Wedding Cake Help!

Dizlot

I am having a low key beach wedding (60 guests at the most) and need to cut some corners in terms of cost.  I was thinking of a small 9 inch cake for us to cut but i'm not sure what to give the rest of my guests....cupcakes? A separate sheet cake?  assorted pastries?  Have any of you had any success with this kind of idea?

Thanks so much!

ShesSoCold

You need to serve guests the same quality cake you and your H are cutting/eating. You can definitely get sheet cakes of the same flavor(s) to save money. But it would be inappropriate to cut a cake that no one will get to eat. 

ElcaB

Any of those things would be fine. H & I ordered a 6" round, plain white cake and decorated it with fresh flowers for ceremonial cake-cutting, then served our guests cheesecake. 

Donuts, cupcakes, sheet cakes...dessert is dessert. 

vulpiepop

Keep it consistent. If you're cutting cake, you should serve your guests cake. As a guest, watching the B&G cut cake would make me want and expect cake. You can certainly do a separate sheet cake for your guests to cut costs but I wouldn't cut cake and then serve a completely different dessert.

tammym1001

If you cut cake you need to serve cake! It can be sheet cakes that are in the back and cut and served from the kitchen, but you need to serve cake. I just left this post on another discussion yesterday but I'm going to leave it here too because this is pretty much the same question:

If I see you cut cake I'm going to want cake. I am going to want cake enough that I'm probably going to ask someone where the cake is and have an uncontrollable disgusted look on my face when they tell me I can't have any. I will then be a pouty baby about it until I've had enough liquor to make me forget that I didn't get cake.

Maggie0829

As a cake lover I would be really disappointed if I saw you cut a cake but all I got was a silly pastry.  So just be consistent.  If you cut a cake, serve cake (whether it be a sheet cake, round/tiered cake or cupcake) that is of the same quality and flavor as the one you are serving.  No special godiva ganache chocolate cake for you and then basic yellow cake with chocolate frosting for your guests.

atlastmrsg

What about cupcakes? More expensive than sheet cakes but still hit the "cake" sweet spot better than random pastries.

MesmrEwe

Serve the guests the same as you're serving yourselves, you wouldn't feed some guests steak and others hot dogs.  If you need to cut the budget, there are a lot of better ways to do so than cutting food first because that is one thing that all of your guests will experience.  Really ask the question of your baker of "what is the cheapest way for me to serve 60 guests a slice of wedding cake at our wedding without looking cheap when they get their slice of cake" - and work with your vendor!!!!  Chances are your baker will be willing to work with you to maintain a budget if you tell them what you've got to work with and are reasonable about what that amount is and the design.  A 9" cake will serve ~1/3 of your guest list, why not get a 12" and have everyone served. 

The story of DH's cousin...  They paid $3.25/slice (1x3x5 portion) for their main simply-decorated cake, and $3/slice for "sheet cake" (portion 1x1.5x1.5).  For $25 they could have fed ALL of their guests a full slice of wedding cake instead of the majority of us being served a slice of kiddie party cake when we were expecting a slice of cake.  It wouldn't have been so bad but the meal was LADEN with garlic and I was hoping the cake would take that taste out of my mouth!!!

BlueBirdMB

MesmrEwe said:

Serve the guests the same as you're serving yourselves, you wouldn't feed some guests steak and others hot dogs.  If you need to cut the budget, there are a lot of better ways to do so than cutting food first because that is one thing that all of your guests will experience.  Really ask the question of your baker of "what is the cheapest way for me to serve 60 guests a slice of wedding cake at our wedding without looking cheap when they get their slice of cake" - and work with your vendor!!!!  Chances are your baker will be willing to work with you to maintain a budget if you tell them what you've got to work with and are reasonable about what that amount is and the design.  A 9" cake will serve ~1/3 of your guest list, why not get a 12" and have everyone served. 

The story of DH's cousin...  They paid $3.25/slice (1x3x5 portion) for their main simply-decorated cake, and $3/slice for "sheet cake" (portion 1x1.5x1.5).  For $25 they could have fed ALL of their guests a full slice of wedding cake instead of the majority of us being served a slice of kiddie party cake when we were expecting a slice of cake.  It wouldn't have been so bad but the meal was LADEN with garlic and I was hoping the cake would take that taste out of my mouth!!!

