This lady has been flaky from the get go. A friend of mine who does wedding planning referred her to me, which is probably the only reason I haven't told this lady to go take a flying leap....

I told her that if she paid in full a month in advance I would not charge for delivery and set up.

She said she would mail me the check over a week ago....... still don't have it.

I am a school teacher and the wedding is the day after school........ I really don't need to be making cake the last week of school. I'm thinking of telling her it is too late. I don't have the cake mix, she thinks that I am going to pick out a ribbon of my choosing for the cake............ sigh..........like I have time.

She has no idea what kind of cake she is even getting. I've never met with a bride who didn't have an idea what they wanted. I left my initial meeting with her thinking I wouldn't be doing her cake since we didn't talk about very much.... she got back to me to say she wanted me to it.... I did do the bridal shower cake, which was a disaster, the sister ordered a cake similar to one on my site, but then changed it and the other sister was mad that it wasn't the other cake, but I made what she asked for!

Anyway...... I do this for fun, I'm not having fun!

What would you do?

SERIOUSLY!

Did you even get a deposit? If not, no check, no cake!

Email her this:

Dear (last minute bride):

As of our last discussion, you had implied that you wished to book your wedding cake with me for June 7. The full payment deadline for my June 7th cakes was May 7th. At this time, I have not received your payment, and no flavors or design issues have been confirmed; therefore, I will assume you have have made other plans for your cake, and unfortunately I no longer have your date available. Sorry I couldn't help you, and best of luck on your wedding.

Regards,

(you)

It's harsh, but I have no patience for people like this.

The whole family sounds flakey ....i don't like making stuff for people that are so hard to please.

If you're not having fun, and you don't need the $$$$....heck with them!

I don't chase customers...

Not harsh....... I REALLY want to do that!

On May 7th I had CALLED HER to confirm, even though I had an email from her saying she did want me to make it, but no check. Anyway, I called her and I basically suggested to her what cake and flavors she wanted, but I bet you a dollar she doesn't remember what the heck she agreed to.

The wedding planner is my brothers mother in law and she gave me the referral so I don't want her to look bad.......... I'll probably show up with a cake and she can take what I give her. Hopefully I get paid..........

But I am still really tempted to just say heck with you! I've done that once where I left unfrosted cakes on the lady's porch the night before the day before her wedding......... she was M A D... but she pushed me over the edge.

ALice I went through almost the same thing the last couple of weeks. The mother of the groom contacted me May 12th for a wedding cake on the 24th. I told her I was open and that I'd email her idea cause of course she had no clue what they wanted other than her colors were purple and light purple and it was a western theme. So youd thinik she'd get back to me in a day of 2 but nooooooo she calls me on wednesday. SHe left a msg and then I had an email from her telling me where to drop the cake off and that she wanted a cascading ribbon and that somepne would be there when i droppe dthe cake off.

So I replied that it was too late and I wasnt going to do the cake and of course she had some smart comment to make and then tried to tell me she called. So basically on Thursday morning she checks her email she has no cake


I wouldnt do it only because she hasnt paid and has no idea what you want. She should understand that you are busy. I also wouldnt take a check from her this late. I know it takes about 10 days for me to find out a check has bounced.

ITA about someone taking the fun outta something and then you just dont feel like doing it anymore.

i would call your brother's MIL and find out what's going on due to the fact that she is the wedding planner...maybe she can communicate your concerns to the bride and convince the bride to a "last minute" cake (provided that she pays in full of course)!

Double Ditto on what homecook said! All the way!!

And Alice, YOU are not making the planner look bad. THE BRIDE is the one who dropped the ball. not you ... not the planner ... THE BRIDE!!!!

I agree with homecook, send her the e-mail and forget about it. When I book a wedding cake, I talk to the bride many times before the actual date to make she she has not made any changes and payment is due in full at least 1 week before the wedding. If I don't have full payment, I call and say I will not be doing the cake. I have not had this problem and have always received my payment.

at this point onl do it if they give you cash, no check(no way, no how) also if you feel bad about your brothers MIL, try explaining to her the situation, I bet you, she would not do it if she had no payment, now a days it is very hard to work for free (you know how expensive everything is) SO DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!!

