Cheap Wedding Cake Ideas: 6 Ways to Feed 100 Guests for Under $140

The cheapest wedding cakes come from a supermarket or warehouse bakery: a two-tier Walmart wedding cake starts at $68 and serves about 64 people, and a Costco half-sheet cake is $27.99 for 48 slices. Mix the two, or swap in cupcakes, and you can feed 100 guests for about $100 to $140, where the average wedding cake costs $917 (Zola).

Nobody at your wedding is going to ask where the cake came from. They will remember that it tasted good and that you two looked happy cutting it. So let's spend the money where it shows and skip the rest.

Where the money in a wedding cake goes

Zola puts the typical range at $700 to $1,100, with bakeries charging $3 to $8 a slice and more for custom work (Zola). NPR, using Zola's numbers, puts the average slice at about $5.50, and notes that a custom cake from a specialty baker can pass $1,000 (NPR).

You are paying for a baker's hours: stacking tiers, smoothing fondant, piping by hand, delivering and setting up. The cake inside is often not that different from a good supermarket sponge. Every idea below cuts the labor, not the flavor.

1. Order a tiered cake from the supermarket bakery

This is the simplest swap. Walmart's two-tier wedding cakes have a 10-inch bottom and a 6-inch top, serve about 64 people and start at $68. A filling such as strawberry or Bavarian cream adds about $6. You pay in full when you order, pick it up in the store, and Walmart suggests ordering at least a week ahead for a wedding (Tasting Table).

That is about $1.06 a serving. Other grocery chains sit higher but still well under a bakery. NPR found a Publix price guide near Birmingham listing a fondant chocolate cake for 94 people at $388, and Publix says its stores there sell about 50% more wedding cakes than before 2020 (NPR).

The quickest upgrade is to ask for plain white buttercream and add your own fresh flowers on the day. Baby's breath and a few small roses from the supermarket look far softer than piped frosting flowers. If you are already buying stems for the tables with our grocery store flowers guide, set a few aside for the cake. Wrap the stems or push them into a short straw so they never touch the frosting, and choose flowers that were not sprayed.

2. A small cake for cutting, sheet cake for serving

Zola's own tip is to order a small decorated cake for the cutting and serve most guests from simple sheet cakes kept in the back (Zola). The plated slices look identical.

Costco's half-sheet cake is $27.99 and feeds 48 with 2-inch slices. It comes in white with vanilla cheesecake mousse or chocolate with chocolate mousse. A plain one costs the same as a decorated one, there is no full sheet, and you order at least three days ahead in the app or about a day ahead on the paper form in the warehouse (Costco Guides). That works out to roughly 58 cents a slice.

We go deeper on this trick, and on what to put around it, in our dessert table on a budget plan.

3. Cupcakes with one small cake on top

Cupcakes skip the slicing, the plates and the person stuck in the kitchen with a knife. Costco sells 12 for $8.99, so 75 cents each, and a 10-inch round cake for about $17.99 that feeds 12 to 16 (Costco Guides). Put the round cake on the top tier for the cutting photo and the cupcakes underneath.

How they are shown matters more than where they were baked. Take them out of the plastic clamshells and give them height. Our vintage cupcake stand is three Dollar Tree glass plates stacked into a tower for about $7, against about $24 for a plain glass stand from Walmart. If you would rather not glue anything, a plastic stand costs about the same, so build it only if you want real glass.

4. Cake pops instead of slices

For a casual or late-night reception, cake pops go further than you would think: two bites, no fork, no plate. Our white wedding cake pops come to about $44 for 120 pops, against $99.90 for ten 12-count boxes from Costco. The catch is two evenings in the kitchen, so this one is for couples who like baking, not for anyone already short on time.

5. Order fewer servings than you have guests

This saves money on any cake. Zola suggests planning servings for your full guest count only when the cake is the plated dessert. With a dessert station, 75% to 85% of guests is enough, and with several desserts on offer, 60% to 70% (Zola).

For 100 guests with a few other sweets around, that is 60 to 70 servings. One $68 Walmart two-tier nearly covers it on its own.

6. Choose buttercream and fewer tiers

Fondant takes far more hand work than buttercream, which is why it costs more (Zola). A rustic or smooth buttercream finish with fresh flowers is the cheaper look, and it tastes better to most people anyway.

Height is the other cost. Zola notes that a two-tier cake serves about 50 people and a four-tier cake up to 150. If you love a tall cake, ask your baker about a dummy tier: a decorated foam layer that adds height without adding servings you pay for.

Three cake plans for 100 guests

All prices are from the sources above and can vary by a dollar or two by region. Check your local store before you order.

Plan	Servings	Cost
1 Walmart two-tier for cutting + 1 Costco half-sheet in the kitchen	about 112	$95.99
9 dozen Costco cupcakes + 1 Costco 10-inch round on top	about 120	$98.90
2 Walmart two-tier cakes (one on display, one in the kitchen)	about 128	$136.00
Bakery cake at the $5.50 average slice	100	$550.00

Add a bunch of supermarket roses and baby's breath for the top and you are still at a fraction of the bakery price, often with cake left over for the next morning.

Make the cake table look planned

A cheap cake on a bare table looks cheap. The same cake with a backdrop and good light looks like a choice.

• A backdrop. Our balloon garland runs along the wall behind the cake for about $29, against roughly $144 from a local balloon decorator. It also makes the cutting photos.
• Warm light. For an evening reception, a few fairy light jars around the cake stand give a soft glow without flames near the frosting. 25 jars come to about $62.
• A proper cake stand and knife. Borrow them. Someone in your family owns both.

If you are still working out how much of the whole budget should go to food and cake, our wedding budget breakdown shows where the money usually lands.

When the cheap route is not worth it

• Baking a tiered cake yourself. Stacking tiers needs supports, a cold fridge big enough to hold it and a free day before the wedding. Most couples have none of those. Bake cupcakes or cake pops if you want to bake.
• A hot outdoor reception. Buttercream softens fast in direct sun. Keep the cake inside or in the shade until just before cutting.
• A tall cake from the supermarket. The Walmart wedding cakes Tasting Table describes are two-tier designs with simple piped details (Tasting Table). If a tall cake matters to you, a local bakery with a dummy tier may be the better deal.
• Venue rules. Some venues charge a cake-cutting fee per slice or only allow cakes from approved bakers. Ask in writing before you order anything.

Order the cake, put the date in your phone for pickup, and ask one friend to fetch it. Then the only job left for the two of you is holding the knife.