A bride recently asked her baker to make an exception to her 'no outside cakes' rule so that I could make a small gluten free cake for the MoB, who has celiacs disease. The primary baker had no gluten free options. She even convinced the baker to work with me so that I could do something that would compliment the main cake design.

Everyone was very pleasant about it. But it still had to be outlined in the contract as a specific exception.

11.  SOLE PROVIDER: All cakes, edible or display, for this event must be supplied by SPD. If any cake is provided by anyone other than SPD (including grooms and sheet cakes), we will not deliver our cakes and all payments will be forfeited. The undelivered cake must be picked up the day after the event or we will dispose of it at our discretion.

Oh no.. it's okay... even if you weren't sick, but especially since you are. I hope you are 100% soon. It's never fun to be in the hospital. ((hugs)) and get better vibes for you!

Hi all!

Can I bring this topic up again & add a twist to it? If you have the sole vendor clause (which is what I want to do) what do you say on email or phone if the Bride starts out with "I only need a small one layer wedding cake becuase I am having cupcakes"

The cupcakes are not being ordered through me and I dont want the cake order because I am pretty sure they are coming from Sam's.

Everyone will think I put out bad product. Word of mouth is everything to us.

I want to politely refuse the consultation request & be really nice about it so she is not insulted.

How do you word it so people understand the policy & are not put out?

Help?

I have it written in my contract, and I go over that verbally so there is no misunderstanding. I am the ONLY cake there, period.

If the conversation starts like you posted, I just would apologize and suggest she get her cake the same place she gets the cupcakes....and just politely explain the reason for NOT doing it. (and you could even throw in there that you're sure where the cupcakes come from would feel the same way)

Thank you for your inquiry, have a nice day!

Absolutely not! Your reputation is on the line. I had a wedding very early in my business (when I didn't know any better) and I made the display and they bought the sheet cakes from someone else. SEveral people who were at the wedding told me later that the sheet cakes were dry and they were politely trying to tell me this so I could fix the problem before my next event. My reputation was burned in front of over 300 people and I did literally nothing to deserve it. I know of several other decorators in my area and we all have the same "all or nothing" policy. I state it in my contract and point it out at every consultation so there is no room for misunderstanding later. Here is the exact wording (I borrowed the wording from a fellow cc'er, although I can't remember who to give them credit):

Bride or representative is aware of an all or nothing policy. No additional cakes from another business, friend, or family member may be at your event. This is to protect the quality and reputation of my cakes and business. If a cake from another source is present at your event, all monies exchanged and the cake provided by Piece of Cake will be forfeitedmeaning no cake for your event and no refunds. No exceptions.

I've had several concerns from brides over this issue. I have in my contract a similar clause, and I get asked about it all the time when they are signing. However, I actually had a very "sweet" mom tell me straight up at a consult once that that was their business what they served and that how could I even know if they served additional cakes if they brought them in after I had delivered the cake. I mean how do you enforce this? I deliver a cake to a venue, set it up, leave, and then 10 minutes later Aunt Mary brings in the Costco sheet cakes into the back kitchen....I'm long gone. Even if I hear about it after the fact, what do I do? This topic has always been a very gray area for me, and it's one that irks a lot of my customers, athough several are very understanding of it when I explain it from my reputation point of view.

Tootie, I'm sure it happens. And what can you do? Not much. I ask my questions very carefully to hopefully avoid it at all. I don't ask how many servings they need. I ask how many people are you inviting to the wedding? Usually, this works. That way, you aren't working from the "servings needed" answer. Then if they say "200 but we're getting sheetcake from xxxx", that's when you can spring the "sole provider clause" on them.

If you ask how many servings do you need, you might never get to that point. They may say "50", sign your clause and you'll never know because you never really discussed it. I know it isn't foolproof, but it gets the discussion in the open right off the bat.

I have the sole provider info on my website. I have a clause in my contract which requires a separate signature line. And I explain it. Frankly, in 11 years of wedding cakes, I've only had three objections. One was for a 3D cake I didn't want to do, knew the proposed caker who is fully licensed and I gave them an exemption. Second was for a gluten free cake , I gave them the exemption and recommended someone to them. The last one was for a custom flavor not on my standard list of 31 flavors, and when they asked for it I did it for them.