Friday, August 31, 2012

Wedding Cake Prices: Am I Paying Too Much?


Here is the short version to answer this question. If you love what you see, it tastes great, and you are willing to pay  the wedding cake price they're asking, you are not being overcharged.

That’s the great thing about America…competition. If you shop 6 different baker/designers, it will quickly become apparent what value you will receive for a certain amount of money you are willing to dish out.

Also, look at it like this; you are only being overcharged if someone or company deceives you or intentionally rips you off.
 
Unless you don’t get what you paid for, you’re not being overcharged.

Sometimes people have a tendency to confuse “paying too much” with “overcharged.” We have spoken to many brides who paid too much, but did not get overcharged.
 
With that said, making sure you're not paying too much for your Omaha wedding cake is one of the reasons to consider for using OmahaWeddingCakes.com free quote service.
 
You'll be able to shop and compare bakers against each other for the same design and be able to understand what you can expect to pay. Using the free service will eliminate the worry of paying too much.

If you have the chance, watch the video (available mid-February 2013)  at WeddingCake.org titled, “How Bakers R-E-A-L-L-Y Price Wedding Cakes” to gauge how bakers arrive at a price for your wedding cake. 
 
You'll receive a complete explanation of how and why wedding cake prices vary.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

How Much Should I Budget For My Wedding Cake?


The simple answer is somewhere between 3%-5% of your overall wedding budget.

As an example, if you are putting $10,000 toward your wedding, then setting aside $300-$500 for your wedding cake is a good average. If you have resources of $20,000 then a $600-$1,000 cake is in line.

Initially, I conducted surveys (through WeddingCake.org) across the country based on six geographic regions: Northeast, Southeast, Upper Midwest (including Omaha), Lower Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest.

We asked brides how much they were spending on their bridal cake. Then, we asked how much they were spending on their entire wedding. 
 
My team concluded the average spent was between the 3%-5% range. Of course some spent less and some a lot more. It depended on how important the bridal cake was to the individual brides.
 
Then, we took it a step further to understand typical price ranges based upon the regions of the country. 

As it turns out, my idea didn’t work.

To illustrate my point, a cake that was produced in Miami, FL for 300 servings at a cost of $1650 was also produced in Charleston, SC for $975. Both states are in the Southeast region, but the demographics of the citizens are different.

As another example, a cake designed in New York City at a price of $5,500 for 250 servings was reproduced in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for $2,500. Again, both states are in the Northeast region, but the demographics were completely different.

What we did find was a correlation between higher prices in larger cities and lower prices in less populated cities.
 
This forced us to rethink the regional pricing strategy and change it to a pricing model according to relative populations anywhere in the US.

As an example, it is a better comparison of prices between Omaha, NE and Memphis, TN than Charleston, SC and Miami, FL.

If you really want to know the current prices in Omaha, do the following: Go to a couple of baker/designers who appear to be out of your price range. Then, go to a couple that are priced in the middle, and finally, go to a couple of lower priced baker/designers. After visiting them, you’ll know within a $100 what you'll need to budget.

Or, you can take the quick, easy and convenient route of using OmahaWeddingCakes.com  free pricing service to accomplish the same goal.
 
Either way, the prices you'll pay in the Omaha wedding cake market are about 40% less than what you'll pay in the larger cities such as LA, New York, or Atlanta.
 
Just keep in mind the 3%-5% average we found other brides were spending and use it as a yardstick for your overall budget.
 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Using Facebook to choose cake flavors


It is true the next wave of on-line polling for wedding cake flavors is taking place through the use of social networking sites such as Facebook?
 
In my research, we found asking friends for their opinions, is NOT the way to go.
 
Here’s why. Think about all the times in your life you have asked the opinion of others about something important to you or to help you make a decision.
 
How many times do you follow their advice?
 
Come on, be honest. That’s right, very few. You typically go with your gut feeling.
 
The real reason you ask for other opinions is to validate your own thoughts. You want others to agree with you. And when they don’t, you become even more indecisive. In the end, you still go with what you think is the correct decision.
 
When it comes to polling your friends for wedding cake flavors, the problem becomes even more complicated.
 
It’s one thing to ask your friends to help you choose a wedding cake design among ten photos. In that particular polling question, the photos are finished. Your friends are now giving their opinions on a finished product they can see. It’s either yes or no for each photo.
 
In the case of cake flavors, you could get their feedback from a total of ten flavors, having them choose the top four. However, there is a double problem.
 
First, if you list a flavor like ??? or ??? your friends probably don’t have a clue what it is or what tastes like, unless they've had it before.
 
Second, most of the people taking the survey were not with you when you were taste-testing your sample cakes. So, they don’t really know if they like them to begin with.
 
My suggestion: Choose flavors based upon two pieces of input. First, your baker can give you valuable advice based upon the popular choices of other brides for the rest of 2012 and all of 2113. Second, choose flavors you, your fiancĂ©e and family enjoyed at your "taste tests."  

Monday, August 27, 2012

Should I ask every baker for their price range?


Well, sort of...here's what I mean, in this exercise, I want you to think of buying a wedding cake in Omaha like shopping for a car.
Let's say you call a Hyundai dealership and start asking them how much they charge for their cars. The pleasant sales person tells you they range from $14,000 to $36,000.

