Budget saving tip: Downsizing the wedding cake

Need ideas for a cheap wedding cake, but not digging your local supermarket bakery? When I heard the average wedding cake costs $500 and that my future sister-in-law spent a whopping $800 on her's, I was floored...$800 on cake! No way! We thought of budget-friendly alternatives including a cupcake tree. But even that may turn out to be out of our league with most gourmet cupcakes selling at $36 a dozen. With a cupcake tree and decorations, the whole thing could cost about $400.

But then I heard this great tip--buy a smaller gorgeous wedding cake for display and the traditional cake cutting. It will probably only be enough to feed your wedding party, but you can buy a full sheet of cake to slice up and hide in the back.These slices are for the rest of your guests.

My sister recently had a birthday party with about 50 or so guests. She bought a 3/4 sheet of chocolate and mocha cake from Red Ribbon Bakery, the mother of all Filipino bakeries. It was delicious and so was the price. The cake was just $118 for a 3/4 sheet which can feed about 75 people. Smaller, decorated wedding cakes feeding 10 people or more can be less than $50.

Here's a small, very pretty wedding cake from Red Ribbon. It can feed about 30 people (your wedding party and maybe a few extra). Imagine this with purple flowers and a champagne lining...mmmm. the possibilities!

Asian bakeries tend to be much cheaper than mainstream ones, so check them out! The whole thing can be done for about $200 for sure. That's saving you hundreds of dollars for pretty much flour and sugar!

*EDITOR'S NOTE: I went to Red Ribbon Bakery today...good news and bad news: the full sheets are still $130 and the 3/4 sheets are still $118. The smaller cakes run a bit more than expected. Just the word "wedding" in front of "cake" doubles the price. Tip: Look for a nice "all occasion" birthday cake. You can ask that they not put on any writing and they pass for really cute small wedding cakes. The cheapest I found was a 10" white birthday cake topped with lovely floral decorations for about $52. While I love Red Ribbon cakes, I think we'll look elsewhere for the smaller cake.