Total stupid move on my part. Laziness? Not really....I was just trying to be "nice". Well "nice" and business don't mix folks! 
After about 600 weddings in the past 9 years and literally only 3 or 4 problems with equipment being returned very late or damaged, I was WAY too casual about my rental process...and am just lucky not to have had bigger problems, until this past weekend.....
I had a bride who ordered a HUGE artificial cake from me with about 190-210 sugar flowers....a lot of work. In her contract, I stipulated that in exchange for me being able to return to her venue and pick up the cake the next day...I would discount $50 from the price of the cake. She didn't want it, so I was happy to take it back. That was perfect for me too, as I've already agreed to rent it out to another wedding in December...and I even emailed the second bride the photo from that night!! 
I called the venue the next day, the cake is "missing". Call the next day and the cake is "officially gone". Most likely, some TOTAL IDIOT threw it out!!!
So who do I turn to to get compensation for this loss?
NOBODY! I have no legal claim against either the bride or the venue.
The bride is not at fault. She CC'ed me on every single email to the venue explaining that the cake was artificial and was going to be picked up by me the next day. She did her job. Not her fault.
But the venue and I have NO contract with one another, so it's the old "sorry, it's not here" and "we have no responsibility for items left overnight after functions" and "we don't compensate for lost or stolen items".
What I SHOULD have been doing (and what I am begging you ALL to start to do!!!!) is that I should have charged the bride the full value of the cake (say $300 or so) and that should have been returned to her when I went and got my cake back from her venue. Truly, when the threat is there to get people in their pocketbook...it's the only thing that seems to get them to suddenly give a hoot about YOUR belongings people!!
DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE I DID!!! What a loss.....
OMG! I am dying for you! Stupid venue people! I don't think people take in to consideration the time something like that takes to make! I'm sure the, "Oh well" is all you'll get from them! I hate this for you!
Elle
It's beautiful and so very unique.. Sorry this happened to you. I just can't see anyone throwing this away... that just doesn't make sense.
I am sure no one threw that beautiful cake out, but probably took it home!! I am so sorry for your luck, but thank you for sharing your experience for the rest of us to learn from.
Wow, I hate to hear that happened to you. I am a stickler about deposits, although I've never done a dummy cake and left it, who would of thought it would of upped and walked away 
Thanks for the lesson that was learned from you the hard way, PEOPLE!!!!!!!
I think someone either the bride or the venue is lying to you. I dont think they would just throw it away. If they knew it was a fake cake they probably would of asked the bride what to do with it. I know when our reception was done the venue left a bag for me that had all the plates, etc to give back to the decorator. She probably kept it and blaimed it on them.
Im so sorry. Your cake was beautiful and its a shame that people have to be so dishonest. But your right. Next make sure that there is a deposit to cover the cost of it and that way they will make sure they get it back to you.
What a very, very sad story! Your cake is abosolutely beautiful! I'm sorry this happened to you! I guess it goes to show that you can never be too careful, unfortunately it's an expensive lesson. Thanks for sharing your pain though. Hang in there! 
K here's something that i don't think anyone thought of yet
What if someone that works for the venue saw that lovely cake sittin there not cut up n whatever n thought it was an actual cake (don't laugh i've had it happen before where someone "stole" the foam display cake and took it home to "eat") They brought it back sayin that it ws too hard to eat (dorks))and they took it home to eat....hmmmmm
some people shouldn't even think about procreating. sheesh.
Sorry hun, that makes me mad and what is worse that someone either threw it out (most likely not) or took it home to "eat". Hee heee hee I can just see the look on their face when they try to cut into it. Priceless............
Beautiful cake!!!!! No sense in worrying about it now but to learn from this and not let it happen again. I'm sure it will show up at some point, things always do. It may be at another persons wedding but, hey, that was what it was made for in the first place. It is such an oringal design that I'm sure someone would recognize it if they saw it again. Hopefully someone will come forward and fess up to the MISTAKE of where the cake was to go. Sorry to hear that this happened to you.
Well that sure stinks!! Your cake is beautiful, and soo big! I just can't imagine someone wanting a huge wedding cake around the house as a decoration. But I sure can't imagine anyone just tossing it out either.
Okay, someone sneaks a fake cake home thinking they'll eat it? And they can't tell by the weight that it's not really cake? Come ON!!!
Antonia - first, your cake is beautiful. I agree with some of the others. . . that cake was not thrown out -- either the bride is lying or the venue is lying. My question(s) to you is - did you speak directly to the venue and they told you that it had been thrown out or did the bride tell you she spoke to the venue and they told her they had thrown it out? If you spoke to the venue yourself - did you do it over the phone or did you go in there in person? If the venue is lying, there may be a good chance that they still have the cake and would use it as a display for their own location. If you are getting your information from the bride, then you go directly to the venue and ask them about it - because who knows, the venue may have given the bride the cake and she is keeping it and blaming the venue saying that they threw it out knowing that in that case there would be nothing for you to do.
Sorry - didn't mean to be so winded
But please don't let this go just yet. You put so much work in that cake to just consider it lost.
Oh man, what a pain for you!!!!!
