So did you talk to the bride since all of this has happened? It sounds like everything is second hand talk from the mother. Has the bride actually complained to you?
FrostinGal, that makes sense to me. Iwas getting stuck on the idea that just because a cake is taller, doesn't necessarily mean you can get more servings from it. Thanks!!
I get where you are comin' from. Technically, it works on paper, but not so much IRL. What if the reception site servers don't know about this, or don't care? (Not that this would ever happen with your people, 
, but it happened a lot at my last job. The not caring part.)
So, did you hear from the bride, Jenn?
Yes, I had the bride call me the same night. She didn't like the fondant ribbon, didn't think the leaves were the same, didn't think it was big enough. She said "It didn't look like a wedding cake." She was upset and pretty much hung up on me. I was extremely polite and professional to both of them and listened to everything they had to say. I explained my side but they weren't listening.
People want the grand height of columns and a fountain but order a stacked cake for 125.
I haven't heard any more from them or from the CC company yet.
Jenn--
Try not to fret this one too much. Sounds like the bride is just like the mil--awful. You did what she ordered. Me thinks they just hedging on wanting $$ back--they probably got thefinal liquor bill and were stymied at how much people can drink.(Obviously, they are drinking some hard stuff if this the way they treat people!).
If you would have shown up to my wedding with your cake, I think I would have given your more $! That's what we did at our wedding with our soloist--we paid her $$ and then after she sang(we did not realized how good she really was). We asked her for the ck back afterwards and she ws like, "huh?"(she was not expecting anything, doing a favor, but we gave her what the going rate was) and then gave her the new ck--we doubled what she was given before the wedding. I would have given you more. It is a very nice cake.
And they are blind!
I'm really not fretting because I felt all along that I did a good job. If I had really messed it up, I would be bending over backwards to make it right with them. I just wanted some other opinions to be sure I wasn't kidding myself. Thank you so much everyone. Your support and suggestions mean a lot.
I think your cake is great. I know a lot of brides want a huge cake, butonly want to feed 100. 
This is one reason I have a lot of dummy cakes on hand. I can show then what they will be getting. If they want it bigger they can pay for dummy layers. If they can't afford that they can rent a tall stand. I think the dummys help because seeing them allows the bride know what to expect when wedding day rolls around.
I just don't get the "it didn't look like a wedding cake" part. Who's wedding cake did she want it to look like?!? Some huge cake with 5000 sugar flowers on it that would feed 400 people? Well, that isn't what she ordered!
That cake was freakin gorgeous! You did an awesome job incorporating her ideas! I don't know what's wrong with these folks at all!
Just let it roll off your back honey and hold you head high. You made a beautiful cake! 
The cake is gorgeous and you gave them what they ordered. As some OP have said, they probably spent too much on another part of the wedding and are trying to make some of it back, at your expense. 
Your cake was beautiful. Don't worry too much about her complaining to the credit card company. We had an insedent that happened here a few months ago at a local restuarant. Customer ordered his meal. Ate most of it then refused to pay because it did not have as much shrimp in it as the picture in the menu shows. They made him pay for it so he did with CC then disputed it. Big battle happened because he was told what he was trying to do was the same as theft. Needless to say the guy lost his battle and had to pay restuarant sued for damages and won that also.
I think the cake is very fitting for what you had described that she wanted. Just be happy to have one more photo to add to your collection and let them be on there merry way. 
I too love your cake. It just seems to me the bride had didn't care about the cake from the beginning. She e-mailed you rather than meeting with person and to top it off she didn't get a top for the cake. If she would have cared more about it in the beginning then she would have know what to expect.
I too love your cake. It just seems to me the bride had didn't care about the cake from the beginning. She e-mailed you rather than meeting with person and to top it off she didn't get a top for the cake. If she would have cared more about it in the beginning then she would have know what to expect.
Yeah we had way more discussion about the groom's cake that the brides cake. Basically she said can you combine these 2 pictures? I said, yes. That was pretty much it. She kept saying she was going to find an ornament but never did. I called her the day before the wedding and she still didn't have one. She said she would run to Walmart for a clear one. Ugh! I said, "NO I'll make something. It will look much better!" I didn't even charge for that! Ohhhh welllll. 
