Posts by rowdyjackal922

I'm not totally sure what they charge for their pralines and fruit pieces—I just put down the lowest estimates possible—but over at Horak's, you're looking at $97 per kilo. As for any cake with custom decor, $400 is pretty much the baseline price you'll see at any bakery.

velvetwalker742 said:Everything was laid out on the table and, honestly, we polished off almost everything!! I somehow managed to walk away about four or five pounds heavier after Sunday lunch!! 😁

velvetwalker742, here's the breakdown 😉

-$300 (15 lbs of pastries $20/1lb)
-$167 (100 assorted mousse cups)
-$250 (3 lbs of pralines $83/1 lb)
-$150 (3 lbs of chocolate-covered fruit $50/1 lb)
-$400 wedding cake
-$133 decorations
-$233 delivery to Naperville
-----------
= $1633 🙂

There was actually even less cake physically there—otherwise we would've had at least 10 lbs left for the next day if all 100 guests loved sweets as much as I do 🙂

velvetwalker742 said:As for the plating situation, I honestly haven't a clue; we opted for that dessert table setup instead, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. Everyone just grabs whatever catches their eye onto their own little plate, and it works perfectly!
I'm not entirely sure where you're located, but they usually charge for delivery based on distance. It cost me $233 to get everything to our place. However, the guy I spoke to at the bridal expo mentioned that anything within 31 miles is free of charge, though I suppose that depends on where you are. Your best bet is to just call and ask. One piece of advice, though: whatever you settle on, make sure you confirm everything via email and for heaven's sake, do not delete those threads until the whole thing is over! We had a bit of a misunderstanding once, and if it hadn't been for that paper trail, things would have gone south quite quickly...
We had 100 guests, and we ordered (roughly speaking, I'm just throwing numbers around here) about 25 kilos of pastries, over 100 of those little cups in various sizes, roughly 3kg of chocolate-covered fruit, about 3kg of chocolate pralines, and a cake. All told, including delivery and the decorations, it came to $1633.
And everyone keeps raving about those pralines, yet I didn't even manage to try a single one. Not even the fruit! 😢

25 pounds of pastries🙄
Were you handing those out to people individually or was it all just set up on a buffet table?

Scott Reed12 said:Booking desserts is a bit of a moving target... personally, I put my deposit down three months out, though when I was visiting local bakeries, they told me three weeks is plenty of notice. Then there is Monica—she follows a different "philosophy" entirely. She’s pregnant, so she refuses to overwork herself—she’ll only take on a handful of orders regardless of her actual staff capacity (her words, not mine)... but I digress.
As for the quantities... our baker suggested roughly 10 ounces per person, which works out to about 6 pounds for a hundred people. She suggested bumping that up to 15 ounces per person if we wanted enough for everyone to take some home, but even that is subjective—it really depends on how large your dessert boxes are.

5 oz to share (tin included or not) 😉
A fancy box might mean you're only getting 5 oz of actual cookies—maybe just 4 or 5 pieces total. Honestly? Better to skip the box and just give the 5 oz of treats itself. A full pound would be the sweet spot, though 8 or 9 oz would still make a decent little gift.

If someone can't even nail basic cookies, why would I expect a whole cake to be any better? — plus, I highly doubt Stephanie actually knows how to make anything modern. I can already see her cake with those tacky little plastic bride and groom toppers and cheap-looking roses 🙄

Smith's Sweets makes killer cookies—their cakes looked amazing at the expo too.
Fancy Cake is pretty good as well, though their colorful macarons are way too sweet if you're willing to shell out the cash.

James Ruiz84 said:Has anyone ever ordered Macarons for a wedding?
If you have, where did you get them and what was the damage to your wallet? I'd also love to know if they actually tasted good and were worth the hype.

Fancy Cake over in Savannah makes killer Macarons—they have the prettiest colors, too. They go for $1.75 per piece, but they might give you a deal if you're ordering a bunch.

