Good riddance - she sure wasted a lot of your time! Glad you stood your ground, though. It would have been funny, though, if instead of HER baking them and you decorating them, if you'd have thought to say "Hey, Bridezilla-girl, I'll charge you 2 bucks a piece to bake them, and you can decorate them. Can you imagine the panic of doing so many for the first time?! I've screwed up dozens of cookies before I got even remotely okay. You'd just have to sit by the phone and wait for the last minute "Please. ..I'll pay you anything to finish these for me!! "phone call. And then you, on a huge power-trip, naturally, would say, smugly "Well, it's last minute...I don't know...hmmm... well I can do it for... OOONNNEEEE MEEEEEEELLLLLION DOLLLLLLARS!" HA!
Good for you chocomama....don't give in, your time spent on them wouldn't be worth it. Not everyone thinks practically, especially with a wedding. Her loss.
Heehee, I am waiting for Kos and Cake_Princess to see my new signature!!
Hi guys...I'm relatively new to this site, but the cookie story inspired me to write. I've been baking and selling cookies for about 6 years. I can tell you from experience just bagging and putting bows on all those cookies will take you hours, let alone all the time to decorate. There is no way I would let someone bake the cookies and then ask me to decorate them. Not only is it important for them to taste good but they need to be perfectly flat to get a professional finish. A family baking without experience is not what you want.
I think you are much better off without her business.
Without knowing it...all of you have been a tremendous help and inspiration to me as I venture into the cake business. I am about to do my first wedding cake and have been reading all the posts on this site.
Thanks for all your inspiration.
Thank you so very much. It's one of my favorites too. How can I look at your cakes? I don't know my way around this web site yet.
Thanks
I just figured it out....so simple. duh! I think you are doing great. Are you baking for fun or are you out there pushing your wares like some of us?
Well, I just started my hand at cakes and I'm taking the Wilton II course right now. I began my "business" just over a year ago when I started making gourmet chocolate-covered pretzels for my husband's coworkers and from there things just snowballed. Orders started coming in and except for the cakes, everything up until now that I have done has included chocolate and that's what my business revolves around, really. Gourmet brownies, cookie bars, tortes, truffles, etc. You name it, I do it if it involves chocolate. I'd love to go to pastry school to learn more but it's not the right time. What was the question, again? Oh, yeah...someone suggested that I try this website for help w/some business questions I had and I got hooked! I really hope to be able to make gorgeous cakes someday like so many people here do. Are you sorry you asked?!
Great advice from everyone! I too would have suggested the hearts as Wedding Dress/Tuxedo alternatives. Beyond that, the decision truly is in the Bride's hands.
If she just won't let it go, I'd recommend to her that she get them for little gifts at the rehearsal dinner instead. Tell her they are "just too special and labour-intensive for her big wedding, but they'd be so much more appropriate for everyone close to her" instead. There will be drastically less people at the rehearsal...and really, those are the guests and family that are more special anyway. She would spend the $5 each then and can certainly do one cookie per person that night instead.
One thing we all have to recognize is that the money spending in weddings is like an upside-down triangle. They start with the most expensive services like the venue, dress, invitations, flowers, limos.....and trickle down to the little details like the favours. The money slips from a couple's hands until they get to you and they just want something for nothing. They have probably spend the majority of their budget by the time they get to cookie favours and are beginning to tire of the expense and work involved in planning a wedding. Lucky us! We get the frustrated couples that have totally lost their "just-engaged-looking-at-reception-halls" glow!
You can't get every customer......and believe me, you don't WANT every customer. You did your best and offered here a fair price. No question there. She'll contact you.
Wow...sounds like you do a lot! I love reading everyones experiences ....I've learned so much already from this web site. It's like a new "baking friend" everytime I look. My grown daughters and husband (altho all very supportative) grow a little tired of me showing them cake and cookie pictures and forever asking to drive by bakeries when we are out of town...just so I can look.
I love this business! I used to own a donut store and although I like working with the public there was no creativity involved.
In doing cakes and cookies I pick and choose when I want to work and what I want to do.
