Why Do Brides Do This To Themselves??? Long Rant...
Decorating By Sassy74 Updated 5 Mar 2010 , 2:27am by JustToEatCake
Several months ago I was approached by a bride who asked for a quote on her wedding cake. She wanted a four tier topsy turvy in black & white fondant with colored accents, similar to a cake she'd seen on Pink Cake Box. I gave her what I KNOW to be a very reasonable and competitive price. I'm not out to undercut other cakers in my area, and I don't give away my time, lol!
When I never heard back from her, I knew she'd gone with another provider. No big deal...again, I'd rather not do a cake than to do it and know I'm losing money on my time.
Well, I just got a look at her wedding pix. Oh my. She got her four tier topsy, all right. In rippled buttercream, with WAY uneven tiers, rounded edges, big fat shell borders (which were also very inconsistently sized), very few accents (basically just strips of fondant???), fake flowers all over it...the list goes on. I'm not trying to rip someone else's cake...I'm sure they gave it ther best shot. And I'm not saying I could have given her a Pink Cake Box quality cake. I DO know that I wouldn't have let the cake I saw in those pix leave my house...
The grooms cake had uneven hand-piped lettering, and a cheesy football helmet hand-piped onto it. Again, something I'd never let out my door. This is someone's WEDDING, for crying out loud!
So, my question to this bride is...was your discounted cake worth it??? I had a TIGHT budget for my wedding (which my husband and I paid for COMPLETELY), but I didn't even try to bargain on my cake. I paid what the lady wanted happily and now, 14 years later, I look back at those pix and am still in love with my wedding cake! There are lots of places to shave money from your wedding budget, but even before I became a caker I knew that the CAKE itself should not be one of them!!!
I would not want to look back at my wedding pix and see the cake that bride got...
Maybe she wanted to gain fame by having her cake appear on cakewrecks. 
Had a frantic e-mail last week from a bride I met with last October. She apologized up & down for not contacting me when they decided to go with someone else for her April wedding. Evidently she had a family member who "does cakes" offer to do the cake much cheaper than I quoted her & since they've invited 300 people and trying to stick to a "budget" she took him up on the offer. Yeah... he did the cake for her bridal shower & she was FREAKIN' out. LMAO She was hoping I was still available (I am) because there was no way he was doing her wedding cake. Met with her Tuesday, she signed the contract & paid me & said her mom had told her a friend offered to do her cake for free & she told her mom "NO WAY!! I don't need discounts & free cake. I need good cake that will look nice & I KNOW where I can get it." She's so thankful that he did her shower cake or her wedding cake might have ended up on cakewrecks. LOL
Well, it is sure you get what you paid for, but who is to say that the cake was that important to her. I know, I know WE think the cake should be the centerpiece of the wedding, but that isn't always true. For some people it's the food, others the dress, and still others the reception hall.
Now me, my priorities go like this - church cermony, dress (made by my mom), cake, food, music.....but who knows if that'll change once I actually have plans to get married (I know the church ceremony & dress won't 
Well, I just got a look at her wedding pix. Oh my. She got her four tier topsy, all right. In rippled buttercream, with WAY uneven tiers, rounded edges, big fat shell borders (which were also very inconsistently sized), very few accents (basically just strips of fondant???), fake flowers all over it...the list goes on. I'm not trying to rip someone else's cake...I'm sure they gave it ther best shot. And I'm not saying I could have given her a Pink Cake Box quality cake. I DO know that I wouldn't have let the cake I saw in those pix leave my house...
Do you know the bride? What did she think of the cake.
Well, it is sure you get what you paid for, but who is to say that the cake was that important to her. I know, I know WE think the cake should be the centerpiece of the wedding, but that isn't always true. For some people it's the food, others the dress, and still others the reception hall.
Now me, my priorities go like this - church cermony, dress (made by my mom), cake, food, music.....but who knows if that'll change once I actually have plans to get married (I know the church ceremony & dress won't
That is what I was thinking. Some people just don't care, tell me to do what i want, it doesn't matter. Then the other side, where they are too involved. Some say it just cake, its hard for us to understand, its the first thing I look at, at the wedding, some people could care less.
