How many cupcakes did you order?

kvruns

Curious to see how many cupcakes you all ordered and whether they were mini, regular or jumbo sizes. I know there are calculators out there and the one bakery we've talked to mentioned 2.5/person for minis and 1.5 for regular (not interested in jumbo), but I'd like some real counts from people who actually ordered. I also know # of flavors can impact what you order, especially with minis since people may be more inclined to try multiple ones.

Of course FI is a total fat kid with cake/cupcakes and is all well people are going to want 1-2 full size plus a bunch of minis etc and I said well YOU might do that but I wouldn't think the majority of attendees are going to eat that many - especially since we are having a full dinner before hand.   We were looking at doing a mix of mini and regular, partly in a "know your crowd" type of thing but the estimate from the bakery seemed really high for quantity. 

I definitely plan on getting some to-go containers for people and am not opposed to bringing leftovers home with us or family/wedding party but I also don't want to over-order too much and feel wasteful.

Maggie0829

We had 130 people attend our wedding and we ordered 140 cupcakes.  We had 5 different flavors so we just split the count evenly (28 of each flavor).  We decided to have just enough for everyone to have one because we knew not everyone would eat one but others may eat two if they saw that there were some left over.  Also, the cupcakes were pretty large and substantial.  Now if they were smaller then I would have gotten 2 per person.

But in the end, as long as there is enough for each person to have one then you have enough.

ShesSoCold

I had 34 guests and ordered 45 cupcakes. We probably had 15 left over. 

djh513

Because I am curious as well - PPs did you have cupcakes only or cake AND cupcakes?

cupcait927

I did large cupcakes over the regular sized ones our bakery had. We had 50 guests total that night and had ordered 60 - one per person with a few extras left over. We only did two flavors and split it half and half. We ended up with about 24 leftover because everyone was so full from dinner and a lot of people split the cupcakes since they were so large.

 

We did a 6" cake on top so there was something for us to cut but honestly, I wish we had just cut into a cupcake and been done with it. We have this giant cake sitting in our freezer that only has a tiny slice cut out of it.

ShesSoCold

djharmon28 said:

Because I am curious as well - PPs did you have cupcakes only or cake AND cupcakes?

We had cheesecakes and an ice cream bar. I think only one person had cheesecake. We ate cheesecake and cupcakes for weeks. 

djh513

ShesSoCold said:

show previous quotes

djharmon28 said:

Because I am curious as well - PPs did you have cupcakes only or cake AND cupcakes?

We had cheesecakes and an ice cream bar. I think only one person had cheesecake. We ate cheesecake and cupcakes for weeks. 

Okay, thanks. Just trying to determine if the number of cupcakes you ordered was more or less based on having other desserts as well.

daria24

We had 96 guests and ordered:

100 regular cupcakes (4 flavors)

180 mini cupcakes (and we had boxes to take home minis) (4 flavors, different than the full-sized)

We had 1 regular cupcake left over, and less than 10 minis. Honestly I wish we had ordered about a dozen more regular cupcakes, so we could have the leftovers. 

We didn't have any cake or other desserts. 

kvruns

daria24 said:

We had 96 guests and ordered:

100 regular cupcakes (4 flavors)

180 mini cupcakes (and we had boxes to take home minis) (4 flavors, different than the full-sized)

We had 1 regular cupcake left over, and less than 10 minis. Honestly I wish we had ordered about a dozen more regular cupcakes, so we could have the leftovers. 

We didn't have any cake or other desserts. 

Wow that's a lot of cupcakes consumed!

Maggie0829

djharmon28 said:

Because I am curious as well - PPs did you have cupcakes only or cake AND cupcakes?

We had a small (6") cake to cut for H and I.  It was a basic chocolate and vanilla cake (same as two cupcake flavors).  So the cupcakes were the only dessert that we had and really it was plenty for our crowd.  The majority of our guests were more interested in the open bar then they were cupcakes.

MesmrEwe

For DH's cousin - he had 250 guests and had 400 cupcakes served buffet style...  There were <10 left at the end of the night tops..  Good cake/cupcakes get eaten.  Some people will have maybe one, others will have 6 over the spread of the evening.  Better to have more than enough great tasting ones than not enough.  No one wants to be the person who didn't get cake/dessert when they wanted it!

AddieCake

We had 66 guests who RSVPd yes and ordered 75 cupcakes. I think we had about 10 no-shows. We had probably 20 leftover.

djh513

What does everyone think of ordering extras of any flavors we get in minis (these might be less common/different flavors - champagne, salted caramel, etc) and then providing small cardboard to-go box type things and letting guests pack them up to take with them? We aren't doing favors, but I thought this could be a good way to go.

kvruns

djharmon28 said:

What does everyone think of ordering extras of any flavors we get in minis (these might be less common/different flavors - champagne, salted caramel, etc) and then providing small cardboard to-go box type things and letting guests pack them up to take with them? We aren't doing favors, but I thought this could be a good way to go.