You're going to do the cake and HOPE you get paid?!?!?

Warning: the following is very harsh!
If you go ahead and do the wedding cake, please do not come back here and complain about how you made yourself crazy to make a beautiful cake and then didn't get paid for it. You will have no one to blame but yourself.
Do not worry about making your brother's MIL look bad. A good wedding planner stays on top of their brides and makes sure details (like the cake) get taken care of.

Please tell this bride to either show up with the full payment in cash tomorrow or tell her there will be NO cake. You can do it

I'd take out the part that says "and unfortunately I no longer have your date available". That's kind of implying you have made other plans for her date already (who knows when you did that?) and were not intending to either a) let her make amends or b) keep your side of the deal. Just sounds like sour grapes and bad business on your part. Let HER be the deal-breaker, not you.

Okay, I called the wedding planner (AKA: bro's mother in law) and she let me know all the stress this lady is under. (oh, did I mention the bride is impossible to get a hold of email or phone...)

Anyway, she said she didn't think I would get stiffed. She works in the same building as the lady and says she will talk with her. I asked her to get a check from her, I HATE dealing with brides this close to the wedding. I want all the details worked out and not have to stress the bride (or myself).

Oh and BMIL (brothers mother in law) is going to get me the SAME ribbon that is for the flower bouquets and stuff (THANK GOODNESS) so that is definitely a big stress off of me!

Thanks everyone for letting me vent. I seriously want to tell the bride to take a long walk off a short pier..... but I'm going to have to trust BMIL on this one. She'll feel really bad I am sure if I don't get paid... so she'll probably give me some more referrals at least. But since the bride works with BMIL... the bride will probably not stiff me if she has to see BMIL everyday.

Pray this works out!

Money is not worth friendship, I'd rather lose money than have a strained relationship with BMIL. (Who by the way coordinated a baby shower I threw and it was FANTASTIC!)

This is absolutely a ridiculous situation! Her payment was due weeks ago and you're still acting like she is a customer! She broke her end of the deal when you weren't paid by the specified date...she's not a customer and she actually never was. I'm sorry but I wouldn't make ANYONE a cake and hope that I get paid... that is just insane! I don't know anyone who conducts business this way...atleast not anyone who wants to succeed and not get taken advantage of! If the wedding planner is a friend/family why in the heck would they expect you to do a wedding cake for FREE? Do you think the planner is working for free? Or hoping that she gets paid? Give me a break.

If you still plan on going through with this then insist on payment in cash or money order, no checks. And if the planner "doesn't think" that you'll get stiffed, SHE can pay you and get reimbursed for it, since she has that much faith in a person who can't seem to return phone calls or emails. Believe me, just because you work with someone and see them every day doesn't mean that they're going to pay you money that they owe you!

I think that we all understand the situation that you're in because the planner is a semi-relative, but come on...If a planner treated me like this then I wouldn't work with them anymore, let alone the bride. It's the planner's job to make sure the payments are taken care of, not to tell the vendors that she doesn't think they'll be stiffed!

I agree with Antonia about dropping the part about "date no longer available". I am NEVER in favor of lying to a bride. I never tell them "someone else is calling for your date so I need yoru deposit" when no one else is calling; I never tell them I'm booked when I"m not, etc.

It's the one piece of advice the wedding magz and websites warn brides about that I agree with .... and when wedding vendors DO lie to a bride, then the myth and stereotype is perpetuated .... making it harder on the rest of us to convince brides that we are honest and ethical in our trade.

And dont' hold your breath about "...she works with the planner and has to see her everyday so I know I'll get paid" crap. Have you seen the thread where the CC'er was stiffed for a $150 cake by a co-worker??

Poor-a$$ people have poor-a$$ ways ... and this bride has all the signs. So she's under a lot of stress.... boo-hoo! So am I everytime I have to write a rent check for the shop, which I can't do when brides don't pay me!!!