Additionally, she forgot to mention that not only is she a member of the "find-something-to-complain-about" club, she's also the president!
*Note to self - would not make a very good businesswoman due to telling off stupid customers. End note*
I would have laughed at her and asked if she was really serious. Your cake was amazing. They should have smashed some in HER face
I feel the same way...what the.... 
after reading all six pages I finally figured it out ... she wanted you to combine both cakes ... she wanted SIX tiers!!! 
Oh, and thought it was really nice of you to only charge $2 a serving for the people who were coming ... the other half of the cake (free of charge) was going to go with them on their honeymoon!!! 
seriously ,,, if your cake didn't look like a wedding cake, what do the other two cakes look like??? she picked them out!!
Hey I just got a call from the newest member of "Bride that needs something to complain about"!
This xxxxx bride calls to say "that is not the cake flowers I wanted". I'll try to keep this short. After arriving to the reception facility the staff says thank goodness someone is here, no DJ, no Photographer, no special rented linens, no florist, no cake!? They said all were supposed to arrive at 4pm, I got there when the bride instructed before 5pm. I tell the staff "I was supposed to be here before 5pm it is 4:30 I am early"!
After quickly putting the cake together & telling a dozen guest to come back later..... We then wait another hour for the flowers to arrive. The bride got flowers from the grocery store herself! We kill the hour by helping the staff put table cloths, overlays, chair covers with hand tied sashes we finally get the flowers thee are no were near enough flowers! We were expecting 4-8 bunches & got 12 delphinium heads! What the xxxx? So I walk out to the area where the bride is having pictures done to see what is going on with the flowers. Yes the ceremony is over, the guests are arriving & now the bride is having pictures made with the bridal party & nothing is ready!!!! I asked the brides maids about the flowers & they say "make due with the few flowers you have", I said "this is not what she ordered", they said "executive brides maid decision make due". No problem... I go back inside, remove the 2 sets of columns that were to be filled with flowers & scramble find something to support a stacked cake. Straws of course, the wait staff gives me coffee stirrers OK fine but I have to use allot of them. Then we are offered some generic but nice looking gum paste roses to go with our delphinium heads, we accept. We reassemble the cake into a stack, arrange the flowers & use a simple ribbon we brought as back up, as the bride was supposed to have special ribbon for us & didn't.
The cake is done, I take pictures and the bride comes in & says oh it is beautiful.... I have more flowers coming. I told her we we have to go we have been here 1 1/2 hours & your guests are arriving so when the flowers get here ask someone to place the extra flowers around base of the plateau, congratulation & bye.
Now two weeks later she calls to say the cake was not set up how she wanted, ooooooooooh but first she says there were small pearls on the cake I didn't like those. What xxx xxxx !!!!! So I politely say I am sorry you didn't lie the pearl dots I will be happy to give you a credit towards a small birthday cake. Then she says the flowers were not lie I wanted. So here is were I take a deep breath & let her have it! Yep I told her exactly what we did for her, waiting an hour, helping the wait staff place her linens, investigating the missing flowers, the bride maid's executive decision, take the cake apart & reassembling, & her saying the cake was beautiful. She then has the nerve to say I would rather have a refund than a credit for the dots, I then remind her that our contract clearly states no refunds for any reason. She says I would have asked the brides maids to give up their flowers & I didn't care about the pictures the cake was more important. Yea wait till you get those photos back & blame me for missing the best shots!
I am very tempted to send her a bill for my time $40 (for 2 of us), reassembling the cake $20, placing linens $50 & directing guests (wedding coordinating) $200! Say $310!
Thank you to all for listening to me rant just needed to get it off my chest. This isn't the first time & it will not be the last time I deal with a bridezilla it is expected. Jenn123 you are not alone we all feel your pain! We all deal & move on... "next!"
HA HA HA It's all about ME, ME, ME! Call me when the shuttle lands sister!
It's like their whole life was about waiting for this one day... and then nothing measures up to their outrageous expectations.