I would definitely have to go boxes available, whether it is deliberately ordering extras for the purpose of take home or just to help get rid of the leftovers.

my only caution with ordering extras minis specifically for take home would be do you think everyone (or a majority perhaps) will fill the box and thus not everyone gets a take home. but if it is just ok let's order an extra 4 dozen and get some boxes but not have t as a specific "favor" I think it is good  

djh513

Ok... good advice to think on. If we decide to order extra to take home, I need to ask my mom (or someone) to pack me a box of minis bc I definitely want some!

cakemurderer

I come from a dessert-loving family, which is a huge understatement. I plan to have an excess of desserts at our wedding to accommodate their vulture-like tendencies when it comes to anything containing sugar. Your question's kind of like the debate of how much beer vs. wine to order. You know your crowd best so it's hard to objectively answer that question. If you're unsure and it's in the budget to do so, I'd recommend ordering more than you think you'll need. Worst case scenario is you wind up with a bunch of leftovers. The nice thing is cupcakes freeze really well (I've always got an emergency stash in my freezer) so clear out some space in yours before the wedding just in case. Or, you know, drop them by my house and I'll be sure to take good care of them!

sarahufl

I wish we had thought of the box idea.

We had 175 people at our wedding. We ordered a variety of stuff (4 different mini cupcakes, 1 kind of medium sized cupcake, petit fours and chocolate chip cookies). Be prepared for people to want to sample stuff. I can't remember exact quantities, but I believe we planned for 3 pieces per guest, so a little over 500 items.

The cookies, which were made by a friend as a gift (she makes them, she offered) (150) went in about 1 minute. Six months later, I still have friends lamenting the fact that they only got 1 cookie.

So be prepared for some items to be more popular than others, and for people to take more than one thing. We also didn't do a very formal, sit-down thing- buffet food and lots of dancing. We left the deserts on the table from the start of the reception to the end of it, so people picked at it all night.

We had maybe 20 cupcakes left over?

kvruns

cakemurderer said:

I come from a dessert-loving family, which is a huge understatement. I plan to have an excess of desserts at our wedding to accommodate their vulture-like tendencies when it comes to anything containing sugar. Your question's kind of like the debate of how much beer vs. wine to order. You know your crowd best so it's hard to objectively answer that question. If you're unsure and it's in the budget to do so, I'd recommend ordering more than you think you'll need. Worst case scenario is you wind up with a bunch of leftovers. The nice thing is cupcakes freeze really well (I've always got an emergency stash in my freezer) so clear out some space in yours before the wedding just in case. Or, you know, drop them by my house and I'll be sure to take good care of them!

oh yea FI is like oh well we will just keep the leftovers and I'm like dude we are total fatkids with cake/cupcakes and we do not need a freezer full of them.  Now ya know maybe 1/2 dozen or a dozen wouldn't be so bad but I don't want like 30 sitting in there!

We have a meeting with another baker this weekend so I am curious to see how her recommendation stacks up with the first place we went to

hyechica81

as a baker i recommend ordering two regular size cupcakes pp. most guest want to try one of each cupcake. and i would suggest only doing two -three flavors max. when you start adding more than three lavors it gets crazy and you might have more than want to try one flavor over the other.

so if you are doing three flavors order equal amounts of each flavor keep in mind peanut and nut allergies when doing the cupcakes 

i usualy suggest a chocolate flavored cupcake a vanilla flavored cupcake and something else my popular flavors are vanilla filled with M&Ms and drizzled with caramel and M&Ms chocolate filled with chocolate ganache raspberry buttercream chocolate drizzle and topped with some raspberries 

 if you decide to do minis as well i would suggest 3-4 flavors max minis are like two bites so  i would do 3-4 pp if you are just doing minis  and also get equal amounts of all flavors 

you wouldnt want to have it where more people want the vanilla and less people want the chocolate and you ordered more chocolate than vanilla 

hope this helps 

djh513

hyechica81 said:

as a baker i recommend ordering two regular size cupcakes pp. most guest want to try one of each cupcake. and i would suggest only doing two -three flavors max. when you start adding more than three lavors it gets crazy and you might have more than want to try one flavor over the other.

so if you are doing three flavors order equal amounts of each flavor keep in mind peanut and nut allergies when doing the cupcakes 

i usualy suggest a chocolate flavored cupcake a vanilla flavored cupcake and something else my popular flavors are vanilla filled with M&Ms and drizzled with caramel and M&Ms chocolate filled with chocolate ganache raspberry buttercream chocolate drizzle and topped with some raspberries 

 if you decide to do minis as well i would suggest 3-4 flavors max minis are like two bites so  i would do 3-4 pp if you are just doing minis  and also get equal amounts of all flavors 

you wouldnt want to have it where more people want the vanilla and less people want the chocolate and you ordered more chocolate than vanilla 

hope this helps 

Definitely! Thanks for the tips!

sarahufl

We also did a mix of rich and sweeter. I think we got a chocolate/peanut butter, a lemon/blueberry, strawberry shortcake and something else chocolaty.

Especially for a summer wedding in Florida, the lighter flavors were popular.