Waitrose Wedding Cake

shellsuit

anniekin wrote: »

A bespoke cake is MUCH more expensive than a supermarket cake ~ again, can you make a cake to feed 80 people for less than £100?

Honestly? No. Well that's not what was said earlier! And why would anyone want to put a lot of time, money and effort into making something for someone who doesn't want to/can't afford to pay for it? Nobody is expecting you to so I have no idea what you are talking about.

As a cake maker, I actually suggest M&S cake etc.. to people when I know they haven't got a lot to spend (and help them with ideas for decorating it). That doesn't mean I think thier cakes are the same as or as good as mine, or that I think their portion quotes are right, I don't. BUT I do understand that 'bespoke' cakes (and prices) are not for everyone.

Even so - you don't need to slag off the quality of a bespoke cake, or the costs/effort that goes into making them just because you either cannot afford one, or choose to spend your money elsewhere. Please tell me just who on this thread is slagging them off? This thread was started about Waitrose Cakes, not bespoke cakes and if anything, it's the 3 muskateers who have done the slagging off!

Beautiful dress, beautiful venue, wonderful photos, budget cake ..? Why not?? It's NO business of yours what people choose.

Budget dress, budget venue, budget photos, budget cake - why not!

If you cannot 'taste the difference' - then it may simply be that YOU cannot taste the difference. Some people can, and choose to pay for a really special cake on their wedding day, which is fine if they can afford to. Nothing wrong with that, is there?:) No, and there is nothing wrong with couples choosing a supermarket cake, is there?

Re costs- what would you expect to pay for a piece of cake in a cafe? Multiply that by your number of guests, then add something for the time and costs of decoration. The more elaborate the cake, the more it will cost (obviously). If it costs less, then that probably says something about the quality of the cake and the ingredients and time that went into making it. I expect a large chunk of cake in a cafe, whereas I would expect a small piece of a wedding cake, so that isn't a good way of working the cost out is it?

Your choice, of course.

A

This is ridiculous now and has gone wayyyyyyyyy off topic.

I think it's best if you start a thread of your own about bespoke cakes and stop dragging down supermarket cakes and about how superior you, your time and your cakes are.

That goes for the other 2 new cake makers too.

shellsuit

LEJC wrote: »

The problem with my cake and the shop that made it was they made the cake they wanted and not what I wanted...having 2 receptions we asked for a 3 tier cake for the first reception and then an extra bottom tier to be used in place of the one we cut at the first reception,so we could have an uncut cake at our evening reception....cake shop made a 4 tier cake ....and we only discovered that when we had it delivered to our venue the day before the wedding...this creation stood over 4 feet tall and we looked like midgets up against it.... there was enough there to feed the 5000.
Even better when we actually cut the thing it was all fruit and they had failed to supply the extra "spare" sponge cake we ordered..

I have not slagged off the quality of a bespoke cake as the previous poster quotes...just told of my experience with said bespoke cake makers.
I do however concede that the cake market has changed dramatically since my wedding and given my time again I would not take the route of a bespoke again.

Oh Nooo, that's not good! Did you sort it out with them afterwards about them producing the wrong cake?

db21111

I see loads of wedding cakes, but don't get to taste enough of them! (I'm a wedding photographer) And I have to say the chocolate one in the OP is definitely more appealing

LEJC

shellsuit wrote: »

Oh Nooo, that's not good! Did you sort it out with them afterwards about them producing the wrong cake?

It was all sorted eventually...I had a bad experience..and at least now we can laugh at the photos..it was like a skyscraper especially as it was positioned on a table too...

Cake production has advanced greatly and with great results by the likes of Waitrose,M&S etc...theres much more choice too nowadays and I think people have moved away from the more "traditional cake" I love the cupcake towers and would choose that over a fruit one .Its probably very difficult for these small cake makers to compete with the large ones in terms of price and I dont doubt that they put a lot of work into what they do but its down to the bride to choose her cake.....sometimes its bespoke and for those on a budget theres absolutely nothing wrong with even a packet of biscuits...Its the marriage that counts every time!

shellsuit

LEJC wrote: »

It was all sorted eventually...I had a bad experience..and at least now we can laugh at the photos..it was like a skyscraper especially as it was positioned on a table too...