I totally agree!! I have a friend who I'm good friends with her parents and I watched her grow up. Well daughter comes of age, gets married and I'm itching to do the cake -- as her gift no less because of my relationship with her and the family -- only to be told no, her cousin's aunt Minnie's best friend's sister (or something like that) was doing the cake. Drats!! Okay, whatever. Well fast forward to the wedding reception -- where a small 10 and 8 inch cake in buttercream was all that was there (to feed like 350 people no less...
) So my friends and I walk over to see this fabulous cake and being the cake snob I am, I said nothing. I didn't bother pointing out that the buttercream wasn't smooth, and in fact on side of the cake was only crumb coated (yep, you could see the freaking cake on about a third of it) 
and she didn't put bottom borders on it -- which okay, not all cakes have bottom borders, but helloooooo -- don't we cover the cake boards with SOMETHING???? Well she didn't. You could see the corrigated cardboard under the cake and everything -- and where the bottom border should have been, well there should have been a border -- the bottom of the cake looked horrible!! Anyway, I'm speechless and said nothing, but evidently the look on my face gave it away and my friend asked me and I said nothing, but I did point (discreetly.) They got it.
Fast forward to a few days ago -- said now married daughter is pregnant, and I did the candy cigars for the big gender announcement (it's a boy) and guess who has been asked to do the shower cake!!! 
I guess they learned the hard way! 
Cookiemama, the bride is the friend of a friend, so I don't know her well. But, in the wedding pix, she looks thrilled! It's funny, because I was thinking the same thing ccr03 said...maybe the cake just wasn't that big a deal to her. I really do hope she was happy with the cake, and I hope it tasted better than it looked lol!
Bob, the same thing happened to me last spring...I gave a quote to a woman for her baby shower cake, grandmomma ended up doing the cake, and the mom has sent me THREE e-mails asking me to do the baby's 1st b'day cake! Again, I'm not saying I put out THE BEST CAKES IN THE WORLD. But, I do care about quality, and I want every cake that leaves here to look/taste great. I've started over on a cake more than once...
Anyway, being a cake snob sure does cause a lot of angst when you know that a bride/mom/whatever COULD have had a better product than what they got.
I have had other experience. They got their cake someplace. it fell. and call me screaming Help Me! I always had cakes in the freezer when I had my store front. At least once a month I would have a call like that. I even did one for a grocery store who forgot the cake and called me. I put it together, sabatoged it with my name stamped on the boards and sent it out. I repaired and replaces at least 5 one summer. I wanted to say ha ha why didn't you get me in the first place? But I did not. I met a bride last week who thought I quit when I moved my bakery home and said she got someone else and cried all day long. The cake was so bad. You wonder how some cakers sleep at night, or are they blind?
I have had other experience. They got their cake someplace. it fell. and call me screaming Help Me! I always had cakes in the freezer when I had my store front. At least once a month I would have a call like that. I even did one for a grocery store who forgot the cake and called me. I put it together, sabatoged it with my name stamped on the boards and sent it out. I repaired and replaces at least 5 one summer. I wanted to say ha ha why didn't you get me in the first place? But I did not. I met a bride last week who thought I quit when I moved my bakery home and said she got someone else and cried all day long. The cake was so bad. You wonder how some cakers sleep at night, or are they blind?
Sassy74
Your cakes are lovely! Here's to hoping you get the baby shower cake! LOL! If you want to do it that is!
Well, it is sure you get what you paid for, but who is to say that the cake was that important to her. I know, I know WE think the cake should be the centerpiece of the wedding, but that isn't always true. For some people it's the food, others the dress, and still others the reception hall.
Now me, my priorities go like this - church cermony, dress (made by my mom), cake, food, music.....but who knows if that'll change once I actually have plans to get married (I know the church ceremony & dress won't
Everyone is different, I never worried/cared about cake either. I mean it is nice but for me wasn't "the main event". Friends, family and being together was much more important. The brides that don't get upset when things go wrong with the cake and cakers are thankful for are brides that like cake but it's not the be all that ends all. We are all different, some dream of a big gorgeous cake and some, well could care less. It is what it is. One is not better than other (well if you are selling cakes it is) it's just different.
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