Then, you call a Mercedes dealership and they tell you they vary between $50,000 to $122,000.
If you didn't know anything about cars  you would probably think, how can there be that much difference?

Don't they both have an engine, four wheels and a CD player?
Are you getting my point? Buying a wedding cake is the same. There are Hyundai's and there are Mercedes type wedding cake designers .

Which one is more in tune with your price range?
So, to answer your question, calling on the phone for prices is only a good idea to extent it allows you to know where you should possibly shop.

My suggestion: Begin by using the pricing service on OmahaWeddingCakes.com. Then, visit the Omaha wedding cake bakers who fit your price range based upon the photos you submitted. Meeting them in person and seeing their actual displays will help make your decision much easier. 
 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The #1 Myth About Ordering Your Wedding Cake


You've probably been told or have read that you should order your wedding cake 3-6 months in advance.
Can you say, "Sure I'm fine with my 3rd or 4th choice of wedding cake bakers."
It could happen if you follow that out-dated piece of philosophy.
You should look at booking the date of your wedding cake like choosing a nice reception site. Would you wait 3-6 months before your wedding and expect to reserve your first choice?

Let me elaborate on this a little further.
Prior to 2000-2005, the majority of wedding cakes in Omaha were sold by family operated bakeries or grocery store bakeries that had really good cake decorators. There were a few home bakers and small cake boutiques, but they were in the minority.
Contrast that with many of today's professional Omaha wedding cake bakers; they work from a one or two person boutique or from a state licensed home bakery, usually by themselves.
Sure, there are still your old fashion family run bakeries and select grocery stores that employ very talented wedding cake designers, but now they are in the minority.
Understanding this new dynamic explains why the 3-6 month rule is outdated. The home baker and cake boutiques typically don't have large walk-in coolers to store 10 wedding cakes or 8 people to help them.
Therefore, just like most reception sites, many wedding cake designers only have availability for a single wedding cake or between 1-3 wedding cakes per weekend.
If the best bakers according to your price range only create one magical wedding cake per weekend, you could wind up ordering your wedding cake from your 3rd or 4th choice if you choose to follow the 3-6 month rule.
My suggestion: Do some early wedding cake shopping and reserve your #1 baker as soon as possible.

Friday, August 24, 2012

So Why Should You Read My Wedding Cake Blog?


The reason brides have followed my advice (on WeddingCake.org) is due to me being a straight-shooter. They know when they follow or personally work with me, I'm looking out for their best interest.

I want you to become a smart and informed Omaha wedding cake shopper and of course to help you  save money or get the best value for your cake.

And what better way to begin than by utilizing technology available in 2012 to your advantage.

OmahaWeddingCakes.com gives you that advantage. Let's see how.
 
The way most brides shop for a wedding cake involves 3 pieces of criteria.

They begin by visiting 3-5 wedding cake bakers. At their consultations, they ask about wedding cake design options, cake flavors and finally price.  

That is the same process brides have been using for the last 40 years.

Finally, OmahaWeddingCakes.com changes everything by flipping the formula upside down. We bring the way you shop for a wedding cake to the comfort of your laptop or smart phone.

Using the same psychology as for the popularity of texting, you don't need to meet face to face or call every wedding cake baker/designer anymore.

Now, instead of visiting baker/designers first, you can see who can make the designs you have in mind, if the wedding cake design you really like is affordable, and best of all...which bakers/designers offer the best wedding cake prices in Omaha for the designs you want.

Does this make sense to you? Do you see how it simplifies making appointments by ONLY meeting with  baker/designers who understand your design ideas and a price range you'll be happy with?

Please share your thoughts.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Inaugural Post

Welcome to my inaugural post.

I can't believe WeddingCakesOmaha.blogspot.com and OmahaWeddingCakes.com are finally off the ground. It's been a true labor of love for me...but, more importantly to SAVE YOU OODLES OF MONEY.

If you've been to WeddingCake.org (my other wedding cake website), you'll notice the whole theme is running the site as an independent 3rd party. I'll be doing the same for OmahaWeddingCakes.com as well.

I truly want to educate, assist, and help you get the best deal possible on the purchase of your Omaha wedding cake and related products without trying to sell you...anything!

Okay, maybe in the future, I'll have some cool things for you to check out, but for right now I'm going to reference a lot of my research with brides from WeddingCake.org, so you can apply it to your Omaha wedding cake shopping experience. 

I promise it won't be boring.

You'll be able to use their experiences to get a fabulous wedding cake at the best price possible.

I'll also be talking about groom's cakes, wedding cake toppers, wedding cake knives, wedding cake stands, and anything else wedding cake related.

One last thing, it's probably apparent to you by now I'm a guy writing about wedding cakes. Trust me after consulting with over 87 bakeries, cake boutiques, and even cupcake shops selling wedding cupcakes across the USA and help authoring a book about wedding cakes, I know a thing or two.

Anyway, even if I don't know as much as I claim, you can count on the most important aspect of this blog----I'm going to SAVE YOU MONEY on your Omaha wedding cake.

Oh, and please...please...please, ask me anything wedding cake related. I'd be happy to share my advice.