Wedding Cakes & Food Forum

Cake Tasting?

When do you generaly start doing cake tastings? or actually, how far out from your wedding should you order your cake? I'm about 13.5 months away, which feels like forever, but theknot seems to like reminding me that its only so many days away haha

any input would be great!

Re: Cake Tasting?

  • edited December 2011
    I think theknot says to look at bakers about 6 months out. You need a date, venue, caterer, approximate headcount, dress, and ideas on bridesmaids' dresses and flowers before you can have a serious conversation with a baker. 13.5 months is October? That's not a crazy-busy time for bakers (not June or December), but it's not an empty time, either. And Boston's not a sleepy town. So, I'd go with theknot's recommendations. (Note that the clothes part is so you have your colors decided and some designs available, which might be incorporated into your wedding cake. If you don't have that stuff set, you can still order a cake, you'll just have fewer sources for design ideas.)
  • edited December 2011
    We did ours 9 months in advance.  We definitely could have waited. 

    We gave the final order a month before-hand (when we had a better idea of guest count). 
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  • cmp1986cmp1986 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We booked our cake baker at 9-10 months out. I would def. wait till you at least have a venue and a guest list. I do not think you need to wait till you have your dress, BM dresses or flowers.
  • edited December 2011
    we booked about a year out, the bakery that we are using books up quickly & they will only do 1-2 wedding cakes per week, so we gave a deposit to hold our space..we do not have to have final details in until a month or two before...so if you have your heart set on a specific bakery & there is a possibility that they could be booked I would go ahead & book as soon as you can
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  • edited December 2011
    We picked our cake a month out.
    panther
  • angeepangeeangeepangee member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We had our cake tasting 9 months in advance as well. We had it that early because we knew the baker we wanted books up fast. If you know who you want to go with, I would recommend at least reserving the date and then you could potentially do the tasting closer to your wedding date.
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  • edited December 2011
    I can't even remember. It was less than a year because we were only engaged for 13 months and we only picked out photographer like 11 months out. But we knew the baker and knew we wanted to work with her. We also knew she didn't do many wedding cakes and probably wouldn't be booked.

    However, October weddings are popular in Boston, so if you want to go with a popular baker, you'll need to look sooner rather than later.
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  • edited December 2011
    I actually had mine today which is 9 months out. I did it mostly because I'm having an end of May memorial day weekend wedding. So close to June I was afraid he might get booked up if I waited too long. He told me he had a girl come in last week for her Oct 2012 wedding. I guess its never too early lol. :3 I'd say whenever you get your guest list together and your venue like the PPs say.
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  • edited December 2011
    How important is getting the vendors booked (not details worked out) to you?  If you want to have the searching part done early - start calling now.

    Also, how important is the cake to you?  If you are okay with sheet cakes from Walmart that you don't have to worry about booking the cake any time soon.  If you want a specific bakery, book now.  If the cake is important to you and a downgraded Option B is not what you want, book now.

    Don't make the mistake and think "it is only cake" because some bakeries take a small # of orders each week and book far in advance because of that.
  • brianangelobrianangelo member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I think the key here is "hold the date." Remember that the January-February timeframe tends to be bridal show season, and tastings are available at the shows--some people will drop deposits at those shows. When you're dealing with small shops (where the best tasting cakes can be found), as was mentioned above they are necessarily limited in weekly capacity. Make sure you have your date secured with the shop of your choice!
    Brian The "Cake Delivery Boy" The Cake Boutique, Warren, Ohio http://www.cakeboutiqueshop.com
  • edited December 2011
    I'm starting to look at cakes too and Im getting married in October 2012. I wasn't sure if it was too early either. Thanks for asking. I have my dress, and venue know the colors of the wedding.
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  • ashleyk0929ashleyk0929 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I think I'm just antsy to do anything wedding related. I have the venue, and almost all of the vendors. All thats left really is my dress & the cake. and I still have a year to go. weird. I didnt think I could do this all so quickly...
    Thank you everyone for responding :) We'll start checking out some small shops around here :)
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