4 ms·

I don't know if I believe the price goes up that much because of the fear of a Bridezilla. I would compare it more to, a regular cake has like, 2 9's SLA of be

I don't know if I believe the price goes up that much because of the fear of a Bridezilla. I would compare it more to, a regular cake has like, 2 9's SLA of being what you wanted. But for a wedding cake, people want 5 9's. They want enterprise Cake, that's always available and exactly as they expected. So that's what they pay for. If I was working with a vendor, a plain-old regular cake with 2 9's availability would be fine for me. I'm unwilling to pay 4x as much for something, just to chase a very diminishing improvement.

wgerard 8y ago
Hmm, I don't feel like your conclusion follows from your premises. > I don't know if I believe the price goes up that much because of the fear of [an overly zealous wedding party member] > But for a wedding cake, people want 5 9's. They want enterprise Cake, that's always available and exactly as they expected. I see those two things as related, I guess. Nobody knows the difference between 2 9's and 5 9's until the service goes down or something goes unexpectedly. > If I was working with a vendor, a plain-old regular cake with 2 9's availability would be fine for me. Unfortunately for the vendor, since you're not ever going to be a repeat customer they have no idea which type of customer you are and have to assume you want 5 9's even if you're saying otherwise - or that you want 5 9's for the 2 9's price. The opposite of a lemon market, I suppose (a peach market?). Look at it from their perspective: The worst case scenario is they give you the 2 9's price but you expect the 5 9's and complain loudly when you don't get that.
- JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
  Cake is a commodity. I don't have to buy it from a vendor that specializes specifically in wedding cakes. I should have set the premise up a little better: I can go to my local supermarket (2 9s) and order several cakes of different sizes, and get a fancy serving tray, to get the multi-tiered cake appearance that's classically what I think of, when I think wedding cake. If my supermarket doesn't give me exactly what I want, nobody would really care, since most people don't go to supermarkets to by Enterprise Cake. They go with a more specialized vendor (5 9s).
  - wgerard 8y ago
    I still don't think this follows. You can go to a specialized cake vendor and still get a 2 9s cake - many people do, in fact, for special non-wedding events (for, say, a 60th birthday). That cake will still be significantly less expensive than if you tell the specialized cake vendor it's for a wedding. Enterprise cake comes in many flavors :).
karmakaze 8y ago
Interesting, how about RAIC(ake)? Order several of the 2x9s cakes and use the best one(s) on the day.
- JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
  If the premium for a wedding cake is really 2x as much as a regular one, you could use 2 less-reputable vendors and hope at least one comes through. Which is an absolutely crazy notion, but I don't see why we can't apply our learnings from things like managing AWS costs (on demand instances vs. pre-emptible instances) to wedding supplies.
- dotancohen 8y ago
  Even better, _display_ the best of the cakes but _serve_ them all. The honour of having the cake displayed - ahem advertising - goes to the baker with the best cake.
  - JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
    This is how Jeff Bezos would plan a wedding. Just like how all those cities made pretty proposals for HQ2. Oof, too soon.
  - dotancohen 8y ago
    Of course, to judge which cake was tastiest, one would have to measure lick-through rates.
balabaster 8y ago
Just as an addendum to your 5 9's concept - there's a level of stress that comes with providing this, and it's considerable. You're paying them to absorb that stress and ensure that everything's perfect without having to manage them. It's me saying - I need exactly this, at this exact time, on this exact date, in this exact location. I need it perfect, no ifs ands or buts, no excuses, no reasons, no failures. Perfect. Period. When providing this level of expectation, when any kind of failure or indeed anything less than absolute perfection is not an option, when there's no chances for do-overs, the stress load that comes with providing that is huge. I'm not in the wedding planning business, but I'm a service provider in the tech market. As a service provider, if you want me to absorb that level of stress so that you don't even have to think about it, I'm capable, I can and I will absorb all of it. I will shield you from it all and show up with exactly what you ask, exactly when you need it, no failures, no excuses. But you're going to pay for the stress that causes me... and it doesn't come cheap. But it is dependable. There's a reason you have a wedding planner for your perfect day and they're not just charging you for their planning skills. You're paying them for absorbing all the stress so that you just have to show up and have enjoy your fairy tale day. You can only live under that kind of stress load for a finite period. Most people crumble in days or weeks. Forget lasting months or years. Eventually everyone breaks. Do you really want to break before your big day? If you don't want to pay so much, you have to be prepared to throw out your expectations and go for something more relaxed. If relaxed is your bag (it is mine), then you won't have to pay 5 9's prices because you're not putting everyone under the pressure of delivering perfection.
- JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
  Personally, I fall into a similar boat. There's few things I need 5 9's on in life, beyond access to oxygen to maintain life. As I mentioned in another comment, I know a couple that substituted cupcakes in place of cake. Not only are cupcakes way easier to make than a multi-tiered cake, but they're quicker to serve, so guests aren't standing around waiting for dessert. Even though you'd still have stipulation of "the cupcakes must be at this time and place", surely it's much easier to deliver on that. I bet they saved a bit on dessert costs.
  - 8y ago

