Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Cakes are EXPENSIVE!

I have been putting off the cake planning part of the wedding - mostly because I thought I had it figured out. I just want a small tiered cake as our "wedding cake" and then other smaller cakes around it. How hard could that be?

Umm...

Not easy. My mom and I went to our local Publix on Sunday, since my fiance and I both LOVE Publix cakes and would love to have one as our wedding cake. I had budgeted $500 for the cake. Oh silly me.

To just get a big wedding cake to feed all our guests, it would cost $700. WHAT?? At Publix?? Clearly I have been disillusioned on how much cakes cost. My friend told me that her cake that fed 160 people cost her $800. Holy crap.

But I think I'm getting close to figuring it all out. If we do a three-tier cake from Publix, it will feed 100 people and cost about $300. Something like this (but with different decorations):



Then we can supplement that with a bunch of little cakes from Publix - which will be cheaper and add lots of fun variety. I mean, check out some of these fun cakes they can make for us!


These run about $20/each and serve 10-12 people. They are so beautiful and add so much variety! I'm really hoping this will all work out.

Did the cost of cakes suprise you? How are you handling the sticker shock?

14 comments:

  1. Yeah, I like your idea and that was my original one too - a cake buffet! We're doing ice cream cake and it's actually cheaper. Of course the ice cream transport will happen the evening before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. luckily ours was included with catering, but i love your idea! we had SOO much left over wedding cake, i'm so happy we didn't spend a ton on it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thankfully our cake was included with the venue. Those cakes look so yummy though! Personally I love grocery store baked goods. Just don't tell them it's for a wedding. I'm sure the cost will go up 10%. Ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks so delicious! I was surprised by the cost of cake too! A 3 tiered wedding cake from a local grocery (not even a bakery) is running us around $500 to feed 140 people. My cousin just got married in Richmond VA and her cake was $800 for 200 people - so crazy! A cheaper alternative is get a pretty cake, but have a sheet cake in the back. If your cake is being served your guests will never know they got a piece for the back! Not my favorite idea, but budgets are tight!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The sticker shock got me too back when I got married. We did a publix cake too, and ours was around 300$ (we bet that not everyone would eat it, and we were right, we had lots left over) I think the little cakes are a FANTASTIC idea. Adds some color, and fun variety. (I can't wait to take pictures of the dessert table, lol)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sticker shock here for sure! Our 3 tier cake for 150 people will cost us approx. $940 (YIKES!!).

    We still have at least a hundred more guests so the remaining 50 - 100 will be served a sheet cake from our local Wegmans (they have super delicious cakes)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, that seems quite expensive...
    We had a 3-tier cake for 100 people for under 200$. But it wasn't that kind of stylish cake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah cakes are soooo expensive. Are you doing a grooms cake as well?

    ReplyDelete
  9. We have a sheet cake (strawberry & cream mmm) included in our venue package so we got a dummy cake so the price was not too bad!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think Publix is an excellent way to go - that's a great price! I was going to go with them if I hadn't won a $150 credit to another bakery. I tried a sample at a bridal show of a couple of Publix cakes and they were super yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. heck yeah i was surprised. that's why i wanted to do a cake buffet and get a bunch of $20 cakes. in the end, i found someone on craigslist who gave me a deal.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good idea. I think that's what we're planning to do. Any way to save a dollar!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Totally good idea...more fun for guests too...stuffy expensive cakes...who really notices?! Ummmm no one. The sheet cake or smaller cake idea is really popular and your guests just want something good so it is a win win situation...our cake meeting is next month and afraid...

    ReplyDelete
  14. If you're a fan of shows like Ace of Cakes and CakeBoss you understand FULLY why they're that expensive!! These seemingly 'super-simple' cakes are a monster to make! And fondant seems to always raise the price, which is funny to me b/c I hear fondant is not very tasty. LoL

    ReplyDelete