to still take another cake order I don’t ask them to meet me minimum spend, just like a birthday cake. Wedding cake couples require and expect more and they get more, but they have to pay more.
On average wedding cakes take about 10+ hours to make, 10+ emails or phone calls, zoom calls, even in person meetings, sketches and samples. Ask any cake designer about sample week and you’ll be met with utter horror, fainting, high blood pressure and a lighter bank account… my last run cost me £90 in printed materials, £120 in postal fees, £85 in cake tins, and god knows how much in actual ingredients (I should get on that!) it also took me 4 days to make and wrap 18 different flavours each making 12 slices…that’s 216 slices of cake, and just little old me, it took so much time and effort, all of which needs to be paid for and all of which isn’t really required for other celebration cakes. This costs money that has to be covered by the customer. No one makes cakes as a charity, all costs need to be accounted for and spread out over the amount of cakes we make a year. Hidden costs like websites, social media, advertising, exhibition displays, mobile phone, water, electricity, gas, paying for directory listings etc etc all need to be paid for by our customers. A simple birthday cake doesn’t require half of this stuff, although of course we do need to add wages and profit to birthday cake orders, most of these hidden extras are for the benefit of wedding customers, adding the extra dollar.
Why a minimum spend? and exactly how much is it going to cost?
As wedding suppliers we book years in advance. Summer is the peak period for weddings and weekends are highly sort after, with people securing their date 1-2 years ahead. In order to make sure that we make the right amount of wages and profit and to cover the cost of the ingredients it’s really important for cake designers to have a minimum spend. Most of us work alone, after all we are the one with the skill, the same way you’d want Damien Hurst to paint a Damien Hurst picture, you want me to make your Tspcake cake, so I can only work on one or two cakes a week, meaning that if I took a cake order for £100 I’d then potentially have to turn away another couple that emailed me the day after wanting a £800 cake, this doesn’t make business sense does it? So having a minimum spend is really important. Likewise I do have a minimum spend for birthday cakes, but I can make most birthday cakes a lot quicker than a wedding cake, and as I said above I don’t need to deliver it. Wedding cakes need to be delivered because they are super delicate and need a professional to understand how to build them on site, provide the correct serving and allergen information to the venue and deal with any problems along the way. Birthday cakes don’t often need this, but if someone wants a birthday cake that does then they’d need to pay for that too, just the same as a wedding cake.
I currently have a minimum order value for wedding cakes of £600, this changes year on year as my skill level changes, or the business expenses change. My couples expect a high level of service and are more than happy to cover this price, they understand my years of experience, the quality of my designs and recipes - with many coming back year on year to purchase other celebration cakes and treat boxes. My average spend on a wedding cake is £800, and this is what I suggest couples budget for. There is a cake maker out there for everyone, just the same as there’s a shoe out there for everyone - some people are very happy with a shoe from Primark, others want a shoe from Jimmy Choo, everyone has their budget and their desire for a product. If you really want a high end shoe you’ll save up for it and budget accordingly, if however you just want a shoe that anyone can have and that will ‘do the job’ rather than wow your mates then you can budget for that too. My point is that we save for things that mean something to us. I’ll let you into a secret - I didn’t have a wedding cake - because I didn’t have the budget for the one I wanted, and I wasn’t going to compromise on the other things I wanted for my wedding, for me a suitcase full of 200 macarons worked just fine (and still cost a pretty penny). I have couples who find the cake one of the most important aspects of their day and allocate their budget to cover this, I also have couples who want a pretty cake to cut but they just want a small cake that tastes phenomenal, so they choose to collect and use the rest of their budget elsewhere. The thing with wedding is that they are totally personal and you do you, but please never suggest that suppliers add ‘wedding tax’ just because you said wedding. We work so hard to make our cakes affordable whilst also being able to make a living - truth is that most wedding suppliers have to take extra jobs to cover the bills, weddings are expensive but actually should be double the price in reality. Cakes are particularly targeted as we’re an industry that is full of hobby bakers that don’t charge or charge only for ingredients that makes people view cake design as cheap, when it absolutely isn’t, it’s artwork that takes the same time and skill as other art, it just so happens it gets eaten, which for me is a double win.
Choosing wedding suppliers that have skill, knowledge and speak your design language is so important, make sure you value their work and don’t just go to them because you feel you need a particular thing for your wedding. As designers we want you to appreciate our craft and understand where that price comes from. Luckily I can say I work with amazing couples that love and understand what I do, and why I charge the price I do. Please be kind to your suppliers, we work so hard to make dreams come true.