Ahh, glad it was sorted in the end! Me and OH got a shock when we 'cut' our cake (bottom tier) in the evening as we couldn't get the bloody knife through it. My face was a picture, me and OH couldn't stop laughing and there are a few photos of us looking bewildered and of me pointing at my finger from trying to push down on the knife :rotfl:

We didn;t know our friend had double iced the black tiers! It tasted fab though so she was forgiven

Cake production has advanced greatly and with great results by the likes of Waitrose,M&S etc...theres much more choice too nowadays and I think people have moved away from the more "traditional cake" I love the cupcake towers and would choose that over a fruit one .Its probably very difficult for these small cake makers to compete with the large ones in terms of price and I dont doubt that they put a lot of work into what they do but its down to the bride to choose her cake.....sometimes its bespoke and for those on a budget theres absolutely nothing wrong with even a packet of biscuits...Its the marriage that counts every time!

And I totally agree with that! :T

anniekin

I think it's best if you start a thread of your own about bespoke cakes and stop dragging down supermarket cakes and about how superior you, your time and your cakes are.

Don't worry - you can have your cake and eat it. We shall just get on with producing cakes for people who want us to. It sounds like some of you have had some really bad experiences. I would never treat a customer like that - and always spend the time to make sure that everything is exactly as it should be - down to every detail. You should definitely complain.The important thing is that you feel confident about the cake you are getting, from wherever that is.

The point of commenting was just to put across another perspective. If you can't handle that, then I am sorry.

We are not making ourselves out to be smug and superior - we are just pointing out that a lot of us really work hard and care very much about what we do and getting things just right for couples on their special day.We cannot possibly compete with supermarket prices - we are not producing supermarket cakes.

I guess all I am saying is that you can walk, get the bus or have a chauffeur driven Limo - at the end of the day you will arrive at the same destination - married. It's a question of how much you can or want to spend, and what kind of experience you want on the way.

A

codemonkey

The biggest mistake a lot of sales people make is not tailoring their pitch to an audience.

This is a money saving forum. Having read through some of the posts on here, most of us are working to an incredibly tight budget, buying second hand dresses and doing a lot of the work ourselves. So some posters are giving us a hard time for making our own cakes or buying supermarket cakes, seems misguided at best.

Perhaps they are worried about business. It's tight at the moment, there's not a lot of money for luxuries. It's got to be worrying. But it effects us all too. We're all doing the best we can on the budget we've got. Some seem to be suggesting that only people who can afford bespoke cakes should be getting married which is just silly.

If I could afford a bespoke cake for my guests, would I? Actually probably not. I know you're paying for time, and expertise and getting a beautiful product and everything, but the markup on what is essentially flour, eggs, fat and sugar and some food colouring is enormous and as a tight Scot, I object to it. The cake isn't that important to the day. We'll have a photo taken with it and cut it, probably 50% of the guests will be too stuffed from dinner to eat it anyway. We're going for a cupcake tower instead, but if we hadn't we'd be having one made of my mum's very yummy brandy laced Christmas cake covered in marzipan and ready rolled icing and I doubt any of our guests would complain.

Waitrose cake looks nice. Marks & Spencers cakes are nice. Tesco cupcakes are yummy. Sure, if you've always dreamed of a beautiful wedding cake and have the budget then go for it. If not, no point in putting yourself in debt over it. Weddings are expensive enough without feeling pressured to spend more money on something that will be on display for about 5 minutes then cut up and eaten or discarded.

Jane81

shellsuit wrote: »

Can I just say, we have a wonderful dressmaker on these boards.

She doesn't tell women who buy from a department store, or cheap copies from China that they should get a dress made from her instead.

She doesn't tell women that their dress will look cheap.

She doesn't tell women that those who buy that way will put her out of business.

She gives good advice and wouldn't dream of berating anyone else for what they like/want/buy.

Pity the new members can't do the same.

Very well said Shellsuit, I was thinking the exact same thing myself, as I'm sure a few others were too.

Icing_Sugar

I think this is the rudest forum I have ever come across. The level of anger and vitriolic comments aimed at people with an alternative view point is unbelievable.

I'm glad I'm not in a position where I need to come on here.

BanburyBride

Icing_Sugar wrote: »

I think this is the rudest forum I have ever come across. The level of anger and vitriolic comments aimed at people with an alternative view point is unbelievable.

I'm glad I'm not in a position where I need to come on here.

Please don't disappear before you give me your price list as like I said earlier I am either considering £40 for a supermarket cake which I will add some decoration to or £40 to make cupcakes myself so if you can do a bespoke one for the same price for about 70 people I would love your details:p:p

Icing_Sugar wrote: »

like for like, a bespoke cake is no more expensive overall than a supermarket one.