How much cake??

[Deleted User] · April 2011

Ok, I need some advice.

We have about 300 people at our wedding, but I really hate to spend over $1000 on a cake, especially when I've heard so much of it doesn't get eaten.

For those of you already married or who have ordered your cake, did you get enough slices for everyone or did you do a percentage, say 70%?

How did it turn out?

Going to my cake appointment tomorrow and I was thinking doing cake for around 225?

Thanks!

NcsuPsych · April 2011

At my wedding, I over ordered so we had some left over. I panicked at the last minute and ordered a sheet cake.
I've also gone to a wedding with 300 + people and over half the cake was left over (it honestly wasn't that good).

Then I went to two other weddings (one was a cousins and the other's was a knottie friend) and they both had large cakes and large guest lists and there wasnt any left. The cakes were soooo delicious!!

I don't think you should uncut the amount because then you'll have people that wont get cake, assuming everyone wants some. Maybe theres a more non-traditional route you could go? Cupcakes are much more popular now, and depending on who makes it and the style, these can be a little less expensive.

You could also have a small wedding cake and then just have kitchen sheet cakes prepared. I know this route is definetly MUCH cheaper.

Have you had everyone RSVP already? If you havent, ask your baker if the cake could be downsized depending on the amount that are actually attending. This will also bring your cost down. I think most bakers require about 2 weeks prior to the wedding for your final count.

Bottom line though, I wouldn't not order enough cake. Thats kind of like not having enough food for everyone IMO.

Good luck! Sorry this is so long and kind of rambled.

ChickenOnSunday · April 2011

I'm telling you about our situation as a warning. We had 130 guests + around 15ish kids at our wedding. We ordered cake for 130...and pretty much ran out.

DH and I cut the cake and took the pictures. After that the buffet opened up. From what I gather, the two tiered cake was left unmanned by our caterer. Guests started cutting their own slices of cake. I was told 'birthday size pieces." That two tiered cake didn't last long. Plus, the caterer forgot about the sheet cake in the fridge. Anyway, the sheet cake was brought out. Folks got either a first or second (or third) piece of cake and there was a chunk of cake wrapped up for DH and I to take home.

So to sum it all up...make sure someone cuts the cake besides the guests.

Shelly

meredithl618 · April 2011

Ditto pps. We ordered a little more that we had people at the wedding. We saved the top tier and took home a little bit, but not much at all. We would have def. run out if we had only ordered enough for 75% of the guests.

If you have a good cake people will eat it, tell others to eat it bc it's good AND come back for more, so you probably would need close to number you have attending. I do not recommend ordering only for 225 if you really expect 300.

If it's a cost thing, then do a small 3 tier decorated cake for display and have the bakery make additonal sheet cakes to cut pieces out of for enough slices.

But, I guess if cake doesn't matter to you that much and the bakery isn't very good, then it doesn't matter that much. I however loveeed the cake, so it was a big deal to us that we had a cake that everyone got to enjoy.

[Deleted User] · April 2011

Thanks everyone. We are going for our tasting tomorrow so I don't know what the cake tastes like...haha. We are more than likely going to use our caterer, Catering Works, because they are already doing our catering and flowers, so it's less stress on my part.

I am definately thinking about doing the kitchen sheet cake though.

The wedding isn't until July, so I haven't sent out invites yet to get any RSVPs.

meredithl618 · April 2011

PS. You should also figure out/estimate how many people you will actually get if you invite 300. I'm not sure what you're basing your guest count on, but if you invite 300, you will not likely have anywhere near that number attending.

Just fyi. We invited 255 and had 180 attend. I did a bunch of statistics on people's weddings in spring in NC and found that it was like 80% actually attending that were invited, but the number can be higher or lower depending on the number of OOT guests.

pirategal03 · April 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina_much-cake?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:115Discussion:d44de515-46c8-4afe-9c20-80a543f3cfb5Post:d794aec2-45e1-4210-a6f1-d6eec366cc39">Re: How much cake??</a>:
[QUOTE]PS. You should also figure out/estimate how many people you will actually get if you invite 300. I'm not sure what you're basing your guest count on, but if you invite 300, you will not likely have anywhere near that number attending. Just fyi. We invited 255 and had 180 attend. I did a bunch of statistics on people's weddings in spring in NC and found that it was like 80% actually attending that were invited, <strong>but the number can be higher or lower depending on the number of OOT guests. </strong>
Posted by meredithl618[/QUOTE]

Or depending on a million other things.

We had about 50% overall attendance. Our out of town guest attendance rate was closer to 90%.

meredithl618 · April 2011

yes i agree, a million things dictate that. That's just one example where it's hard to predict who will actually come, high or low.

I was just saying its crazy when people expect everyone they invite to actually rsvp yes.

[Deleted User] · April 2011

Oh yes I'm already accounting for no shows. We are inviting probably 350. I'm hoping attendance will be closer to 275 but I guess I just have to wait and see

My fiancé says 95% of his guests will attend ha ha.

tarheelbabs · April 2011

I've been surprised how great our rsvp rate has been. Thinking it's the early, enthusiastic yesses. Is that how it was for you all? Slightly off topic, but relevant to how this conversation has gone off tangent. Thanks!!

andrea01012009 · April 2011

this was a very frustrating experience for me. not only did i feel like i had to select a baker on how good the cake tasted and looked but how big a slice was. i had 225 guests so i asked the bakers to show me a cake they made for those slices. it's amazing to see the difference in bakers and the size of cakes for the same quoted slices. one baker down in holly springs got snippy with me over this.

sweet memores is who i used.

How much cake??

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