I just delivered a wedding cake to the venue & I go inside and everything is black and red.... hmmmm, the roses on my cake are pink....

I overhead the caterings saying "I think those roses are supposed to be red".  The bride sent me a pic of the cake she wanted and it had pink roses - we had a lot of correspondence so I went back through everything and sure enough, there was mention of the roses being changed to red which I didn't pick up on.

I have just gotten home and honestly am on the verge of tears and feel like I wanna be sick.  The wedding is at the same place where the wedding is so I can't try to quickly make some red roses and put them on as the wedding starts in half an hour.

What should I do, how much should I refund them?  Or a discount on their next cake.... what should I do?!?!?!

I am so upset and I feel like I have let her down so badly!!!

*Photo removed per member's request.

if you have the time, could you put real red roses in place? if not the cake looks great, I don't think you ruined their wedding, she may be a little upset but maybe not. The roses don't take up much of the cake. I would offer her a discount on this cake, since it was an error on your side. maybe 20% just to be considered honourable so that you will still have a great reference. I wouldn't offer a discount for the next order, treat each order on it's own. If you give her a discount on this one, she would probably re-order from you again, but maybe not if you offer a future discount, as I would most likely not re-order.

Dang it. Too bad you couldn't have taken the flowers off and went home and airbrushed them red. 

Wish I had an airbrush, I would have tried to make some more quickly but the venue was at the same place as the ceremony which was starting in 30 minutes so knew I didn't have a hope.

I charged her $395 for the cake (10, 8 and 6 inch tiers).  20% would be $79 so do you think that would be a fair refund?  Hopefully she would be happy with that....

That does seem a little high, are there roses on the back side as well? maybe $60?

Oh my.That stinks. A lot. I'm not sure $79 would be enough, it's a pretty big boo boo. I'm thinking she will want more, but I could be totally wrong. 

Totally feel for ya- it could happen to any of us, especially if the emails went back and forth as some of them do. Ick- my tummy hurts just thinking about this being me. I guess I would have nabbed some from somewhere, taken them to quick airbrush and snuck in to replace- or even quick got silk ones- as long as something red was on the cake. 

Hoping they laugh it off and handle it like the happy newlyweds they hopefully are!

Pretty cake.  It might not be a big deal to her, you never know.  Some brides care more about the cake than others.  My dress was my main thing,

no the cake cost is fine, I don't think refunding her the entire price is correct, if the entire cake was covered in roses perhaps then it would be an issue, but just some here and there would not be a big thing to me. I think acknowleding the error and offering a little back will go a long way.

Not that there will be a next time, but another option would have been to remove the pink flowers, raid some of the red flowers that were part of the decor, place them on a little piece of wax paper or saran wrap in place of the pink.  Or silk flowers.  Or even just remove the pink flowers and just have the black and white cake.  Hope it turns out for you.

AThat cake is SO pretty I truly hope that they aren't to hard on you , I just don't see how someone could look at that cake and be disappointed. I would think 20% is more than enough to account for the color mess up.

The caterers are saying that they are supposed to be red?? Have you heard that the bride has said that the roses were supposed to be red ??

Check your correspondence - if there is not mention of red, then wait to see what the bride says ?? Do not borrow trouble ...

 If you don't  have an airbrush could you not just use a soft paint brush and dust some darker red  over the roses to give it a darker tone?, it might be better than the soft pink. Your cake is beautiful.

A20% is high. I would refund the cost of the flowers. The flowers were wrong not the cake!

Be sure to offer a sincere apology. This really shouldn't be a huge deal.

Full refund?!! Insane! You don't get the cake for free.

You poor thing!

It's such a beautiful cake, regardless of the color of the flowers.

Have you heard anything from the bride?

Hugs to you!!

Please let us know how this turns out!  I would be a mess too, but to give the whole cake for free, no way!

Thanks for the support guys - I am feeling pretty freaked out about it.  Haven't heard anything from the bride yet.... I am a bit worried cos I have only had one other cake complaint in the past, and it was from a bride who hired this certain caterer that is catering this wedding, who also happens to be a cake decorator too.... I even caught her criticising my cake when I dropped it off, she didn't realise I had walked back into the room.

AI really feel for you, hope it works out ok the cake is lovely.

AI feel you should be proactive on this. You noticed the mistake, go on offense. Apologize, own it, and offer an amount. She probably won't have time to get back to you right away...it is her wedding day after all. Before she has time to stew and while she's on her wedding high, take care of this.

You and I did the same yesterday, except mine was round, lol! I wish I could've made the flowers, but she wanted real ones, bleah! I think they are unsanitary.  I, too think that you should be proactive, and give her a call, or shoot her an email.On the plus side, you did an absolutely beautiful job!  Here is my cake, the middle tier somehow shifted, or something. I have a line between the layers that is a dent!

Hmmm...I wonder how much it would cost to have her pictures retouched, and the pink turned red? Shouldn't be hard if you know what you are doing.

I agree with being proactive, don't gush, but make a sincere apology. I agree with delicious desserts as far as refunds amount, offer what the flowers were worth, 100% is nuts! lol

It's super easy for any photographer worth their salt to do, takes a couple minutes at the most. (My dad is a photographer, I've seen him do things like that hundreds of times!)

Still no words, for those that were interested in an update.

A

You didn't just send the bride a card with a "I'm sorry " along with at least 20% back? I just think it would be the best thing to do instead of waiting around for the bride to call and complain or worse never call you just bad mouth you to people. Jmo

I agree with the proactive apology. Just start by hoping that their day went went well and that when you brought the cake, it was brought to your attention that the flowers may have been the wrong colour and you just wanted to check with her. At least get a tone for how she's feeling about it. As someone said, some brides might not be so picky about it :) 

AInstead of a refund, you could offer a free anniversary cake with red roses.

To avoid not having enough time to fix a mistake,I usually deliver the cake about 4 hours before the ceremony is to start. Sorry this happened to you. I hope that the bride understands and not make a big issue of it'.