So should you get a sheet cake or a regular wedding cake? Brides often think they are saving money by getting a sheet cake instead, but please read on to see why that may not be true. As a wedding photographer, I can tell you that one of our favorite parts of the wedding is the cake cutting. Why? Because we get to eat cake!!
Luxury cake designers
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing luxury cake designers in the Houston, Texas area, Ann Neal of Kakes Xcetera and Nadine Guajardo Moon of Who Made the Cake for example, but I saw this article shared online by Natalie Bryn of Cake Envy in Georgia and it is SO true! Other luxury cake designers like Timbo Sullivan of Cakes by Timbo agree as well! Often, DIY brides will think they are saving money by cutting back on thing like cake, but don’t realize the true cost at the end. Natalie explains it well so enjoy the info and check her out! (Note: She references Publix, which is a grocery chain in her area so think H. E. B., Kroger, Sam’s Club, and others in the Houston, Texas area, and you get the point)
Sheet cake or wedding cake
Let’s talk “sheetcake”, shall we? I get numerous calls & inquiries about this: Here’s a sample:
“Hi, I’m having a wedding for 150 people and we’d like a fake cake and a sheetcake“
First, sheetcakes are what Publix makes. HUGE, 1 layer cakes. No filling. Think back to the cakes someone brought into elementary school to celebrate Mrs. Moppin’s retirement. What wedding cake designers make are called “kitchen cakes”. They are 2 layers thick, and filled with the same filling as the wedding cake, so equally as tall as a wedding cake tier. When cut, you cannot tell whether the cake slice came from a kitchen cake or the wedding cake. Same everything!
Now…. I’m happy to do a faux cake and a kitchen cake. But let’s think for a second. I am still decorating a wedding cake, I am still baking and filling and frosting enough cake for 150 people. There is still delivery and setting it up. I know bloggers like to suggest money-saving tips to brides, but this isn’t the way to save money. I’m literally doing ALL the same work, and baking all the same cake to feed all the same people. Now I’m doing it in 2 steps, not one. I’m fully decorating a fake cake of Styrofoam, and baking, filling & frosting enough cake to serve 150 people.
The difference between sheet cake and wedding cake
The only difference is that it’s just being put it in the back vs. putting it on display. There is NO cost savings for doing this. So the only really valid reason to do this is if you want your cake on display the entire reception and don’t want an excavated cake being cut apart during the reception. And that’s a perfectly good reason! I agree that a cake standing the entire time is wonderful! But it is not, I repeat, IT IS NOT a cost saving measure!
So there it is. Just clearing up some misconceptions that bloggers have been putting out there about how to save money! This is FAKE NEWS, and they clearly aren’t cake decorators, because they have no clue how much time & effort goes into doing what we do and making those faux cakes look real so that no one suspects a thing! #themoreyouknow
Should you DIY your wedding cake?
And bloggers – us cake people would love if you’d stop suggesting this as a cost-saving measure. It’s honestly insulting. Basically what you’re asking them to say to us is, “I want your cake. I want your time, your talent, experience, design and flavors. But, I just don’t want to pay you your pricing.” And that won’t win them any favors from us. If you want to suggest ways to save money, just tell them to actually go to Publix or Costco or whatever. Don’t tell them to come to custom cake designers and ask for shortcuts or cheap-outs. That’s not fair to any of us. Please and thank you. I promise you, we are worth EVERY. PENNY. 😘😘
PHOTOS: Kitchen cakes are HUGE and serve 100 people and when cut, look EXACTLY like wedding cake. Here’s a picture of a cake display….. can you tell which cakes are real or fake? Nope. You can’t. 😁
Wedding cake tips
EDITED TO ADD: I am NOT saying that a faux cake plus kitchen cakes is a bad idea! On the contrary, there are times it’s a GREAT idea! I’ve done it many times! I’m simply saying it’s not a MONEY SAVER.
ALSO: Sheet cakes are fine if that’s what you want. Not knocking the sheet cake and not taking any shots at people who want them. I’m simply saying that I don’t make them. I don’t know any luxury cake designers who do. My kitchen cakes are exactly the same as wedding cakes and as such, they don’t cost less. BUT…Thank God there are options for virtually every person in every budget! You can ALWAYS find what you’re looking for somewhere! No shame in that game!
I hope you found this as helpful as I did and if you want to follow Natalie, here is her Facebook page – Cake Envy Georgia and if you want to contact me for wedding photography, you can fill out my contact form and I will get right back to you