So I hit up the wedding expo just to scope out the desserts—and man, those treats at Lido's had me staring—but they were tagged "display only."🤷 Talk about stingy! Since I didn't want to miss out on those fancy macarons from Vincent's or whatever gourmet bites they had over at Anthony's, I ended up leaving totally hungry.

Tried those mini cakes from Vincent's and they're totally worth it $10, honestly could pass them off as something for $8.25—but hey, there's way too much work involved in making them.
Inside, you've got this chocolate cake layered with three biscuits and a killer filling. They’re covered in fondant with a little fondant rose on top and a satin ribbon... all in purple, and man, they look amazing.

Any random cupcake from a local bakery is basically just a dry morning muffin and isn't even worth $1.75. You're better off treating guests to a croissant instead of a muffin.

Bradley Jones9 said:Well, I suppose you could certainly get a cake for 2,000 people, but it really comes down to what someone wants... it’s all a matter of taste, and as they say, there's no arguing with personal preference.😁

Well, if you're gonna be such a diva about it, just go with their cake—and honestly, let the groom foot the bill, who cares? 😍
Two flavors should be plenty—maybe something chocolatey and then something light and fruity.
Where can I find some photos of their cakes?

stormyrider47 said:Hey, I'm looking for some reviews on the pastries and cakes from Lida... anyone actually tried them?

The pastries are alright, but their cupcake cake is a total disaster—haven't tried any of their other cakes yet.
A bride at a wedding was so let down by the cake that they didn't even charge her for it, even though it was their catering. It was just basic yellow muffins with zero filling—no cream or cherries—just some plain frosting on top.
Anyway, their cupcakes go for about $2 each, but honestly, it's not even worth $0.67 because they're so dry and bland.
Vincent makes amazing cupcakes!
That bakery, M&M, freezes their cakes with gelatin, so when they arrive at a restaurant and sit out at 40 degrees, they start melting. The decorations slide right off—and if they have bright colors, by midnight the cake looks like a toddler colored on it.

Bradley Jones9 said:Actually, the more I dwell on it, the more I find myself liking the idea of offering different flavors... Not everyone is going to love a single flavor profile, so providing a few options seems more sensible... plus, I doubt everyone is going to eat their fill, so some people will probably end up with a second slice anyway...

As if waiters are gonna ask guests which flavor they want. They just serve whoever is at the table next.
And $500 for the decor 🙂🙂
For $1500 you could get a cake for 300 people made entirely of hazelnuts and they'd still make a fifty-fifty profit.😍

Hey Nathan Cox25—how much did that whole cake run you, and what was actually in it?

Benjamin Fox682 said:Hey everyone,
I need some advice—since I honestly don't have the time to dig through all the old threads, can someone tell me roughly how many pounds of dessert I should order for about 150 guests? (I’m talking about catering at a restaurant).
Also, what’s the better way to handle the service? Is it standard practice to have the desserts already set out on the tables so people can grab something sweet as soon as they walk in, or is it better to wait and serve them later, maybe after the appetizers or the main course?
Thanks in advance!

You're looking at about 50 lbs of dessert. 🙂 Better to just put them on the tables right away—that's what most people expect. Plus, if dinner runs long, some folks might head out early and miss the dessert course entirely if you wait.

steelcobra11 said:Thanks, ladies! I’ve decided against putting them on the individual tables; instead, I'm setting up a dedicated dessert station. The hotel staff suggested ordering about 65 pounds of cookies, but since I’m totally out of my element here, I wanted to see what you all typically order. That still feels like way too much to me 😁

30 kg of cookies at one station!? What is this, a bakery? They're probably gonna rip you off and only give you 10kg 😁
It's pretty simple math—if you have round tables of 10 people, just plan for two plates per person at roughly 1.5 lbs each... that puts you at about 65 lbs total.
Don't be stingy and leave guests without treats at their seats if your whole menu isn't a buffet style where they have to get up anyway.
If people are already getting up to step outside for a smoke, your tables are gonna look empty if there's nothing sweet waiting for them when they sit back down. 😉

steelcobra11 said:Yeah, just kidding!

30kg... that's like 0.15kg per person!