This is a tricky question to answer as it really depends on what you would like and where you are purchasing your wedding cake from.
A mass produced supermarket wedding cake is going to cost considerable less than a high end boutique wedding cake company.
However, as you are reading this via our Vanilla Pod Bakery blog, I am going to assume you are considering going down the wonderful bespoke route for your beautiful wedding cake.
Commissioning a bespoke wedding cake for your special day is much like commissioning a bespoke wedding gown or suit. It is a wonderful journey of discovery and the designers are with you every step of the way.
Many high end wedding cake studios include a complete end-to-end service, from the initial consultation to the final cake delivery and set up.
We took the decision in October 2022 to only offer our couples a complete wedding cake service. I have always wanted to provide a wedding cake service that made it fuss free and easy for couples, so that it was one thing you didn’t have to worry about on your wedding day. Plus it allows us to fully focus on the individual couple. It also means that we have made our wedding cake service that little bit more exclusive as there are only a limited number of days in the year and therefore that limits the number of wedding cakes we can create.
So back to the title question, how much should I invest in a wedding cake?
I advise when planning the budget for your wedding cake to consider these main points:
1. The size of wedding cake
How many guests would you like to feed?
Are you after a single tiered cake or do you want a 10 tiered cake?
Do you want the whole cake to be real or do you want faux tiers?
Are you serving the cake with the evening buffet or as dessert?
2. The type of decoration and icing
Would you like the cake iced in a semi naked style or a luxury fondant finish?
Are you thinking of 100s of handmade sugar flowers for decoration?
Are you thinking minimal decoration?
3. The level of service
Would you like your wedding cake maker/team to take care of every aspect?
Would you like cake design sketches and the ability to make amendments once you have seen the sketches?
Would you like consultations?
Cake tasting options?
Periodic communication from the time you place your deposit to the time your wedding cake is created?
Venue site visits?
Would you like the cake creator to liaise with your wedding team (florist, planner, caterers, stylists, marquee company, etc)
Would you like the cake hand delivered to your venue?
How far is the cake creator to your wedding venue?
Do want it set up professionally by the cake creator / or their team?
4. The wedding cake provider
How long have they been in business?
What is their skill set?
Do they take a limited amount or orders per year or do they mass produce?
Do do they have a team or work by themselves?
Do they operate from home or a premises?
Would you prefer if the cake creator uses premium ingredients?
All these points are key when deciding on a budget for your wedding cake, as they all greatly impact the cost of your beautiful cake.
In my opinion, as professional cake creator of 10+ years and from conducting my own research, I would budget around the following based on where you would be purchasing your wedding cake from:
Boutique Luxury Wedding Cake Specialist Based in a Premises with a Small Team:
£1,000 - £15,000+
(Would most likely include everything you could think of and more when it comes to a luxury wedding cake creation and service).
Boutique Wedding Cake Specialist Based at Home:
£600 - £5,000+
(Would most likely include delivery, set up, flavour options, as well as lots of the other premium service elements such as tastings and consultations).
Large Scale Chain (such as Patisserie Valarie):
£90 - £300+
(Most likely just includes the cake, maybe delivery, no additional touch points)
Supermarket (such as Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Tesco):
£13 - £200+
(Most likely just includes the cake, maybe delivery, no additional touch points)
I hope this blog helps you decide what you should invest for your perfect wedding cake.
If you would like to explore wedding cake quotes and design options please contact my Studio Manager, Jo, or schedule an initial wedding cake consultation with myself and we will be more than happy to help.
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