I find it interesting that people at a soup kitchen can eat the food later, but the paying customer isn't able to. Why can they then take the top anniversary tier when they are planning to eat it in a year!!!! See where our litigious society has got us.

That is good information. No wonder people get their underwear in a twist when people don't RSVP!

I didn't worry about any of that stuff at my wedding. But at the end of my sister's wedding she was asking where was the cake that was leftover. The staff kept "looking" but not finding it. I don't even think she got her anniversary tier. She even called there the next day. Result: She is now DIVORCED!!!! Just one example of the tragedy this causes. just kidding--

Indydebi~ That's probably the best explanation for that rule that I've ever seen. Does make one wonder, though, why it is that a customer can take a doggy bag from a restaurant, but a bride (or whoever) can't keep her leftovers from a caterer. Seems like a double standard. Ugh!

I guess the health department doesn't care if they poison a homeless person .

Amber

Food donated to shelters is stored at correct temperatures by the caterer until it is delivered to the shelter. The shelter then stores is appropriately. There is a chain of responsibilty with persons trained to ensure the food is stored safely. When a wedding guest takes food home, there is no way to ensure that the food is safely stored until it is eaten. It could be left in a car, hotel room, or even on the guest's kitchen table for hours (or evern overnight) before it gets into the refrigerator. I wish that the food that doesn't spoil and cause food poisoning (like cake and nuts) were not subject to these rules.

Too bad our society is so sue-happy. People file law suits for something that is due to their own stupidity. (Like the person that sues McDonald's because the coffee burned them!) It is similar to the laws that require servers to make sure people do not drink too much alcohol. These kind of law suits have made it necessary for caterers to protect themselves. We should all be grown up enough to take responsibility for our own actions. I'll get off my soap box, now.

No it wouldn't bother me if they didn't eat the cake. You got paid to do what you were hired to do. Make the cake.

I've thrown my own cakes away because we couldn't eat the whole cake. Or I just didn't have anyone to give my practice cakes to.

Also, I've been to several weddings here in CA where they have allowed food to go home with the guest. So I don't think that thing about not letting anyone take the food home is true in all cases.

I bet the staff sure takes the left overs home. Whole cake and pies and they throw them out??? I doubt that.

Just like the other poster said, if you can take home doggy bags from restruants then why not weddings?

There is no way I would pay for all this food and then be told I couldn't take it home or send it with my guest if they wanted it.

But maybe different states have different laws.

Two of my graduation cakes (the one with the grads around it and the one with the bears) weren't served at their parties! I don't know what happened to the one with the grads on it but the one with the bears was shipped next door for the next days graduation party at the neighbors! They were just looking for an expensive centerpiece I guess.

Debbie

When my friend got engaged we were talking about details and when the cake came up we looked through the one Wilton Yearbook I had (about 8 years ago I made one of the shower cakes) for ideas. She asked if I would make her cake! I tried to talk her out of it because I had no idea how. She insisted it would be special to have her friend do it (for cost) .

That's when I discovered this site and spent months on here and Wilton.com for ideas and how-to directions and made many practices, had my friend make a cake board, bought pans and tips, took the day off work (last day of fiscal year, my boss was furious), and delivered it 100+ miles for set-up before attending the wedding.

She wanted 4 stacked tiers, 18", 14", 10" and 6". I was too chicken to attempt the 18" so it was styrofoam but to make up for the servings I had 2 more 10" in the kitchen.

When we got back to the reception site the rest of the food was placed on the table. The picture I have of the cake shows it surrounded by plates of slices of carrot cake, cheesecake, chocolate cake and they even had a 4-foot tall chocholate fountain ! The party was winding down by the time they cut the cake so my date and I each had a slice and about 4 more slices were cut. That was it!!!

I was so upset I just left. My date talked me back in to get the cake board, serving utensils, and styrofoam. I don't know what happened to the cake, but I suspect it was thrown away. I cried all the way home.

It's not all bad. It pushed me into taken the Wilton classes and now I have all of you as friends , I can even laugh about it now!

I always ask what else will be served when I provide a cake so I can adjust the servings and after a few minutes of admiration I start cutting!!!

weddings are different. you are fed from the get go....you have apetizers and then the main meal. some people just dont leave room for dessert....


me now.... i fill up on dessert not food. Maybe thats why i need to lose 100 pounds. but oh well. you live once. that said...

dont make it bother you... you have done your job. they will get ti it before it gets stale i hope.