It all boils down to champagne taste on a beer budget. Two weeks later, hmmm. Just about the right time for a case of buyers' remorse to fester.
I have absolutely no illusions about my daughters' weddings. My girls and I have champagne tastes, and her father and I are prepared to pay to make them happen. True, having worked for a caterer, I'll have some tricks in my pocket to tame some of the expenses, but DH still has strict instructions to hand over the wallet and smile!
Now, I just have to wait a decade or two...my girls are 16 and 3. [/i]
Hey I just got a call from the newest member of "Bride that needs something to complain about"!
This xxxxx bride calls to say "that is not the cake flowers I wanted". I'll try to keep this short.
After arriving to the reception facility the staff says thank goodness someone is here, no DJ, no Photographer, no special rented linens, no florist, no cake!? They said all were supposed to arrive at 4pm, I got there when the bride instructed before 5pm. I tell the staff "I was supposed to be here before 5pm it is 4:30 I am early"! After quickly putting the cake together & telling a dozen guest to come back later..... We then wait another hour for the flowers to arrive. The bride got flowers from the grocery store herself! We kill the hour by helping the staff put table cloths, overlays, chair covers with hand tied sashes we finally get the flowers thee are no were near enough flowers! We were expecting 4-8 bunches & got 12 delphinium heads! What the xxxx? So I walk out to the area where the bride is having pictures done to see what is going on with the flowers. Yes the ceremony is over, the guests are arriving & now the bride is having pictures made with the bridal party & nothing is ready!!!! I asked the brides maids about the flowers & they say "make due with the few flowers you have", I said "this is not what she ordered", they said "executive brides maid decision make due". No problem... I go back inside, remove the 2 sets of columns that were to be filled with flowers & scramble find something to support a stacked cake. Straws of course, the wait staff gives me coffee stirrers OK fine but I have to use allot of them. Then we are offered some generic but nice looking gum paste roses to go with our delphinium heads, we accept. We reassemble the cake into a stack, arrange the flowers & use a simple ribbon we brought as back up, as the bride was supposed to have special ribbon for us & didn't.
The cake is done, I take pictures and the bride comes in & says oh it is beautiful.... I have more flowers coming. I told her we we have to go we have been here 1 1/2 hours & your guests are arriving so when the flowers get here ask someone to place the extra flowers around base of the plateau, congratulation & bye.
Now two weeks later she calls to say the cake was not set up how she wanted, ooooooooooh but first she says there were small pearls on the cake I didn't like those. What xxx xxxx
!!!!! So I politely say I am sorry you didn't lie the pearl dots I will be happy to give you a credit towards a small birthday cake. Then she says the flowers were not lie I wanted. So here is were I take a deep breath & let her have it! Yep I told her exactly what we did for her, waiting an hour, helping the wait staff place her linens, investigating the missing flowers, the bride maid's executive decision, take the cake apart & reassembling, & her saying the cake was beautiful. She then has the nerve to say I would rather have a refund than a credit for the dots, I then remind her that our contract clearly states no refunds for any reason. She says I would have asked the brides maids to give up their flowers & I didn't care about the pictures the cake was more important. Yea wait till you get those photos back & blame me for missing the best shots!I am very tempted to send her a bill for my time $40 (for 2 of us), reassembling the cake $20, placing linens $50 & directing guests (wedding coordinating) $200! Say $310!
Thank you to all for listening to me rant just needed to get it off my chest. This isn't the first time & it will not be the last time I deal with a bridezilla it is expected. Jenn123 you are not alone we all feel your pain! We all deal & move on... "next!"
Oh
My
Gosh
Thank you for sharing your horrible story. Poor thing!! You were so nice to first offer her a small credit. Too bad she didn't keep her big mouth shut and insisted on a refund. Then you got to lay it into her.
Do you guys ever watch People's Court or Judge Judy? Often, litigants come in with, what they think, is a prize-winning case. The you come to find out all of the horrible things the defendant had to go through and left it alone until the litigant decided to sue. -- The defendant gets the law suit and says to themselves, 'well! I was going to let bygones be bygones, but if they want to try to sue me for this, I will counter-sue'.
