It’s not as scary as you think
I know selling wedding cakes sounds scary! Trust me, I never imagined I would be selling wedding cakes right now. But boom here I am and, now that is 99% of what I do in my home baking business.
It is funny sometimes I see bakers making crazy decorative birthday cakes and when I bring up weddings to them they are scared.
In my mind, that is funny because they 100% have the skills to take on weddings, and the order would be much easier too, but since it has the word wedding on it they don’t want to do it.
I jumped into wedding cakes very early on in my business. It was a HUGE learning curve because there was so much information I had no idea that I needed to know.
It also made it more difficult to learn these things because most youtube videos focus on the first steps of starting your business or how to make a wedding cake. The information I needed was the business aspect behind wedding cakes and which I had to learn the hard way.
So let's jump into some of the things you should know when thinking about selling baked goods for weddings.
Weddings are not just for cakes anymore!
In the current times, couples are looking for ways to save money. One way this can be done is with faux cakes, small cakes, cupcakes, and dessert tables.
Not only can these options be budget friendly they also allow the couple to cater to multiple taste profiles, which the guests will appreciate!
How do I price wedding cakes and desserts?
This is a hard lesson to learn. When asked what my pricing was for wedding cakes I quickly looked up the average cost of a wedding cake. It said $3-$7 per serving and so since I have never made a wedding cake in my life I said $3 a serving.
Later on, I started researching prices in my area and found out it was more like $7-$11+ per serving for wedding cakes in MY AREA. The keyword here is MY AREA. When I did that quick frantic search It showed the national average. My prices now start at $7 a serving for a simple wedding cake.
Yes, that is higher than my per-serving price for a birthday cake.
(I don’t even calculate the price based on servings for other cakes)
Why do I charge more for the same cake when it's a wedding vs a birthday?
Yes the wedding tax is real. But it is a valid charge.
If I order treats for my kid's birthday or a cake for Mother’s day and the baker cancels on me I can replace it with something from the grocery store and no one would question me on it.
Now if I was getting married and the baker cancels on me, it would be obvious that something is missing.
The cake is a focal point of the wedding. If you look at any girl's wedding Pinterest board you will see wedding cakes on there. Will you see plated food? Most likely not. The cake is a classic focal point that brings in the design of the couple’s special day. Because it is a main piece of the wedding it costs more because it can not be easily replaced.
Wedding cakes also call for careful planning to complete, transport, and set up. Making sure the timing is just right so that the cake will be at the correct temperature when it is time to cut the cake. So many details go into it, so yes again, it costs more.
Bottom line: It costs more. And do not feel bad for charging more than your average price. Wedding cakes are a special item. Remember when I said early that so many bakers are afraid of wedding cakes? Because not just everyone makes them they become a specialty item. With specialty items comes a higher price tag.
What do I include in my menu?
Your menu might look very similar to your day-to-day menu but I do find it important to give it a little wedding day TLC. Planning a wedding should be an experience from start to finish so adding that wedding touch while staying true to your branding helps create a great wedding menu.
If you plan on offering different items for a dessert table and a cake I recommend starting small. Start with the cakes first and then start adding dessert items as you get used to taking on wedding orders. Grow your menu as you gain experience. Trust me from my own personal experience your cortisol levels will thank you!
Where do I find brides?
My favorite place for finding brides is Thumbtack. I was able to start getting wedding cake orders from Thumbtack before I had any photos of wedding cakes whatsoever. I love Thumbtack for so many reasons!
It brings the customers to you!
You are able to set your preferences on budget and travel distance!
It is easy to organically grow an account presence on the platform! Meaning you don’t need to be continuously posting to rank high on search.
Once again I love Thumbtack and it is where I get the bulk of my orders
Others are Zola, bark, yelp your own website
Zola and bark are similar to thumbtack in that they bring in leads for orders. Zola, of course, is only for weddings and I find it to have more high-end clients.
Unlike Thumbtack, Bark gives the leads and you contact them through a phone call or email. Now, this might be very Millenial of me but I just don’t like talking on the phone. So having the chat section on Thumbtack is a big plus for me.
Two other places that go hand and hand is Yelp and your own website.
Yelp is constantly used to find all kinds of businesses so why not yours? Having your own website linked to your account will make it more likely for clients to follow through with your business.
I find social media to be an annoying beast, to say the least! I could go on and on about that but then the post would be way too long.
However, some ways to get wedding clients on Instagram:
Follow and interact with wedding planners. Don’t just follow and expect them to order from you. Follow and introduce yourself and your business, get to know them, and create a genuine connection.
Make sure you are posting some wedding-themed content. Either use extra cookies, cupcakes, a small single-tier cake, or ever it is create a sample of a wedding “vibey” dessert. You want people to see your account and know that you also cater to weddings.
Tag #(yourcity)weddings #(yourcity)weddingcake just as an extra way for brides to find you
Contract
A lot of the other things I have learned about working with weddings Is all detailed in my post How to create a contract for your home baking business! You must read this one. It outlines all of the things I include in my own contract. Things I have made sure to add throughout my own personal lessons from my business.
You absolutely want to have a contract when you enter into weddings. It is important to ensure each party knows what is expected of them. I send my contracts and invoices through Honeybook.
I love Honeybook because:
I can have payments and invoices all in one place
I can schedule automatic payments and deposits
I can use a template and allow clients to fill in their info
It easily connects to my calendar
It automatically sends reminder emails to the client and to you
I also have a class available now where you can watch now and will have unlimited access too.
If you have any questions at all about weddings let me know in the comments I will be happy to answer!