This Is Why Customers Should Listen To Us
Business By costumeczar Updated 2 Jul 2008 , 9:30pm by 2sdae
I had a client whose wedding cake I did today who has been kind of complaining that she didn't want fondant even though she was having an outdoor wedding. Well, I told her that I wouldn't plan on doing it without fondant, but that I'd keep an eye on the weather and IF it was cool enough I'd do it in buttercream. I insisted that it be up to my judgment, and she kind of whined about it but agreed.
So today comes and it's something like 98 degrees and nasty humid. When I got the fondant-covered cake to the venue I tool out the fondant strips to put on the base of the tiers, and they had pretty much turned into a softened mess, which I'd never seen fondant do before. I managed to get them onto the cake and smoothed them out enough without tearing them to shreds, but the whole time I was thinking that if it's hot enough to do that to fondant, then what would buttercream have done? I hope that she realizes that the cake would have melted if I hadn't insisted on the fondant!
WHY do people want outdoor weddings in the summer???
WHY do people want outdoor weddings in the summer???
'Cause it's too cold in the winter!
Gothca!!! 
I, too, wonder why the passion for outdoor weddings? Had one last weekend and the weather was beautiful!!! A very lucky bride since half of Indiana is getting federal assistance for flood damage due to all of the tornadoes that went tearing thru here the previous two weeks!
The site was about a 40 min drive from my shop. JUST as I was turning into the driveway, my hubby calls to check on the weather. I said, "I've got sunshine and white clouds!" He said, "Over here, we've got hard rain and hail!" (Man, was my bride VERY lucky!)
It was a wonderful temperature, nice breeze, a beautiful location .... so when it all works out right, I can see the attraction.
But I figure that I'm spending too much money on an event that can be totally ruined by the whim of the weather! Nope! I'm not chancing it, personally.
And you think icing is rough to work with outside? Try dealing with 90 degrees and potato salad, and little flying bugs around a chocolate fountain! 
Well, the next time that someone wants buttercream for their outdoor wedding I'll tell them that I'll be glad to do it as long as it's in December!
It's all about the icing...I must admit that when I get up on a Saturday and it's rainy and cool it makes me happy! I know that the brides will be crying but it won't melt my cakes if there's no sun!
Oh, yuck! I didn't even think about an outdoor chocolate fountain! Now that's unpleasant, to say the least! How many bugs can you catch with that??? 
and little flying bugs around a chocolate fountain
Oooh, bugs and chocolate, yummy, chocolate covered protein!!!!!
That's how I want to go: "how did she pass??" "Oh, they found her floating in a chocolate fountain, strangley enough, she had a huge smile on her face when they pulled her out..."[/quote]
My guess is she's writing out her whine for theknot's site "My baker made me have a fondant cake for my outdoor wedding 110 degree wedding and didn't even charge me extra to do it 
"...
Alrighty... Yea... I've learned that I do everything in my power to point out bugs, warm beer, heels sticking in the dirt, no place to sit because the chairs sink as much as the heels, porta potties in a bridal gown, etc... I still remember helping out at a friend's outdoor wedding... My gosh... 120 degree day, NO wind, no fans, and climbing under her parent's house's crawl space (originally dug by horse and buggy too!) to reset the circuit breaker in order to keep the food safe to eat...
I don't understand what the fascination is with them either. It's one thing if it's an environment like Idaho where it may be hot but it's also REALLY dry.. Or what, but ugh, the thought of attending an outdoor wedding is NOT that appealing!
Here in Florida outdoor weddings are very common. Many brides want to have a wedding by the beach. However beautiful it may be, the humidity here does not play well with icing. Most brides won't have anything to do with fondant so I use all shortening buttercream at those types of events. It's the only way to prevent a disaster with the high humidity. I'm trying to perfect my marketing skills in selling the fondant. I agree it's the best way to go to prevent the icing from melting off the cake. I had a bride two weeks ago that had her part of her reception indoors and part outdoors. She wanted to leave the cake out in the sun and heat. I thankfully talked her into leaving the cake inside. She really had no comprehension that the icing would melt right off the cake. I don't understand how people don't understand that sugar and butter melts. 