Every new request is a exciting challenge for me, and although the wedding cake has got me a little nervous, I love the whole thing. (Except the kitchen clean-up!)
Have a great day.
Ugg!!! I know the cheap bride syndrome. All I seem to get are cheap brides. They want something gorgeous for nothing. I know there can be some people that over charge, but time is money, and they don't seem to realize that your time is just as valuable as theirs is. My poor hubby is trying to get started in real estate. We have some friends that have asked him to look up houses for them and he does. He spends his time and money printing out all this stuff for them. Then we find out they have found houses for sale by owner and go with that!!!!! Where do you go to find people who don't mind paying for what they want?? Anyways, you were smart and those cookies are gorgeous!
She's baaack! LOL! I received an email from the bride and she said that a friend had volunteered to make the cookies and she wondered if I would decorate them. HA! So, I guess she didn't have much luck finding anyone to do them cheaper! This is what I wrote back....
I really can't do that for a couple of reasons. One is that the dough must be very consistent and flat because if it isn't the icing will look lumpy and, therefore, imperfect. Second, if for whatever reason the cookies look flawed in any way it will be my name and reputation on the line.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help. I would like the opportunity to work with you but I hope you can understand my reasons for not wanting to do this only 1/2 way. If you would like to talk about other options I would be more than happy to do so.
Was my response OK? I think this is all too funny! She just won't compromise!
Your response is perfect. I think she keeps coming back to you because no other bakers will even listen to her silly request of baking them herself. Good luck on dumping her!
Does she really think that the baking is the most expensive/difficult part? It's the decorating, obviously. She'll save, what, 35 cents per cookie?
Anyway, not to overstate the obvious, but if you do work with her, get a hefty deposit/contract up front in case she leaves you in the lurch.
Could you offer her a "special", like she'll pay, eg. # of cookies she wants @ $5 each, and you'll make her 10 extra cookies for the bridal party with their names on them, for free. This way, she gets a $50 value and your cost is minimal (you'll have made a few extra anyway, you can do the same cookie just write their names with a marker), and you get the big order. Just a thought. It would be great to get a big order like this ($$$), as long as you are not being taken advantage of. I would be tempted to still keep trying, in a detached sort of way - meaning I wouldn't take it all too personally, don't spend too much time , just see if it falls into place - if it's not annoying you too much, what the heck, keep at it. The minute you start losing sleep, dump her.
Keep us posted.
Oh, goodness!!! You're response is great!!! Very professional! Wow, I wonder what she'll come up with next? Like marmar said, the baking is just the beginning of it!!! Keep us up to date on what happens next. =)
Good suggestion marmar....I like the "I'll include this for free"!
Also....very polite response chocomama! Way to go!
Wonderful response, chocomama! The things you pointed out to her are things that probably never entered her mind. Just like cake, it seems very simple to those who haven't or don't actually do it themselves....until they try...lol. I have a feeling you'll be getting a last minute phone call from her begging for you to do the cookies and just charge whatever you have to... If that does happen & you decide to do it...I would add on a $50 surcharge simply for the late notice and time crunch.
Thanks, everyone! I do like the "special offer" idea, too. Well, I heard from the bride and this is what she had to say...
I totally understand where you are coming from. I didn't think about it like that. : ) I'll keep you posted on my needs.
Whew. I was worried I would get attitude from her. Oh, by the way, did I forget to tell everyone that my friend who helped refer her to me told me after all of this happened that this bride is a "princess"? Yep, she always gets her way. Or so she thinks! Thanks for telling me, Friend! LOL!!
Off topic, I know but so funny...
I once knew a bossy princess who was getting married - she was sooo in charge of every detail, such a know it all, really annoying and mean and at her wedding...she wiped out on the dance floor and we saw her panties!!!! (Okay, I was like... 13 at the time... we laughed until we almost wee-wee'd our panties). If she wasn't such a princess, we would have been horrified, of course and felt bad for her...
It always comes back to good old karma giving you exactly what you deserve! I would have laughed seeing a "princess" wipe out!
