Your wedding cake is the most decadent dessert you’ll ever eat, a symbol of your celebration and a reflection of your personal style and wedding aesthetic. If we’re being frank, it’s probably also the most expensive cake you’ll ever buy – and we promise that has nothing to do with the mythical ‘wedding tax’! This wedding cake pricing guide answers all of your questions about what influences the cost of your tiered treat, layering our tips and advice with a behind-the-bake look at what goes into the making of your masterpiece.
Each wedding cake that leaves Bluebell Kitchen is truly a labour of love. From the time we have spent testing and tasting our jam and sponge flavours and perfecting our sugar flower craft, to the care that goes into every bespoke design from sketch to setting each tiny finishing touch. We create wedding cakes that look stunning but also go down in history as the best cake you’ve ever tasted, and the time and effort that goes into every slice are just some of the factors that influence the cost. Understanding the different variables that make wedding cakes more or less expensive can help you make informed decisions, achieving the cake of your dreams within your budget.
‘[Our wedding cake} was everything we had hoped for and more! The cake definitely stole the show and at one point we had people lining up to take photos of (and with!) it – it was truly a work of art and tasted as delicious as it looked. Our day wouldn’t have been as special as it was without your dedication and hard work, and we are truly thankful to you both.’
Joyce & Matt, Cooling Castle
Without further ado, let’s move onto some frequently asked questions about wedding cake pricing – we’re being as transparent as possible without being dry, because nobody likes a cardboard-y sponge!
Wedding Cake Pricing Guide: Frequently Asked Questions
Some key elements in your wedding cake pricing guide are the cake size, number of servings, use of dummy tiers and complexity of the design. Speaking more broadly, different cake makers have different pricing structures based on their experience, time it takes to make the cake, quality of ingredients etc – but this should help you understand how you can influence your final cake expense.
1. How much wedding cake do we need?
This is influenced by the number of guests attending your wedding and when you’re serving the cake. We suggest serving 75-80% of your guests, as not everyone eats cake – we don’t understand it either! If you’re choosing to serve your cake alongside evening food there is more competition for your guests’ temptation. If you’re also opting for macaron favours, your guests will have had their taste buds warmed up and be racing for the cake table later!
We wrote a whole blog asking ‘Does Anyone Eat Wedding Cake?,’ but we will give you a small spoiler…most of our couples tell us their cake got snapped up at record speed. Including Sandra and Steve, who married at The Lost Village of Dode and said:
We just wanted to say a huge thank you for the cake!It was absolutely amazing! It was a real hit with everyone and every single bit of it was eaten!
2. How many tiers should I have on my wedding cake?
As a rough guide, a three tier cake may serve 75-100 guests while a five tier can serve 200 or more. Naturally, the more tiers you have, the more work is involved in creating your wedding cake. Each tier requires precise baking, stacking and decorating. If you’re having different flavours on each tier (highly encouraged!) the amount of work further increases.
For more intimate weddings a single tier cake may be more appropriate – read all about our love of small wedding cakes here – while a multi tier show-stopper is often chosen for larger celebrations, due to its greater visual impact. The size of your cake isn’t the only factor determining how much it stands out, but it certainly helps!
The height of each tier can also vary, with a standard being 5 inches. Sometimes we use taller 8 inch tiers to provide a more dramatic look or add intrigue to a cake with a simple design. This also increases the amount of cake we’ll bake.
3. Can dummy or floating tiers make a wedding cake cheaper?
We can also use floating or dummy tiers, which couples sometimes mistakenly believe will lower the cost of a wedding cake. In actual fact, they can sometimes significantly increase the cost. Floating tiers require additional structural support which can be very complex to construct, but what a wow element to add to your design.
Dummy tiers are often considered by couples who want a larger, more elaborate cake but don’t need to increase the amount of baked deliciousness involved. However, the same amount of work and skill has to go into the design of the dummy tiers so they effortlessly blend in with the real cake tiers. This means they don’t actually reduce the cost of your cake despite what some blogs might claim!
4. Design Complexity and Skill
In this wedding cake pricing guide it’s important to mention this very important factor – the design complexity and skill involved in your wedding cake. Not only have we honed our practical craft over many years, we also bring our own fun and creativity to each design – every Bluebell Kitchen wedding cake is bespoke, impactful and beautifully blended with the rest of your wedding.
We specialise in sugar flowers, which look hyperrealistic and are made petal by petal for a delicate, true-to-life finish. The intricacy of these designs involves a lot of time and skill, and particularly detailed designs can take days or even weeks to complete. The same applies to our hand painted elements such as on individual macarons, and textured elements which are lovingly crafted inch by inch.
Every cake we make is unique, therefore every element of your design is made especially for your cake. This is all based on extensive sketching, planning and follow-up consultations to ensure we’ve put enough time into truly understanding your wedding cake vision. Courtney and Philip who married at Hever Castle, loved this and told us that…
“We really can’t thank you enough for your time and effort, and it’s been lovely to go through the planning process of realising our design with you.”
Find out more about everything we do before we switch the oven on or mix a single ingredient in our recent blog: Beyond The Bake.
Wedding Cake Pricing Guide: Are you ready to invest?
We really believe investing well in your wedding cake means you’ll have an absolute show-stopper on your big day, one that tastes and looks incredible and provides a real focal point for your celebration. Contact us to start talking about your own bespoke wedding cake design, and with any questions about the process: Get In Touch.
Photographers: Fiona Kelly Photography, Tell Your Story Photography + Film,