Metrocakes...Your post reminded me of a phone call I got a while ago. It was the mother of the bride calling to see if I made ice cream wedding cakes, because her daughter was insistent on having one for her OUTDOOR BEACH WEDDING!!! I just started laughing, and the poor woman said that she agreed with my reaction, but her pigheaded daughter was too stubborn to believe it was a bad idea. I told her to tell her daughter to call around herself, because you know that when her mother told her nobody would do it she'd blame her mother for not trying hard enough!
Metrocakes, i am in florida also..dont know what it is about those outside weddings but I must admit I was one of those brides ind had my ceremony outside however I was smart enough to realize the humidity and held the reception inside along with my cake....I guess all of us do not carry the common sense we were given....Indydebi, i love how you tell it!!!!LOL[/code]
Here in Florida outdoor weddings are very common. Many brides want to have a wedding by the beach. However beautiful it may be, the humidity here does not play well with icing. Most brides won't have anything to do with fondant so I use all shortening buttercream at those types of events. It's the only way to prevent a disaster with the high humidity. I'm trying to perfect my marketing skills in selling the fondant. I agree it's the best way to go to prevent the icing from melting off the cake. I had a bride two weeks ago that had her part of her reception indoors and part outdoors. She wanted to leave the cake out in the sun and heat. I thankfully talked her into leaving the cake inside. She really had no comprehension that the icing would melt right off the cake. I don't understand how people don't understand that sugar and butter melts.
I'm in Fl too. I get around the butter cream mess by ONLY doing fondant cakes. I tell them that for the quality of the cake and because of our weather conditions I won't do butter cream. I've only had a problem with one bride who had only tasted Wilton fondant. I had her come in and try mine. You would have thought she was tasting chopped liver. She cringed when she picked it up. When she finally put it in her mouth she smiled and said, " this tastes like frosting". Problem solved! If you don't want to do it, don't offer it! The brides will stay if they like your work.
Oh brother! Mama should buy idiot daughter a dairy queen cake and sit it out on the back patio one afternoon just to show her what happens to ice cream in the sun, the big moron!!
I think I can die happy after this! 
A couple of summers ago my sales assistant sold a WHIPPED CREAM frosted wedding cake to a July bride. And all sorts of other stupid food for outdoors. I was like, Chris, you CANNOT sell someone food that sweats for an outdoor wedding! And the kicker? She "threw in" a scoop of ice cream, too, and only charged $1.85 per person for the cake and ice cream.
Goodness Michelle.. time to fire that one.. or at least make her serve it..
I had an outdoor wedding, but it was all in a big closed in (accept for 3 doors) and semi-climate controlled. Plus the weather was beautiful not hot at all.. it was in September and being on Nantucket the weather is almost always perfect. Gosh do I envy my IL's for living there.. . I'd never ask my guests to be outside in 100 degree heat and 90% humidity.. that's just mean.
And ICE CREAM CAKE???? For an outdoor summer wedding?????????? Time to slap her up good.. hehehe
Earlier this summer, my step-cousin was getting married in HOUSTON in the hot part of the day in JUNE. Now, that is hot and humid!
At first they wanted to hire me to do the cake, but the Bride wanted buttercream only. And I would be driving it from Dallas.
I said sorry, but I will only do it in fondant. Driving that far, plus the heat and humidity, it would just melt.
They didn't hire me.
Her cake fell apart anyway by whoever made it in buttercream.
All thru their young lives, I've stressed to my 3 kids that they have 2 main rules for their weddings:
1. NO OUTDOOR WEDDINGS!
2. NO JUNE OR SEPTEMBER WEDDINGS!
So guess what my dear daughter wants for her wedding next year? Yup- and OUTDOOR JUNE or SEPTEMBER wedding!!!
Gotta love it.
I had a bride who got married in Phoenix in June and it was only 110 that day so it wasn't too bad, ya right! So I'm trying to keep the cake-buttercream (i know keep your hand from slapping me upside my face) cool as best as I can and the MIL starts screaming at me why isn't the cake outside? I gave her my look, I swear she took two steps back, and gave her my best smile and said "step away from the cake".