LOL! That's too funny!
Well, I should have known better about this one. Before the whole cookie thing started she wanted me to come to her home so I could get a "feel" for the style of wedding she was having. She wanted to show me her dress, fabric samples, you name it! Hello, these are favors, Honey! Sheesh! Oh, and the best part was when she was telling me where I could park at her townhouse. She said, "You can park next to my silver Montero. Do you know what that is?" WTH?! I should have said, "Yes, and you can look for my black Mercedes. Do you know what THAT is?" ROFL! Of course, I don't actually have one, but I would have borrowed one just out of spite!
Or "I'll just have my driver, Sebastien, drop me off around the corner, I doubt the limo can stop in front of the building".
Or"Sure, I know the Montero" (whatever that is) "is that the one that's had all those engine recalls?"
Or"Why don't you do me a FAVOR and bugger off... and I'll pay YOU 5 bucks!"
This is getting funny, juicy and catty...meow!!! ...please tell us more!
Does she have a pinchy nose, for example , and does she have her whole house done in spartan white and beige and does she have a skinny little bum (whatever that is!) and was she wearing cream pants and a white button down shirt? Strappy oyster high heels, perchance? Was her hair ash blond, chin length bob and was she wearing hardly any makeup? Just a pale shimmer on the lips? Even if she wasn't all these things, can you agree anyway? I have a vivid picture in my head - don't ruin it, please!!!
Okay, Ijust sat here and actually read all of the responses. WOW are we a bunch of "stand up for our selves" bunch of bakers or what?! Chocomama, just do what you're doing and eventually she'll get the picture, either all or nothing!!!! She really does sound like one of those major "Daddy's girls". Maybe for this one she thought she could do what Daddy did for her Sweet Sixteen (sure she had one) on her own and has come to the conclusion that not everything is handed to you on a silver platter and you have to actually work to get what you want and that others are not always gonna bend over backwards for you just because you're used to a spacific way of going about things. Geez... GROW UP LADY!!!!!!
LMAO, marmar! I love the limo bit! I could have also said, "No, I'm not familiar with those little SUVs. But, do you think my Hummer will fit into the parking space? I didn't even get the chance to meet her b/c the whole cookie thing went kaput before we even got together! I would have loved to see her place, though. I'll bet it is all stark white and beige!
OK, I just had to add this! The bride is self employed with a large direct sales company. I went to her website to find a picture but there wasn't any, but what I did find was THIS:
... background is in Psychology and Non-Profit Management. ... enjoys traveling internationally, learning languages, spending time with her friends/family and her husband. She also enjoys helping those less fortunate and plans to build an elementary school in Africa with her **** profits. She also owns an exporting business that she runs alongside her **** business.
Ooooooooooook! I'm not trying to be mean and I still hope I get her business but WOW! Now, when I spoke to her (just once) she seemed very pleasant aside from the Montero comment and I hope that's how she really is but when my friend told me she was a princess, well, that kind of made me rethink our whole conversation and then everything seemed kind of, well, princessy!
That is sooo what I thought when I read it!! LOL!!! Seems to me that she's trying to get you to do this one for free too!!!
Whaaaa!!!!!
I take all my snippy comments back - every single one (and the ones I thought but didn't write with naughty words that begin with letter B)
I'll never say a bad word ever in my whole life about anyone with an ash-blond bob and little scrawny bum!! And she's probably got beautiful brunette braids, and a lovely Victorian-decor house, anyway...and a nice ample big bottom. (A bit obsessed with mine, lately, since I can't fit into my last Fall's pants).
I feel like a schmuck (sort of - I'm sure it will pass). Did you say underpriviledged children and build school and Africa?? Pack my bags, for I'm going away on a guilt trip!
Okay, would you consider, PLEASE, doing her bloody cookies for free and making me feel better? Thank you.
I actually hope she's snotty again, so I can feel better about being snotty.
Don't feel too badly, marmar! I have a feeling that this info may or may not be true in the purest sense. Will find out more!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%