I can't get my head around this. We got married in February, cost was just over 11K total for everything. We had 137 guests after some declines.
There is a recession when it comes to weddings, but you need to work hard for the recession prices. Haggling definitely works, and remember who you know and who they know
I am big into cakes, and so our wedding cake was also the dessert as I wanted something special. We had a 16in base tier of Belgian Chocolate Biscuit Cake, 14in 2nd Tier was Red Velvet Cake, 12in 3rd Tier was Chocolate Fudge, and finally the 10in top tier was traditional fruit cake. The caterers were happy to ensure each table was given a platter of slices to try, so everyone could help themselves to the dessert they wanted to taste and there was plenty of cream, strawberries, etc. etc. served to each table. So many people have since asked me about my cake for their day, it went down a storm.
Cake was provided by a friend in the industry, we designed it together. Total cost came to 480, which for the dessert for 137 people and given its size was a great price.