Re-read homecook's post and do it. (insert my stern mom-look right here!)

I totally agree with everything cakesbycathy posted. I used to work with a planner who was very unorganized, unethical and had lots of complaints by her clients. Notice I used the word "USED" to work with her!

Get it in writing from BMIL that SHE pays you when bride stiffs you.

You WILL get stiffed on this cake.

I really, seriously want to slap you up. Man, you are one naïve chickadee.

These people are abviously taking advantage of you, and no one can take advantage of you without your permission. Why are you letting them do this? *Hoping* that you'll get paid?

i saw an episode on ace of cakes where a lady's check for $2,000.00 bounced...yes...i said $2,000.00.
what did duff say...sorry, but i can no longer do your cake.

If you are going to make cakes for money you have to start thinking like a business. You CAN NOT give away cake just to appease your brother's mil! People who don't deal with their vendors don't get the services of said vendors. You have a family. Is it worth giving away that much of your family time, hard work, sanity, and stress to give a complete stranger a wedding cake?

Why should you give this woman-a total stranger-a wedding cake!?!?! You will get stiffed on this one if you have to do all the chasing and if she is stressed now and not paying attention she is definitely not going to be paying attention to your or your need for payment on the day of the wedding!

A wedding cake (shoot, any cake for that matter!) is waaaay too much work to just hope you get paid. It won't happen! You need to have in writing WHAT this woman wants, WHAT she's going to pay for it and WHEN she's going to pay for it (cash) otherwise she hasn't fulfilled her part of the agreement, she gets no cake and you are stuck with the bill for cake supplies and your hard work and time out the window.

I don't mean to sound harsh but this type of thing happens too often and it's a pet peeve of mine! ((hugs))[/i]

Everyone that I have ever heard (or people I know) of goes through the wedding planner for everything. What did she say (the Planner) about the cake NOT being paid for yet....cuz odds are that the Planner will look bad if there is no cake for her. Good Luck! Hope you get something!

I'll just pop in one more and say if the bride is hard to reach and the planner is doing her job and staying in touch with the bride, then you *could* tell the planner that if the cake's not paid for by Tuesday (or whatever date), in cash (if you don't have time for a check to clear before you start baking), that there will be no cake. I can pretty much guarantee you'll get an answer, and probably a payment, right away.

Like someone said, if she hasn't paid you, hasn't been in touch much (boo hoo--stressed out? come ON), then she is NOT A CUSTOMER. You aren't breaking a deal, she never MADE one, and the planner will, and should, look bad if she can't manage a wedding cake transaction to go along with a wedding. But I wouldn't make a cake based on someone saying "I'm sure they're good for it." been there, done that... (Sorry, but this is another why I don't work with family.)

And to support my "I no longer have your date available" statement--she is NOT a customer, she hasn't paid you, she doesn't own that date, you've been free to give it out on any date since the due date passed without her payment. Plus, I find it easier to say that than to say "Sorry, but I won't be doing your cake because you didn't pay me, so I'll be swinging in the hammock that day". I'd rather just smoothly say I'm busy. Not "having her date available" could MEAN I'm swinging in the hammock, but at least she's not going to feel like I'm sipping margaritas when I could have been saving her all this stress by making her cake.

Promise. If you tell them no payment, no cake--you'll get a quick response. If you let it hang until the last minute, so will they.

I agree with everyone else! You are not going to get paid. This bride is too busy to deal with the cake? What is she busy doing? Most everything else should be taken care of at this point (including the cake!). I say nip it in the bud, save yourself the stress, and focus on the end of the school year! If you already have ingredients and stuff, make a cool cake for the school staff or something. Good luck. I wish you the best.

I had a lady do the same thing to me 2wks ago, saying I definitely want you to do the cake. Her wedding was less than 4weeks away. I told her that in order to reserve me, I would need a deposit today, and the rest paid in full the following week. My motto: No deposit.....No cake
No full payment....No cake
No contact......No cake
& finally.......Undependable Bride with No clue.........No cake! Lol! Happy Baking!