She left promptly and everyone outside looked like droopy flowers or should I say it was so hot they were sweating like farm animals. That cake would have lasted 30 or 40 seconds. Thank goodness the cake survived and I was the only one who's makeup was still on after the ceremony!
I had the opposite problem for my outdoor ceremony. My DH and I were broke so we decided to have the ceremony at a park for free. Well, the site was beautiful, but the weather was freezing! It was April 1 and everyone was so cold. My dress was strapless and I went around wearing a shawl. Thankfully we did the reception at my in-laws where it was much warmer! We wouldn't have had a problem with melting icing, but I bet an ice cream cake would have held up just fine out there!
I live in Illinois outside of Rockford, which is 90 miles east of Chicago and this last fall I did a wedding in October. Hottest day in the fall. I mean record breaking day. Drove the cake to the reception and even with the air on. The frosting peeled right off the side of the cake. I was about in tears, I called the bride and she was 10 minutes out. I told her I had to get the cake in where it was cool. She called me back within a matter of minutes and Tinker Swiss Cottage had a very small kitchen for me to repair the cakes. The bride looked at me and said you have 3 hours and 45 minutes to fix it. We left the cake inside until it was time for pictures. My best friend came to help serve the cake. We carried out the bottom 2 layers and went back for the rest. To cut it we carried it all back inside and then served it. Worst day ever, but the happiest bride I ever met. Wouldn't even take any money back. She was well pleased with my performance and her brand new husband congratulated me on a great tasting cake.
So far I've done 2 outside wedding cakes. Both were 4 tiered stacked cakes. I only used buttercream, no problems. The one cake was my 2nd wedding cake I had ever done (1st stacked) my friend told me when they were coming from the wedding to the reception site the radio said the temp was 97 degrees! The other cake, the temp was fine humidity was a little high but my biggest problem was the wind. I was in a tent but only had sides around the corner where the cake was and the opposite side. The wind was gusting at 24 mph. I was so afraid something would fly into the cake.
There are two kinds of weddings that I refuse to do - an outdoor summer wedding where my cake will be sitting outdoors (yes, it is MY cake until I deliver it), and a wedding outside of the city limits in December. I know it sounds funny, but up here in the great white north, road conditions can be hazardous when I have to deliver, especially on the little country roads that so many of the pretty, out-of-the-way country venues are located at. The last one I delivered to was on December 22nd, 200km away on little ski hill roads - my cell phone didn't even reach out there!
My niece got married this weekend, and decided on an outdoor ceremony. Thankfully she also decided on an INDOOR reception at a hotel. Worked out beautifully.
I loathe outdoor receptions. Absolutely hate them. I did a 50th Anniversary last August, and they set the food table on the leading sun edge side of the tent. I hovered over that cake till it was time to cut.
Last weekend I delivered a BC covered cake with fondant stripes on all sides & fondant daisies on the tops of those, attached with BC (according to Wilton directions)... the venue thought the perfect place for the cake would be under a "lean-to shack", and next to a huge window. It was only high 80's however by that window with the sun intensifying the heat...... I'm not sure how hot it was! I also attended the wedding, so about 45 minutes after the cake was set-up, we realized it was starting to soften & had to move it.... and it was on separated tiers - however it moved fairly well! THEN, besides the heat issue... when it was time to CUT the cake, they wanted to move the cake to the middle of the dance floor & before I could get to the cake, 2 intoxicated & non-experienced men were already moving it!!! My heart was doing summersaults!! It DID make it though, and nothing fell apart. I think if were a hotter day, I definitely would have had trouble with that one. SHEESH!
I also loathe outdoor receptions except for 2 things: (1) if I'm the Bride, I like outdoors! [mine was both, the cake was inside]; and (2) I LOVE the backdrop scenery for my outdoor cakes - MOST of the time..... I try to tell Brides at thier consultations to make sure the cake has a good background, otherwise things like icky doorknobs & splotchy walls are going to show-up in the pictures... but do they EVER listen?
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