Why is a sheet cake slice a kiddie party cake?  Our sheet cake slices were exactly the same size as the tiered cake- I couldn't even tell which was which when it was all cut.  

For us, the tiered cake and sheet cake were very different prices.  The tiered cake was $7 per slice and the sheet cake was $3.50 per slice.

JoanE2012

MesmrEwe said:

Serve the guests the same as you're serving yourselves, you wouldn't feed some guests steak and others hot dogs.  If you need to cut the budget, there are a lot of better ways to do so than cutting food first because that is one thing that all of your guests will experience.  Really ask the question of your baker of "what is the cheapest way for me to serve 60 guests a slice of wedding cake at our wedding without looking cheap when they get their slice of cake" - and work with your vendor!!!!  Chances are your baker will be willing to work with you to maintain a budget if you tell them what you've got to work with and are reasonable about what that amount is and the design.  A 9" cake will serve ~1/3 of your guest list, why not get a 12" and have everyone served. 

The story of DH's cousin...  They paid $3.25/slice (1x3x5 portion) for their main simply-decorated cake, and $3/slice for "sheet cake" (portion 1x1.5x1.5).  For $25 they could have fed ALL of their guests a full slice of wedding cake instead of the majority of us being served a slice of kiddie party cake when we were expecting a slice of cake.  It wouldn't have been so bad but the meal was LADEN with garlic and I was hoping the cake would take that taste out of my mouth!!!

You got a slice of cake, just a small one.  That's not the sheet cake's fault, so implying sheet cakes are kiddie party cakes is unfair.  I've had some huge ass slices of sheet cake!  I don't discriminate against cake types as long as it's good.

MesmrEwe

The bakery they used definition of "sheet cake" was those cakes in the squat metal pans that they sell for kiddie parties, not anything with the same layers as a wedding cake or "kitchen cake" or filled cake.  So yes - kiddie party cake, not slice of WEDDING cake, and most certainly not the full slice of filed wedding cake that the other half of our table was served.  Even they commented on how tiny our slices were by comparison.  But at the end of the day - I can be fine with the itsy bitsy slice of kiddie cake, when that is what EVERYONE gets served!  My point was the portion served was different for guests (kind of tacky) when the price paid was <$25 to give everyone a full slice of filled cake with over twice the portion.

weddingcactus

My understanding is that cake tiers and multiple flavors are what really push up the price of a wedding cake (and probably decorations). Why not a simply flavored and decorated single tier cake that's large enough to serve all of your guests? I personally do agree that watching someone cut a layered cake and then receiving a sheet cake without multiple layers separated with delicious frosting or filling would certainly make me disappointed. I understand you're trying to manage costs, but I think serving some guests a better cake than others would be hurtful and same with serving bride and groom one thing and guests another.

Jen4948

To cut a cake is an indication to your guests that you will serve cake. If you fail to serve cake of the same or higher quality after cutting it, your guests will feel baited and switched, so if you're going to cut cake, have one of the same quality or higher to serve the guests.

That said, a cake doesn't have to have tiers.

iloveu4ever

So if you serve a sheet cake, you should eat the sheet cake.

haleyk620

My FI and I are going to do a cake for us to cut and then sheet cakes for our guests (it seemed to be a cheaper alternative but still the same quality as what we will be eating). 

kmmssg

Dizlot said:

I am having a low key beach wedding (60 guests at the most) and need to cut some corners in terms of cost.  I was thinking of a small 9 inch cake for us to cut but i'm not sure what to give the rest of my guests....cupcakes? A separate sheet cake?  assorted pastries?  Have any of you had any success with this kind of idea?

Thanks so much!

Have your baker make a kitchen cake that is exactly like your 9 inch cake - same flavor, same fillings.  That way their cake is just like what you cut into and you should save some money by doing it that way.

floridabride44

haleyk620 said:

My FI and I are going to do a cake for us to cut and then sheet cakes for our guests (it seemed to be a cheaper alternative but still the same quality as what we will be eating). 

Good call - cake is almost always cut in the back, anyway, so people will have no idea (and shouldn't care either way) whether they're getting a piece of the round tiered cake or the sheet cake. It'll all taste the same!  

hpubride

I like the idea of a small cake for you guys on top of a cupcake tower which your guests can eat those, although I've heard several people say this doesn't actually save money for them and ends up being about the same. Perhaps you can have a small cake for the two of you and a dessert buffet can be worked in with your caterer for a discount. Good luck.