So what's w/ the room mother asking you to make a cake and then bringing something else in for the kids to actually eat??? She said she knew you wouldn't want to cut the cake??? How did she know that? Why would you bother making an actual cake if no one would eat it? I think that was rude of her and I would have told her "oh no, we'll be eating this cake".

As far as being disappointed, I completely understand. I was disappointed at my own wedding b/c they never announced or let anyone know that there was cake after it was cut.... no one saw where it was or knew where it had gone to...... and they picked up the food (banquet) so quickly my mother never got to eat nad I was desperate to go back for second and coudn't. I STILL to this day want that food (okay well not specifically that food maybe....) but it was soo good and I hardly got to eat any of it and I was so upset we didn't get the food or even some of the cake back...... I think we did get the anniversary tier - even though I didn't want an annivesary tier and it was meant for the guests to eat.... guess the kitchen didn't realize. The day was so crazy anyway - thankfully we did have that choc. fountain or else no one would have had any dessert!!

I hate it when I bring dessert over for my mom's bible study group and she provides 3 or more other types of desserts for "people who don't like cake" - just serve the dag gone cake and if someone doens't want it - they don't eat it! Maybe one other dessert offering - but I feel like it's too much sometimes....... too many choices means the cake gets left behind..... esp. when people are a little afraid of cake sometimes (dry white wedding cake, fondant icing that people are weirded out by) so they go for the cheesecake or something.

Anyway - it's done and over with and it's their cake once you leave it - so they can do whatever - but I totally understand the feeling of putting so much work into it and no one eating it! Or the thought of wasting it all (no idea WHERE my wedding food went). So I'm with ya there!

I realized that I hadn't posted that well... the room mother told the teacher, "I knew you wouldn't want to cut it." (meaning she knew that the teacher would think it was so pretty she wouldn't want to cut it)... so she brought the cupcakes for the kids to eat and sent the entire cake home with the teacher... as far as I know it is just her and maybe a husband.... so what they did with a 35-serving cake I'll never know!

Also, as it was also an end-of-the-year school party there were many other mothers there... and I was so excited about them seeing and especially tasting my cake... I don't think any of them really even saw it and no one tasted it, obviously... I guess I was too afraid of making a scene and didn't want to "take back" the cake that the other lady had given to the teacher... so I let it go.

I also will usually volunteer to cut the cake if I'm at a party (not a wedding) and they are not getting the cake cutting underway. I appreciate and am flattered that people think it's too pretty to eat... but c'mon people... it's CAKE! It's not going to be pretty when it turns green and fuzzy sitting on your table in a week or two! haha Plus... I'm always waiting to hear people say how good it is! I did a cake for a graduation party back in May and one lady came up to me later and told me how great tasting the cake was. She said that she doesn't like cake and was only taking a piece out of obligation... but that she loved mine and she has since ordered two more cakes from me!! (always hoping for new customers... right!)

I guess those rules about not being able to take food home from receptions must differ from state to state. At my wedding 5 years ago, there was some food left over, and the kitchen staff packaged it all up and sent it home with my parents. There were lots of people staying at my parents' house for the weekend, so they had all of that wonderful food to serve for the rest of the weekend. It was great!!!

I was very pleased when the bride announced, before she cut the cake, that Aunt Margie made the wedding cake. She cut the cake an hour before the party ended. Everyone told me how delicious the cake was, and the cake was nearly gone before the party ended. I was elated!

A few weeks later another bride and groom did not cut the cake until just a few minute before the party ended, and much of the cake was left for the family to take home. I had many compliments, but by the time the cake was cut many of the guest had gone. I did feel bad that there was so much cake left.

Both cakes were my wedding gift to my nephews. (There was some consolation in knowing that the family would eat cake for a week!)

I guess I need to toughen up and recognize that the wedding day is not mine, but belongs to the bride and groom. I did all I could to make their day happy, and next time I'll grab a BIG piece of cake to take home with me.