wgerard 8y ago

Hmm, I don't feel like your conclusion follows from your premises. > I don't know if I believe the price goes up that much because of the fear of [an overly zealous wedding party member] > But for a wedding cake, people want 5 9's. They want enterprise Cake, that's always available and exactly as they expected. I see those two things as related, I guess. Nobody knows the difference between 2 9's and 5 9's until the service goes down or something goes unexpectedly. > If I was working with a vendor, a plain-old regular cake with 2 9's availability would be fine for me. Unfortunately for the vendor, since you're not ever going to be a repeat customer they have no idea which type of customer you are and have to assume you want 5 9's even if you're saying otherwise - or that you want 5 9's for the 2 9's price. The opposite of a lemon market, I suppose (a peach market?). Look at it from their perspective: The worst case scenario is they give you the 2 9's price but you expect the 5 9's and complain loudly when you don't get that.

JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
Cake is a commodity. I don't have to buy it from a vendor that specializes specifically in wedding cakes. I should have set the premise up a little better: I can go to my local supermarket (2 9s) and order several cakes of different sizes, and get a fancy serving tray, to get the multi-tiered cake appearance that's classically what I think of, when I think wedding cake. If my supermarket doesn't give me exactly what I want, nobody would really care, since most people don't go to supermarkets to by Enterprise Cake. They go with a more specialized vendor (5 9s).
- wgerard 8y ago
  I still don't think this follows. You can go to a specialized cake vendor and still get a 2 9s cake - many people do, in fact, for special non-wedding events (for, say, a 60th birthday). That cake will still be significantly less expensive than if you tell the specialized cake vendor it's for a wedding. Enterprise cake comes in many flavors :).

karmakaze 8y ago

Interesting, how about RAIC(ake)? Order several of the 2x9s cakes and use the best one(s) on the day.

JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
If the premium for a wedding cake is really 2x as much as a regular one, you could use 2 less-reputable vendors and hope at least one comes through. Which is an absolutely crazy notion, but I don't see why we can't apply our learnings from things like managing AWS costs (on demand instances vs. pre-emptible instances) to wedding supplies.
dotancohen 8y ago
Even better, _display_ the best of the cakes but _serve_ them all. The honour of having the cake displayed - ahem advertising - goes to the baker with the best cake.
- JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
  This is how Jeff Bezos would plan a wedding. Just like how all those cities made pretty proposals for HQ2. Oof, too soon.
- dotancohen 8y ago
  Of course, to judge which cake was tastiest, one would have to measure lick-through rates.

balabaster 8y ago

Just as an addendum to your 5 9's concept - there's a level of stress that comes with providing this, and it's considerable. You're paying them to absorb that stress and ensure that everything's perfect without having to manage them. It's me saying - I need exactly this, at this exact time, on this exact date, in this exact location. I need it perfect, no ifs ands or buts, no excuses, no reasons, no failures. Perfect. Period. When providing this level of expectation, when any kind of failure or indeed anything less than absolute perfection is not an option, when there's no chances for do-overs, the stress load that comes with providing that is huge. I'm not in the wedding planning business, but I'm a service provider in the tech market. As a service provider, if you want me to absorb that level of stress so that you don't even have to think about it, I'm capable, I can and I will absorb all of it. I will shield you from it all and show up with exactly what you ask, exactly when you need it, no failures, no excuses. But you're going to pay for the stress that causes me... and it doesn't come cheap. But it is dependable. There's a reason you have a wedding planner for your perfect day and they're not just charging you for their planning skills. You're paying them for absorbing all the stress so that you just have to show up and have enjoy your fairy tale day. You can only live under that kind of stress load for a finite period. Most people crumble in days or weeks. Forget lasting months or years. Eventually everyone breaks. Do you really want to break before your big day? If you don't want to pay so much, you have to be prepared to throw out your expectations and go for something more relaxed. If relaxed is your bag (it is mine), then you won't have to pay 5 9's prices because you're not putting everyone under the pressure of delivering perfection.

JMTQp8lwXL 8y ago
Personally, I fall into a similar boat. There's few things I need 5 9's on in life, beyond access to oxygen to maintain life. As I mentioned in another comment, I know a couple that substituted cupcakes in place of cake. Not only are cupcakes way easier to make than a multi-tiered cake, but they're quicker to serve, so guests aren't standing around waiting for dessert. Even though you'd still have stipulation of "the cupcakes must be at this time and place", surely it's much easier to deliver on that. I bet they saved a bit on dessert costs.
- 8y ago