please help me fellow CC'rs. i am pretty new to the decorating business but i am a fully licensed and inspected home baker. usually i have an order and then deliver it as where i live they do not allow customer pick up anyway.

today i had a bridal consultation and was surprised to find that the bride and groom are going to be picking up the cake and taking it to the wedding/reception location which is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away. i pretty much thought that they didn't want to pay the delivery and just emphasized how careful they will need to be and not to put it in the trunk etc etc etc. it is a buttercream, stacked 3 tier cake so they will travel with the bottom 2 stacked and the top tier placed along with their topper upon arrival.

well, the more i think about it the more i don't like this situation. she says her sil's best friend will place the top tier and topper as she is their caterer and used to do cakes. so should i be okay with this? this stranger will be placing the top tier on and the topper which you know those can be tricky and will need to put the border around the bottom edge of the top tier. THEN all the pictures will be taken and my name will be associated with the messed up cake OR maybe worse it looks fine but the guests will think it's the caterer's! please any suggestions or advice if you have been in this kind of dilema is most appreciated

If the venue is 1.5-2 hours away do you really need to worry about potential customers? Or is your customer base that far away?

If you put the cake together using SPS it will be fine. In fact it was CREATED for customers to pick up their own wedding cakes. Bakery Crafts even make specialized boxes.

you are right, that would not be my customer base

the bride's family is in that area but the bride and groom do live here in my area and their friends from here will be attending.

It's done all the time. No worries.

thanks everybody for your advice!!

i would have had no second thought to going ahead and stacking it but the tiers are 5/7/9 so i was worried it would be too tall and lean with a greater tendacy to tip over on these country roads and bridges that they will be driving.

Just remind them they can't drive like a bat outta hell .... a cake that small will travel great.

I just had a small wedding cake pickup this past weekend...square cake with short pillars and round top (purple one in my photos, bad picture of it).

And get them to sign a waiver. What happens to the cake after they pick it up is out of your control. You dont want a frantic call 30 minutes before the wedding demanding that you come fix the cake and/or refund their money.

thanks so much everybody, i feel a bit better. i will go ahead and stack the cake instead of letting someone else finish it, place it in a box and i most assuredly with have them sign my pick up disclaimer then hope for the best : )

Also remind them that THEY are fully responsible for whatever happens to the cake when it is in THEIR hands. If they ruin it don't let them come back to you trying to get a refund. They choose to pick it up and finish building the cake....then it is their problem.

there was a delivery waiver template that was posted on here not too long ago. You could modify that for your biz. Does anyone have the link? I didn't save it.

the generic wavier is at:

https://drop.io/cc_contract/login

Password: Jackie-n-Heath09

(case sensitive -- hint: copy without extra spaces from here and paste there )


thread with more discussion of contracts, etc.:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-630887-0.html

I have lots of customers who pick up wedding cakes. They are just too cheap to pay for delivery. They sign a waiver. All cakes are well-constructed and boxed, and so far nothing has happened, but I know it's just a matter of time.

i never deliver cakes...ever, i gotta mind the store since i'm a 1 man show.

I agree with the others. Use SPS, and have them sign a waiver. Since I have used SPS, I hvae had no problems - EVER. It will be fine!

It is their decision to pick it up, stack it well and have a copy of the waiver for both!! You will be fine, and hopefully the cake will be as well!!!

I'm sorry...what is SPS

Thanks,
Jenny

When you use the SPS system do you charge the customer for it, does the whole system come back to you for reuse. I have looked at the SPS system and these are just a few questions I have. I think it is a wonderful system.

When you use the SPS system do you charge the customer for it, does the whole system come back to you for reuse. I have looked at the SPS system and these are just a few questions I have. I think it is a wonderful system.

Whew! I don't want anything back. Ever. Built into cost every single time.

Heck, I don't even ask for my regular plates and pillars back. It's just not worth $10 worth of gas to get $5 worth of pillars back.