The bride worries about $
One doesn’t have to far to find more questionable wedding planning advice. Unfortunately, this item shines the light on the obvious conflicts of interest between The Knot advertising department, earning revenue from wedding businesses vs. The Knot editorial department, writing for its audience of brides.
Here is the item’s title and subtitle:
“Wedding Budget: 10 Hidden Wedding Costs - It’s all those pricey extras that slide in under the radar. We’ve asked the experts to clue us in on their insider secrets for avoiding those little-known financial pitfalls and sticking to your budget. Check it out!.”
When you read the full article, you will find some reasonable tips. Although, the author (Tia Albright) admits that not all the costs are “hidden,” just that they may not be obvious. Fair enough.
One of the most egregious statements was this.
“8. Cake-Cutting Fee
Why it’s hidden If you use the cake provided by your reception site, the charge is typically wrapped into the cost. Going with an outside baker can jack up the price. Why? Because your venue’s workers are responsible for slicing and serving each piece, then cleaning the dishes. This means more work for their staff!
The cost: From $2 to $5 per guest
How to avoid it Go with the site’s cake baker. Don’t worry: They’ll likely be able to work with your vision. If you’re set on a particular cake baker, then call your venue and find out what the fee is before you sign a contract.”
The wedding bakers view from 'under the bus'
MY PROBLEMS WITH THIS ITEM: First, the author dismisses the local baker out of hand, stating that going with an outside baker can jack up the price, because the site will have to do more work (cutting and serving the cake).
Simultaneously, the author writes that if you go with a cake from the in-house baker, the cost of cutting and serving is wrapped into the price.
HELLO! That’s not a discount. From that logic, the net savings would appear to be ZERO, NADA, Nothing!
The notion that cutting and serving a wedding cakes increases the venue cost is outright bunk. Banquet servers are paid by the hour. Believe me, if one is having a 6-hour reception for 200 guests, the servers do not earn more money if the handle the cake cutting and serving.
Cake cutting fees are often required in hotels that do not offer in-house baking. Or, they sub-contract the baking, representing it as an in-house service.
Cake cutting fees exist, primarily, because they are customary in the industry. One could make the comparison to a corkage fee for bringing in your own specific wines, but even that is a stretch.
The author then reverses course in the final sentence of the article, suggesting that if you are set on a particular baker, just call the venue first and find out what the fee is. With what I know today, if I were to pay a fee for bringing in the cake from an outside resource, I would attempt to negotiate a flat fee for that privilege.
The net advice of this advice from TheKnot.com: Marginal
The sum-total of this item is weak, contradicting advice to the bride, tossing the baker under the bus, and then trying to extricate them at the conclusion.
Read the whole article, and make your own analysis and comments.
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog
With a friend like “the Knot” who needs enemies in this industry!
I think we need to keep a journal of all of these articles that they publish. The next time one of The Knot salespeople try to get one of us to sign up we could say sure as soon as we get theses articles republished endorsing your advertising base.
Sorry it just steams me when they discredit the same companies & industries that they want to profit from!
Geoff
And yet advertisers continue to pay them to be able to support the writing and distribution of all these misleading articles like this one and the one on MSN in your earlier post.
I am in the same company as Geoff and completely agree that advertisers should hold The Knot more accountable to earn their trust and their dollars.
Most companies usually become quite willing to listen when their revenue starts to walk away.
Tracey
While I wasn’t even aware of a “cake cutting” cost, I think its a disservice to local bakers and that it should not be taken lightly. You would think that The Knot would be a little more careful when it comes to judging their advertisers.
Especially when places like GetMarried.com and others are vying for the same eyeballs and go out of their way to support local wedding professionals.
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I was married in 1989, and despite having worked hundreds of weddings as a DJ entertainer, I was not aware of the ‘cake cutting fee.’
Apparently, neither was the Catering Sales Manager who booked my event. I say that because several days later she had the audacity to call me and say she forgot to include the fee in our agreement, and would it be OK to add it. I was stunned and ticked off. However, the hotel was referring me business, so I relented.
Amazingly enough, after my bride and I did the ceremonial cake cutting, the staff failed to cut and distribute the cake. Only prompting from me 15-20 minutes later made that happen. Needless to say, when I returned from my honeymoon, I had the fee removed from the bill. Very annoying.
Andy
Obviously as a “local” cake baker, I have several issues with “cutting” fees as most of us do.
One example is that in all of the local venues that have pastry chefs, this fee makes it nearly impossible for a client to have any choice about who creates the cake. Usually, the “per serving” charge quoted for the cake by the venue is actually higher than what most local bakeries charge.
If the client tries to go with an outside baker, the “cutting fee” to bring in a cake is, by my experience, so exhorbitant that the total price of the outside cake and the venue cutting fee becomes, well, ridiculous and the client has no choice than to use the venue even if they are not happy with the product.
It has also been my experience that these fees are not “negotiable”. The Knot editorial staff should be careful about how they “advise” their readers so as not to inflame their advertisers (the bakeries and venues).
Mark
Mark,
It’s very good to hear from you. Your view, as an independent, local baker, gives a particular perspective that needs to be heard.
Your points are all crystal clear. I only differ (in a very minor sense with your last point. These days, any fee is negotiable; however (just as I experienced, personally), it doesn’t feel good to have a tug-of-war with a venue that has major impact on the success of the wedding reception. The tendency is to bite-the-bullet and just go along. That’s pretty coercive.
Andy
Most Banquet Facilities and Reception Halls offer a package deals. They price out a wedding cake that can offer value to the bride and a good profit margin for the venue. Wedding Cakes have become the personal Icon for weddings. The time involved from design to baking is very labor intensive. So when you break away from the package you’re breaking the contract.
A way to work around the out side cake fee or cake cutting fees is to bring in a dummy cake for photos, Then serve the venue’s cake. Castle Hill Inn & Resort in Newport, RI wanted $17 a slice to create a cake out side of the 7 “custom” solutions they offered. After pricing out the design by other bakers, the average cake came in at $6.00 a slice. Add the 3.50 cake cutting charge. you’re $10 to $17 over your budget.
Nancy