Charge for Wedding Cake Tasting/Consultation?

tcam2012

I just made an appointment with a bakery and it is charging us $15 for a tasting.  Is this usual?  I have never heard of being charged for a tasting before today.

fallbride1109

No, I've never heard of that.  But my wedding was 3 years ago so maybe things have changed.  Is it a home baker--the only thing I can think of is like a home baker needing to pay for the materials to make up your samples.

tcam2012

No, not a home baker... which would make more sense to me.  It's one of the more expensive bakeries in the mid-cities.  Then I really paid attention to the website of another bakery I was looking at in Ft. Worth and it will charge if you want a one-on-one private first tasting but not if you come to this monthly open house they have.  The cost of the tasting will apply to the order if I choose that bakery but this is just so weird to me. 

smurfie10

I had never heard of that until I looked at a bakery in ft worth and saw the same thing. I opted not to go with them for that reason alone, even though I loved them. I understand that cake costs money, but I guess it just seemed like an unnecessary addition to me..

fallbride1109

Wow, this must be a new trend then.  Sad, because that is one of the most fun parts of wedding planning and that takes away from it a little bit. But there are plenty out there that don't charge.

shishigami26

My original first pick did the same thing. I called to try to set up a cake tasting, but they said that if I could not come on one of the days they have their open-house, I would basically have to make a deposit towards a wedding cake to get to have a private tasting. I also think they said they would have to consult on the design of the cake over the phone before setting up the private tasting... so yeah, that was a no go. Their open-house tastings were all during the week and either in the morning or afternoon, which would have never worked with our schedule.

fallbride1109

Wow, I would never put down a deposit without a tasting.  Our first tasting was at a pretty famous high-end place--and we didn't like the cake at all.

MisstoMissus

I have heard of it being a payment that goes towards the purchase of the cake (basically a deposit). I don't love the idea, but I also appreciate that if this is becaoming more common, there must be a lot of people out there who are abusing free tastings. We chose a baker that we use all the time so we didn't need to schedule a tasting.

professorscience

There were a couple of places that charged for tastings when we were looking.  I don't remember if we went to any of those places in the end.

I mean, most of the time if you're paying, you're getting more than just one little slice of cake.  A lot of places will make a whole cupcake in their flavors for you to keep.

Unknown092113

There were a couple of places that charged when I called around....ended up going to taste at two places that said they didn't have a charge. I understand hard times but like pp said kind takes the fun away.

imgonnabamom

I would not go with a person that charged for a cake tasting.. that is ridiculous... I've never heard of that.  I've had 3 tastings so far and no one charged us for ours.  Does the $15 go towards your cake if you book them?

julesmicadams

I just ordered my cake through Cake Diva and she had us try about ten different kinds of cakes and fillings. We did pay 20, but this goes towards our order. If you don't end up going with them, it could be throwing away money, but it was worth it to us. I'm not picky when it comes to cakes, but I had no idea there were so many decisions. To cut costs, ask for either fake tiers and/or to bring sheetcake from the back. We paid about $450 and that was with two fake tiers, two real ones and sheetcake!

SealeGilbert2013

No, that isn't typical or a new thing being done. We just had our cake tasting Saturday before last, and there was no charge at all. We chose to hire her so we paid the deposit that day, but we didn't have to.

If you're in the Plano area I can make a recommendation.


In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_texas-dallas-ft-worth_charge-for-wedding-cake-tastingconsultation?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:102Discussion:2128f9ca-bf61-4b1e-a81d-42515a678163Post:2af11b40-c8e0-422c-af82-65c6997a9c43">Charge for Wedding Cake Tasting/Consultation?</a>:
[QUOTE]I just made an appointment with a bakery and it is charging us $15 for a tasting.  Is this usual?  I have never heard of being charged for a tasting before today.
Posted by tcam2012[/QUOTE]