They come into court and the Judge says something along the lines of 'I can't believe you had the audacity to sue, when so-and-so did all of this for you.' Inevitably the Judge ends up giving favor for the counter-suit.
So...these big-mouthed litigants sometimes walk away with a zero win and a $2000 bill
If only they would have stopped while they had a chance. I think this bridezilla could have used a dose of Judge Judy
Good Lord.
I have to say that after reading horror stories like this one at CC, and watching shows like Bridezillas, I am shaking in my boots about starting my own business!! Please tell me the ratio of nutzo brides-to-sane brides is fairly low!
The good thing about this is that I have learned a few lessons that will hopefully give me a leg-up later on:
1. There are nasty, bitchy, and NEVER-satisfied people out there, and chances are I will run in a few of them. But if I know this ahead of time, I will know exactly what to say and do to keep my stress level at a minimum.
2. I will keep EVERY bit of contact with EVERY customer (e-mails, contracts, etc.) so I will have my rear covered in the event of a credit card company contacting me about a dispute.
3. I will have my written contract include something along the lines of, "If you are dissatisfied for any reason about your cake, you MUST let me know BEFORE I leave the reception site, as well as letting me know EXACTLY what you have an issue with so that I may have a chance to fix the problem."
4. I will require EVERY wedding cake order to include at LEAST one sit-down meeting with the bride. If you don't care enough about your own wedding cake to at least sit down with me to come up with a design we can both agree on, then I don't care enough to do your cake, period.
5. Finally, I will have my pricing at a level that is fair, but will also discourage some of those people out there who are a "flight risk" from trying to order a cake out of their price-range. And of course, if cakes aren't paid for on time, then NO CAKE FOR YOU!
Thanks everyone for all the great advice!
Jenn123
She's crazy! It's a wonderful Fall cake! Very simple, but not plain by any means. Maybe people are talking more about the cake than her dress and she's jealous b/c it's now going to her hips and her dress will only hang in the closet never to be worn again where those hips will go w/ her everywhere!!
(told you I was a little crabby)
Bakerbear you got it! The importance of a good contract w/ lots of COA clauses is not to be underestimated. I recently amended our contract to include a fresh flower clause (we must place flowers on the cake), you accept a picture as proof positive the cake was perfect when we left, once we leave there will be a charge if we have to come back or if we have to wait for anything (room prep, linens, flowers, topper), no refunds unless military transfers or death! It was so nice to tell that bride this morning no refunds it is on the front page of your contract...pow right in the kisser! (imaginary)
OK no we don't get too many bridezillas but I think we get our share, maybe 5 out of 100 a year. We do a small amount destination weddings so occasionally orders are taken over phone & email. Never had a destination bride unhappy so it may seem scary to not have a face to face but I will take orders that way.
Loriana I was thinking that to after I told my mom/business partner this morning. Wow she has some nerve after taking advantage of me then expecting me to stick around longer to wait for flowers! some people just are not happy with the way their weddings turn out overall so they blame anyone but themselves or their loved ones.
Jen123 Big hug for you! It is so nice to vent here on cc & know you are not alone! I love what I do and hope to continue till I am too old to hold a spatula, hateful people are a part of life don't let them steal your joy!
Wow, WeddingsbyMindy, at first I thought you were making that story up, then I later realized you were serious! Sounds like that bride was totally unorganized that day! I don't do wedding cakes yet, only do cakes for friends and family, but I don't know what I would do if that happened to me. BTW-your cake is very pretty, too.
Jenn123, your cake is very pretty and like everyone else has said, don't worry about it-they just want something for nothing.
I don't get it. This girl picks out two very pretty cakes and asks you to combine elements from the two cakes into one. (Your cake was very beautiful, by the way) What the hell did she expect it to look like? Looked like a fall wedding cake to me. Very simple but beautiful.
I guess you were supposed to read her mind and make it exactly like she envisioned. Maybe if she had COMMUNICATED her ideas you would have interpreted the design a little differently to suit what she wanted.
In this case, it's a cake... they ate it. A year from now they aren't going to be crying their eyes out because it wasn't "GRAND" enough.
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