But I have to admit...I'd be tempted to be "in the area" sometime and pop in on the bride's new home and see if she doesn't maybe, just maybe, have a little "wedding shrine" set up somewhere, complete with (tahdah) her very own cake. That's mean, but it does come to mind; I can't imagine a venue tossing out a whole decorated dummy cake without first calling around to see who might know what they *should* do with it.
I would probably call the venue and stay on the phone ("Yes, I'll HOLD.") until they find the Actual Person Who Handled The Cake last and make them get on the phone with you and physically say "Yes, I took the display cake off the table and I, personally, myself, carried it out to the dumpster and tossed it in." That would be about the only way I'd feel like that is what really happened to it.
Could one of her relatives have grabbed it, trying to be helpful. Or the parents?--thinking "We paid for this; we're taking it!"
Ah well. It would be hard to find out, without them thinking you're accusing them of something (like, maybe stealing...hello? lol).
So, so sorry for you on this one! 
No, I wish it were just that simple that someone was lying....but I'm 100% sure that bride left the cake there, it was there when the wedding co-ordinator left (she's a friend of mine) and it was reported as there by the kitchen staff when they arrived the next morning.
The venue has been icy cold in their responses to me....but they won't say it was thrown out. They just say it is "missing" and "no longer on the premises" and they actually said to me in our last phone call that what I should have done was to "come back to the venue at 1am to retrieve my items".
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????
I'd drive on over there and see what's what. Find the person who saw it last and make them look you in the eye and say they tossed it, or if they can't do that, make someone tell you what, EXACTLY happened to it.
If they have someone willing to say they threw it out, then I'd say something like "Wow; I'm amazed you'd think it was OK to do that."
On the other hand, maybe they've just had a month from H-ll with vendors leaving things (items?) at their venue and expecting them to do more than, uh, what's expected of them in terms of storing things and keeping track of ...items...that aren't their responsibility.
eye roll
Either way, I'd force someone to tell me exactly where it went. Especially if there's a chance they could have saved it themselves for a future display...(wow, that would be really really pushing it).
I realized something ... becasue this could very easily happen ... the venue may have kept the cake with the thought that they would offer it to other brides in a 'wedding package'. There is no reason in the world why they wouldn't (except that they might have someone say, "Hey haven't I seen that cake here before??") And someone may have taken it home or to another office so it is "technically off the premises." You have a lisenced bussiness so I am assuming that your merchandiece is copywrited to some extent. The only thing I can think of is to file and date what happend and if it shows up somewhere you will have documentation. (That is if you really want to hassle with them later.) The fact that they wont say they threw it but wont tell you where it is ... it's probably been cakenapped!! 
I think someone at the venue kept the cake, and you'll probably find it on display one day in the future. Why would the bride need to keep a large fake cake? That happened to me when I did my very first wedding. All my stuff disappeared, and no one at the venue could figure out what happened. Yeah. Okay. What happened is that I just added to your list of supplies. I don't think the answer is to charge the bride a deposit. I think you should work on getting a contract or some type of agreement with the venues in the future. The wedding day is way too crazy for the bride to be able to keep up with your stuff, and even if she has someone designated for the job, "stuff" happens. It sounds like your bride was very cooperative. It would have been a shame for her to be penalized because the venue didn't follow up on their end, namely, making sure that possessions don't just disappear. That's a pretty crappy way to do business.
Mickig
Ladies! Ladies! This is what I have been saying - any money bet that cake is in someone's office at that venue and will be used as a display!
Antonia - your cake is so beautiful - don't give up on it just yet. Go in person and like "homecook" said - make them look you in the eye and tell you what happened to it. You know, if it were some supplies or a cake stand - okay, let it go. But this is a piece of art and you have to treat it as such.
thats so sickening, i reckon someone has it too. better put an ad in the paper, LOST CAKE, Have you seen this cake, with a picture and a reward, bet it shows up.
I would go to the venue and actually speak to someone. And would go so far as to ask if they can do a search with you present. It's more difficult for the employees to dismiss you when you're standing right in front of them. My husband and I had a dummy cake and a large board we custom made that went missing. We went to pick up the items, and no one knew where they were. The final conclusion was they were thrown away. 
However, my husband was persistent and made several unannounced trips to the facility to confirm the items were tossed. He finally came across the right person that knew exactly what happened. The employee put them in a small storage room that is rarely used so they wouldn't be damaged. He just forgot to tell anyone else, and no one thought to look there. So I suggest making a trip to the venue and request a thorough search be done. You never know, your cake may turn up, or you might come in contact with someone that knows what happened. The dummy cake is beautiful, by the way. It's a shame you have to go through this.
Thanks so much everyone for your support and encouragement. I am really hopeful that if I at least don't get the cake back, that someone didn't throw it out....and they are indeed keeping it. That would actually make me feel better, rather than it being in the local dump!
I want more than anything to drive down to the venue and seriously tear a strip off these idiots, but my business partner (the "calm and rational" one! 
) points out that I do have a few wedding orders pending for clients at that venue in the next few months...and those would be a LOT more income lost than just this artificial cake if they were to put in a suggestion for the bride to not use me for their cake.
I have to just suck it up and move on....but thank you ALL for your excellent words of advice and I can at least be happy that everyone who reads this will learn from it and not make my stupid mistake!
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