Be Inspired

Rhianydd of Dragons and Daffodils

When my passion for cake decorating first started about 10 years ago, I went through quite a few cake decorating magazines looking up the tips given and oodling over the cakes featured. I remember being bowled over by the creativity of the cakes made by ‘Dragons and Daffodils’. So it is with great pleasure that I can present Rhianydd’s story - the owner of ‘Dragons and Daffodils’

Making the cake business work and grow is within the grasp of many of us. Working from home is usually where it starts. Here is Rhianydd’s story:

Dragons and Daffodils cakes was only ever meant to be a small business that I could run while looking after my family.  We started off as a home business, then moved into a studio some years later.

We are now at the stage, where brides recommend us to their friends, family, co-workers etc, and the hotels also recommend us too. We recently found out that we are the recommended – Wedding Cake Decorators (or one of) for most of the hotels in South Wales, including the Cardiff Hilton and 5 star St Davids Hotel in the Bay, plus a lot of the local country hotels.

I would suggest introducing yourself to the wedding co-ordinator at the local venues, giving them a sample of your cake (they need to see what it actually tastes like!) and some leaflets.  Take a portfolio with good quality photographs for them to see your actual work.

One huge breakthrough for us came when Cosmo Brides, completely out of the blue, put a photo of one of our cakes in their magazine with the comment "we love Dragons and Daffodils Cakes". I then found out that I was unwittingly doing a cake for a bride who worked for National Magazines, They publish ‘Cosmo Brides’. I do think a lot of the publicity comes from who you know, and we are quite normal. The "normal" couple are our "bread and butter" and we have always felt that they are the most important people for our business.

I do understand that although I have put in a lot of hard work into my business, we have also been really lucky. Started doing chocolate cakes at the right time, more modern cakes at the right time, etc

We do two Bridal Shows a year, one in the spring, one in the Autumn, and find that it is more than enough to keep us in the public eye.  We also put adverts in the free magazines that are given out on the Bridal Show circuit rather than advertising with national magazines.

I really believe the success of your business depends on your area:

- numbers of brides there
- numbers of hotels/venues
- numbers of other cake decorators.
 
Do your research before you start and weigh up the pro's and con's.  It can be costly to set up a business, so it would be a shame to then discover too late that your area is over-run with already successful cake decorators.  However, it also depends if you just want to produce a few cakes a week or even a month and it is therefore mostly for pleasure and a part time wage.
 
What ever you choose to do, it is addictive and very time consuming,

but well worth it!

Rhianydd
Dragons and Daffodils

42a Mill Street, Tonyrefail. CF39 8AA
Tel: 01443 671314
www.dragonsanddaffodils.com