Here's the timeline:

Met with T on March 16th about her May 24th cake

T paid her $25 deposit to hold her date and signed the contract agreeing to her price and the terms

The terms state that 50% deposit is due within 30 days to continue holding the date and guarantee the price (April 16th)

March 24th she emailed to see if she took a couple of shells out of each of the shell clusters would save her money, or if she decreased the number of bubbles on her cake...

Following a series of emails to see about getting her price down I emailed her contract and payment instructions on March 30th. I tol dher she could mail me a check to the address I provided or pay by paypal.

She wrote back and asked, how do I go about making a payment? I replied that she could mail me a check to the address provided or pay by paypal.

She wrote back and said she wanted to pay by credit card, I told her I don't accept credit cards any longer. (March 31)

She called on April 9th, stating that she wanted to bring me money and wanted to set a meeting to pay me. I told her I was going out of town on vacation and didn't have time to meet her and could she please just mail the check because I would be coming back to being in a very busy wedding season.

Then she called me on April 17th - now her payment is day late, and says, I thought you would call me when you got back in town so we could meet and I could give you your money.

I was in a consult, but promptly called her back when I was finished, like 20 minutes later, and got her voicemail, and I said, I am extremely busy with cakes, you can meet me at one of my deliveries tomorrow evening if you must, otherwise, please mail your payment.

On Monday April 21st she emails me and says, since we've been playing phone tag, I thought it would be better to email you, can I have your address so I can just mail the check.

I emailed her right back and said, 'as previously noted, my address is located in the signature line below' that's it.

she emailed me on Monday the 28th and said, I was just checking to see if you received my check, I wrote back and said, as of Monday I have not.

Then she email me today, the 30th of april, her payment now being 2 weeks overdue and says, "It should have been there a long time ago. I can cancel the check and bring you by a money order so that I know for sure you got it"

I haven't written her back yet. On my wesbite and my contract it says that the payment is due within 30 days to guarantee the price. Payment methods were given to her with more than adequate time to make that happen, so now it's 2 weeks overdue.

Also, I work very closely with a venue in town (not the one this bride is having her reception at) who called me saying that had a bride that same weekend who desperately needed a cake and they knew I would be available for them! So I basically was forced to take an extra wedding and grooms cake on a weekend I already had closed.

so what would you do??!? HELP!! I want to write her back and I need good words.

I would be more than happy to give her back her $25 non-refundable deposit to be done with her too.

pretty please??

I hate leaving people to hang dry, so I would send something like this:

"Dear Non-paying bride,
I think it would be best for you to cancel the check and bring either cash or money order by 5PM tonight.
As noted in our contract, I needed the 50 percent deposit by April 16 to guarentee the date and price. If I do not receive either cash or money order for this amount by 5PM tonight I will be forced to cancel your order for non-payment. I do not want to do this, however, your payment is already two weeks late.
If you have any questions please call me immediately, as if I don't hear or receive anything from you by 5PM tonight I will take it as cancellation of your order.
Thank you"

Dear Slack-@$$ non-paying bridezilla,

Since your payment was due over two weeks agao and I have yet to see the dough (including the check you SAID you had mailed last week), the price of your cake has now increased by 75%. I need the money in my hot little hand, by 5 pm today or your can kiss your retainer goodbye, and good luck finding someone other than Walmart to do your cake.

(in)Sincerely,

XYZ cake company

What do you think about this letter?

T,

On our March 16th meeting, we went over the terms of our agreement which you signed. You signed agreeing that you understood a 50% deposit was due within 30 days in order to continuing holding your date, but primarily to guarantee your price.

Soon after these meeting, we went through a price increase, but as per our agreement I continued to hold the price for the cake designed at that consultation.

In a March 30th email, I attached your contract and provided you with an address to mail a check, as well as the ability to pay through paypal. You then contacted me by phone on April 9th, stating that your payment was due the following week and you wanted to meet to pay it. I returned your message with another message saying that I was not available to do that and asked that you mail your payment. The following week you called on April 17th and left a message asking to meet me to make a payment. I called back less than 1 hour later and left a message saying that you could meet me at a delivery on Friday the 18th, or mail your payment. You then followed with an email on Monday the 21st asking that since weâve been playing phone tag, could I provide you with an address to mail your payment. This email was in response to a long list of emails in which my address was provided in the signature line. On Monday, April 28th you emailed asking if I had received your check, I responded no. On Wednesday, April 30th, you offered to cancel the check a provide me with a money order.

The payment options were provided in more than adequate time.

We are now 2 weeks past your due date and according to my terms, the previous price is no longer valid. Your new price is $$$$. This total amount, short the $25 deposit paid on March 16th is $$$$ and due in full by Monday May 5th.

You can mail a money order, or meet me at 10:55am at <coffee shop> downtown to hand me a money order.

With May being the busiest wedding month of the year, I am extremely busy with 3-8 elaborate cakes each week, and I simply do not have any more time than this to worry about your cake until the week of it. If your full payment is not in my hands by Monday May 5th, your order will be cancelled.

Sounds good to me.

You may also require her to send the money order (I wouldn't take a check at this point) via certified mail to prove it's been sent.

I don't know if you sent it already but I would change one thing..... here you said

I would change it to: I need to concentrate on the upcoming cakes for this week and can not invest any more time into chasing payments....or something like that.

It's not that you aren't worrying about her cake, her cake is important to you it's just that you shouldn't have to run after her and jump through hoops to get her to pay for it...KWIM?

I agree with communicating in writing one last time, but my only suggestion is to make the note much shorter... along the lines of what ccr03 suggested. Direct, pointed and end-of-story!! Perhaps cc: your attorney or BYA person LOL!

Good luck and keep us posted to the ending of this saga !

Do you thinkit would appropriate or inappropriate to mention that every other person that has to mail a check, it arrives the next day?

I don't know how to word that or stick it in...

And what do you think if I asked her to see this alleged "cancelled check" stuff from her bank. As proof that she actually mailed it...

Nope, I wouldn't bother. Pay for the cake NOW or find someone else to do it.

Since her payment for the cake is two weeks late, how'd she like it if you showed up with her wedding cake two weeks after the wedding?