When my ex-husband and I got married ten years ago, the venue not only gave my parents all the excess cooked food, but they also kept the unused steaks raw and gave them those too. We also had a lot of cake left over and they cut it into 2 huge pieces, wrapped it and sent that home with my parents as well.

Maybe the food being eaten after it was sent home caused the divorce?????

Should I sue???

At my wedding (13yrs ago), and many weddings that I have attended, the cake was not served at all. We had a HUGE dessert table (included in the price) and the dinner portions were also huge. The cake was cut in the back and put into bags for the guests to pick up on the way out of the reception. I've actually only been to 2 or 3 weddings where the cake was actually served as dessert. They may have done that with the cakes as well.

I had something simular happen to me this last weekend. I made the cake for my husbands cousins wedding on Sunday. My first wedding cake, it's in my photos if you would like to take a look. anyway- They ordered 2 full sheet cakes plus a three tiered cake, 10", 8" and 6". The 6 inch was to be saved for the bride and groom. The Mother of the bride had insrtucted the venue to serve the 2 sheet cakes directly after dinner with coffee and then they would do the cake cutting cerimony later on and serve those if need be. Well the venue didn't do this so the cakes were not served until many of the guests had already left. I am sure there was a load of cake left. When I talked to the mother of the bride the next morning she said that she just left the cake there because she didn't know what to do with it! I can only hope that the servers took it home and ate it, but I have a feeling it probably just got thrown out! What a waste! Well- at least I got paid for it, but still I can't believe she didn't take it home!

I think she was just so busy that she didn't notice, once she did she had them go ahead and do the cake cutting cerimony, but it was pretty late at that point.

I do hope it got donated, or at least enjoyed by the nights servers. I myself was a baker before a decorator and have a lot of pride in my product, so it kills me to see it go to waste!

Here in my neck of the woods, at both my wedding and my brother's wedding, we were allowed to bring the leftover cake home, as well as the fruits and veggies and cheese plates. My brothers wedding was in a smallish banquet hall.

I cut my cake while the dinner plates were being cleared, before anyone got up from their places., that way it was served for dessert. I can't IMAGINE, after reading 4 pages of posts, that someone wouldn't do it that way. Then everyone's attention is on the event, and everyone gets cake!!

I am also surprised how many wedding cakes aren't cut until late in the evening. At my wedding, we did the bride-groom cake cutting as soon as we walked into the dining room! That way, we had everyone's attention. Then, we had a cake buffet right after dinner, and there wasn't a crumb left!

I often suggest to my brides that they do their ceremonial cake cutting as soon as they arrive in the dining room/reception area, and then the cake can be taken away, cut, and plated while everyone is eating. I've had several brides thank me after their weddings for that suggestion, because all of their cake got eaten.

We have had this discussion about serving sizes over on the canadian board (about how you are usually safe making cake for 50-70% of expected guests because not everyone will eat cake). I will always ask if it will be dessert or be served later, and will there be other sweets served. I thought someone made a very good point once when they said its not to your advantage as a decorator/baker to have most of your cake sitting there leftover, you cake is saying more when its mostly eaten then when its sitting there barely touched at the end of the night.

Yes cakes can be showpieces, but they should also be edible, the whole point of a cake is to be EATEN....otherwise, thats what dummies are for! Its a problem that Dede Wilson addresses in her book, "Wedding cakes you can make", about how the most depressing thing she could hear is, "oh thats too pretty to eat!", and how she wants her cakes to look and be fully edible, not just something thats just to be stared at.
I have been disappointed when a cake hasn't been eaten as well, though I remind myself that I was paid in full so thats all that should matter (logically yeah, we all know that...but hey, we have feelings too!)

I just got married in May. We knew upfront that we were having a complete sweet table (4 types of cake) along with a chocolate fountain. It was very important to my mother for us to have a wedding cake to cut. We had 300 guests and order a small 3 tier cake (serves 60). The cake looked gorgeous.

My parents took the bottom 12 inch layer and served it the next day to friends, family and neighbours. My in-laws did the same with the middle layer.

My husband and I just finished half of the top (6") layer and the other half of that layer is in my in-laws freezer.

I know eactly how you feel. I worked very hard on a cake for the Harry Potter 7 book release and then nobody touched it! Yes, I did get satisfaction out of making it and all of my business cards were gone. But, it would have tasted great! It just seemed like such a waste!