Filling Change 4 Days Before Wedding -- What Would You Do?
Decorating By tobycat Updated 27 Jul 2007 , 2:13am by tobycat
4 weeks ago when we reviewed fillings, the bride said she wanted strawberry buttercream filling. I bought the strawberries and already had the rest of the ingredients for it at home. I quoted her a price based on that filling. 4 days before the wedding I called her to confirm a question I had about the filling, and she said, "oh, we decided to go with your lemon curd" (they had it for another cake I did for them). Well, I told her that it was going to cost $5 - $10 more because of ingredients, but now it's looking more like $15 - $20. I may have to eat the cost of the strawberries, lemons aren't cheap, and I needed at least 30 more eggs than I planned for. I'm really glad I called her because otherwise I wouldn't have known. She thought her mom had called me!
Would you have charged more or just let the initial price stand?
IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT THAT THE FILLING WAS CHANGED, I'D SAY CHARGE HER. MAYBE YOU SHOULD ADD THAT TO YOUR CAKE ORDER FORMS OR ADVISE THE CLIENT. I ALWAYS TELL THEM THAT WHATEVER CHANGES NEED TO BE DONE 5 DAYS PRIOR TO THE EVENT DATE OTHERWISE IT STAYS AS THE ORIGINAL ORDER OR THEY HAVE TO PAY ADDITIONAL FOR CHANGES. NOWADAYS NOTHING IS CHEAP!!!
I'd be making some freezer jam for myself with those berries! And then I'd make sure the bride understands that she is paying for both the original filling (since you had bought the ingredients) and the lemon curd.
Once she gets home from her honeymoon, maybe I'd run a jar of jam to her as a good-humored gesture. Maybe, just maybe I'd do this, if she's cool with the fact that she's changing details at the very last minute and that she has to accept responsibility for the financial implications of said changes. If she's a difficult bride, then she pays the added expense and it's done.
Good luck!
Christy
I would call her and discuss this with her. Be honest, let her know you were basing your last quoted price on the price the ingredients cost before you actually verified it at the store and you're sorry for that, but would she be ok with you raising the price to XXXX (give exact amount in full not break down pricing) and see what she says. If she gets irrate then just say Ok you understand it was your own fault you mixed up the pricing and the final cost figure for the cake with the lemon curd is XXXX (exact amount again)
People don't need to know exact reasons for things except when it's like this... you're having to up the price because you didn't check before giving her the new price... which is ok it's just a mistake on your part that you won't ever do again 
right? lol but I'd just let her know that you had already purchased the things for the original filling she wanted and since no one called you and it is last minute that this is the price and heck you could probably get away with stating the price increase is because you've already made the other filling and this is such last minute that you've had to up it because of that
Also... is the Mother the one that signed the contract? Is she the one that made the final decisions on the cake? No the bride is... it's the brides responsability to phone you with any changes to HER wedding cake... so yes now that I've read the other two poss that weren't there before I posted... I say you charge her in addition (charge for both fillings) and just state that it's because of the last minute changes and she should've seen to it that the call was placed by placing it herself.
Definitely charge her the price for both fillings. She didn't even call you to change, it just happened to come up in a phone call that YOU made to HER. This is not your fault, and if she wants the lemon, she'd definitely pay for it. I would assume you gave her the price increase off the cuff while you were on the phone with her, and it's perfectly acceptable for you to give her another call and let her know that after shopping for the ingredients, the price was slightly higher than you had anticipated, and she is going to have to pay the difference.
Good luck!
My contract states all changes must be made 2 weeks prior to the event date. Any changes beyond that date are not guaranteed, if changes are made after that point there is a charge (unless it doesnt entail any additional time/cost). In this case it would have been the original price plus the ingredients to make the new filling, gas, and time it took to get the ingredients/make the new filling.
HTH!
Thanks for the input everyone! I was speaking off-the-cuff when I told her $5-10 more. I'll definitely talk to her today or tomorrow and let her know that it will be $20.00. She's not a bridezilla by any means, so it should be fine, but I just like to have everything nailed down and no changes like this so late. It's not like I just pull the stuff out of a tube and splat it on. But, she's very nice and I'm sure it will go fine.
Thank you everyone!
S.
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