How much does a wedding cake cost is probably the most commonly asked question by most wedding couples looking to order a wedding cake.
A good 50% of my wedding cake enquiries will start with the couple asking how much my wedding cakes are. The simple answer is, there is no set price.
Due to every wedding cake being designed especially for my couples – making them all individual in design, shape and size – it is impossible to have a fixed price list.
The best most of us wedding cake makers can do, is simply display a pricing guide with starting prices, for set number of servings, and an average spend on these sizes.
Why are ‘wedding cakes’ so expensive?
“Put the word ‘wedding’ in front of anything and the price goes up!”
The feeling of being ripped off, when we feel we are being overcharged, can leave us feeling very untrusting. However, if it is explained, why the cost is the cost, and this then makes sense, suddenly the cost sits OK with us. The actual price, isn’t always the problem, its the thought that we are being taken advantage of.
For the majority of us, it’s not a case of us intentionally undervaluing professional’s work. It’s a case of not knowing what it involves. Why would we know?
We can’t be expected to know all the details of every business we may happen to work with!
So, is it really the word ‘wedding’ that puts up the cost of a wedding cake?
Well, actually the simple answer is yes. Here I will explain why.
The wedding Cake Consulation
After the initial communications and a booking is made, a design led consulation will be booked. This usually takes place approximately 6 months before your wedding date. This is not something that generally happens when booking a celebration cake.
The consultations last between 45 mins-1 hour.
Before the consultation, I will do my homework. I will take any information I have gained from my couple during our initial communications and use this to draw inspiration for a design. This involves pulling ideas in so I can have a starting point for the design process when we meet.
What happens after the wedding cake consultation?
Once the consultation has finshed and a design has been agreed, an order form is drawn up with all the details, along with either an inspirational image or a sketch of the design.
And of course there will be wedding cake tasters!
Whether it’s sent to you, or ready for you at your in person consulation, there will definitely be cake.
Each flavour will have been baked and filled. Then they will be cut into individual wedding cake size pieces for you to sample. This can take days to prepare for all the consulations that will be taking place at that time.
Additional handmade elements for your cake decor
If there are any wafer paper flowers, or other additional elements that need to be pre made, these are usually made the week leading up to the cake being baked. Depending on what, and how many of each element is needed, these can take anything from a few hours, up to many days to prepare. (A single, full rose, takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes, per rose, to make). As you can imagine, these are a big factor in how much a wedding cake costs.
Day 2 of making a wedding cake
Your wedding cakes are filled and encased in ganache (unless it’s a buttercream wedding cake and then it will be encased in buttercream).
Again, for a 3-4 tier, depending on sizes and shapes of the tiers, this will take me a whole day. For a 4 tier upwards, it will be an extra long day, or will possibly go into a second day.
Here’s the exciting part – the wedding cake making!
Day 1 of making a wedding cake
Your wedding cakes are baked and torted (sliced to the procise thickness needed to ensure you cake meets the design heights and looks visually neat and appealing when sliced).
For a 3-4 tier, this will take me a whole work day to complete. It becomes an extra long work day for a 4 tier upwards.
The layers are then wrapped in cling film to keep fresh.
Day 3 of making a wedding cake
If you are having a sugarpaste (fondant) finished cake, I will cover your tiers in sugarpaste and leave the icing to set up over night. This makes it less likely for the finished icing to get marked when any adiditonal decor elements are added. If it’s a ganache or buttercream finished cake, I skip straight to day 4.
Day 4 of making a wedding cake
Your tiers are dowelled (hollow rods used to create a structure for each tier to sit on, to ensure you finished cake won’t take a tumble or look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa on the day). The finished elements (if there are any) will then be completed on this day, either before or after the tiers are stacked, in readiness for it’s journey.
Day 5 of making a wedding cake
I pack my tool box, cake stand (if you are hiring one from me) and your wedding cake, into my car and deliver it to your venue. Once at the venue I finish setting it up. This can include adding any additional tiers that couldn’t be stacked for the journey and/or fresh flowers.
So much more makes up the cost of a wedding cake in the UK
OK, so at this point, I may have started losing your concentration – brownie points for those who have stuck with me and made it this far!
My aim was to keep this short, however unfortunately there is nothing ‘short’ about wedding cake designing/making. Therefore, in an attempt to keep you all awake until the end, I will list the other additional services, that are included with your wedding cake, without going into too much detail.
Firstly, there are the direct costs/time for your wedding cake specifically
Admin – emails, order forms, invoices.
Liaising with your wedding florists, on your behalf, to ensure we have all the details and flowers that we need, when we need them.
Liaising with the venue/wedding planners for delivery window times. Ensure the cake table will be set up in the right place, if my couples have requested the cake to go in a different place to the venue’s usual cake table area.
Additional expenses to create luxury touch points
Toll charges, Congestion Charges – if any
All the indirect costs/time involved so you can find and book me in the first place
Photographing your wedding cake, once set up, to showcase on my website and socials.
“But why should we, as the couple, pay for this?” I hear you shout. Because without imagery you would not have known what my style is like. You would not have known to come to me in the first place.
Insurance
Public Liability Insurance
Additional cost on car insurance
Additional cost on home insurance
Keeping visible and up to date
Weddings businesses work a lot on recommendation and getting their name out there. Due to the nature of our business, we don’t have the luxury of returning clients, unlike celebrations cake businesses.
We constantly have to show up. This involves the following:
Advertising
Wedding fayres
Styled shoots – where wedding suppliers come together and create without the restraints of what a couple may put on the design. These are amazing opportunities for designers to really show what they are capable of.
Writing blogs like these to help couples and to push our website up the rankings so we can in turn be found by you in the first place.
And there we have it – how much a wedding cake costs in the UK and why, when you mention the word “wedding”, the price goes up.
If this is the case, you may wish to read “How to decide on your wedding cake budget“.
If you have found this post useful and you would like to find out more about working with me, please get in touch via the button below.
Cover image: Captured by Roxy
First image: Shaun Peters Photography
4h and 5th image: Captured by Roxy
All other images by Sue Hurst Cake Design
Who is Sue Hurst – Wedding Cake Designer in Essex
Hey, I am Sue! I am a wedding cake maker in Essex, specialising in modern and bespoke wedding cakes in Essex, London, Suffolk, Kent, Surrey and beyond. After 12 years of cake making, my business has changed over the years, until I found my biggest passion – weddings.
I absolutely adore everything about designing and making wedding cakes. From getting to know my couples, right through to setting up their dream cake (quite often a design they would never have dreamt of before their journey with me).
Having the honour of being a part of such a special day in my couples’ lives, is something I never undervalue.
My blog posts about weddings cakes in the South and South East England are based on experience and aim to help you plan your dream wedding.
