Worst Cake Topper Ever - Help!!!
Decorating By crazeyhair Updated 25 May 2009 , 9:57pm by crazeyhair
Umm....could you accidentally lose or break it? Do you have small children around that you could blame it on?
Seriously, I would check with the bride and find out if she has her heart set on using that topper or if she is doing it to be nice.
If she didn't want it, that sucker would disappear. Poof!
Can you maybe just mention that you're not sure the topper will be "cohesive" with the cake you guys designed?
Someone needs to take a glue gun away from her!
Has the bride even seen it yet? If not, I'd make sure she did and get the OK from her first. And since men are usually more blunt about these things, has the groom seen it? And I'd even ask the maid of honor... How about mother-in-law?
If you are so set against this hideous topper, and who could blame you, I would somehow find some nicer examples to show the bride, so she can visualize the difference.
BUT, all kidding aside, I think you have a cake for your albums that will be the best of all. A definite convsersation piece. And be sure and take good photos of that topper too and give credit where credit is due! Wouldn't want to take all of the glory for that would you??
Holy cow! That is the most frightening thing I have ever seen. I am laughing out loud at work right now, def. what I needed after the night I've had.
eh nooooo i wouldn't want to use that topper either lol Like your friend mentioned i am like 80's!!!!! Plus i have to laugh at the figures and yeh the flowers might be a bit........overdone LOL
Oh wow. As more of you pointed out different details of the design, it looks worse and worse each time I look at it. lol! I don't think there is any possible way it can NOT clash with any cake! I would discuss the topper with the bride and groom and try to find out what their true thoughts are. From your description of the cake they want, it really doesn't seem like the topper they would want!
Good luck with this, if they want it then make sure you show us the with and without pics!
If the bride really seems okay with it, I'd take my before picture and not worry. But if she seems uncomfortable with it, then I would suggest a little photoshopping or something. Either use a design program or find a picture of a near identical cake and add this topper and then gently point out that the two styles don't mesh. Suggest a different topper or a design that matches that one.
OMG!! Did she buy that at GoodWell.... Nothing wrong with Goodwell I show there all the stop.. But that cake topper is OLD!!!! IT is really scaring, I haven't been doing cakes very long I'm not that good just yet but I wouldn't even want that on one of my cakes.. LOL
It's really, really hideous. But it's their wedding. Like the others have said, take pics for your portfolio before the topper....
Difficult position..MOB certainly wants to be a part of her daughter's wedding and gave her own "unique" talent for that. It isn't as bad as all that actually... it does fit in with the theme.... I would put it on the cake and then add grass and royal icing flowers like the silk ones to incorporate it into the fairy garden... maybe add some little fairy bridesmaids since she has the bride with fairy wings.
I'd think that the bride and groom might face some family issues if the cake topper is left or or replaced. If they want it gone, then they've got to do it. If they're okay with it, then you need to work around it. Make the cake gorgeous as usual, and put the hideous topper on. There's not much else you can do. Best of luck...and maybe you can crop or photoshop the photos you take to take the topper off!
OK. The MOB put a lot of time into it. A little too much, yes, but we can't all have an eye for what looks good. The OP said the actual cake was busy. Is it possible to have the top tier just a solid color? I think that would look best with the busy topper. People know that you're making the cake. Your job is to make that cake beautiful. Don't say anything, don't destroy the topper, just do it and move on. And by all means, take your picture without the topper.
Good luck!
Last month I had a MOG email me and said she had the cake topper from HER wedding that she thought would be sweet to put on her son's wedding cake.
Soo... I emailed the bride and told her, she emailed me back and said she was aware that a topper was in play and wanted her in laws to feel like they were part of the wedding too. So I said, have you seen the topper? is it something you want to 'not work with your cake' or otherwise go missing on your wedding day? she wrote back with an lol and said she had not seen it, but if I didn't think it would work, that I could just set it on the table next to the cake.
Now, it was NOWHERE NEAR as hideous as the topper you posted. I would do something similar with this bride. Email her a picture, ask for her approval to place it on the cake. Tell her that you don't know how well it will match her cake and maybe even offer to make an extra 6" round in a solid color to have on the side with that topper on it... Then say, but it's your wedding and so I will do whatever you want.
Good Lord, that has to be a joke! But if it isn't, I'd just call the bride and tell her that after seeing the topper, you realized that it doesn't go with the cake design, and you'll need to rework the design.
Don't say it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen, she might actually think it's "cute."
If she really wants the topper she'll agree to reworking the cake design. If that happens, maybe you could do something with vining stems and daisies instead of the cherry blossoms. At least then the colors would be the same (I don't know what you could do to incorporate angel wings, ha ha ha!)
If she HATES the topper and has been waiting for an excuse to not use it, this could be her out. If she doesn't want to change the cake design and can use it as an excuse to not use the topper you could be doing her a favor.
I've been in the same situation before with ugly toppers...Then there was the wedding where they had decorated the cake table with bent wire coat hangers that held tissue paper and pipe cleaner butterflies that looked like a 4-yr-old had made them.
All you can do if she won't change anything is take a picture before the topper went on. If you've told the bride that it doesn't match and she insists on using it anyway, you won't have to explain why the cake pictures have no topper if she sees them later. If the topper "creator" asks you about why it didn't appear in your photos, you can jsut tell her that you don't want to take credit for her work
As I said before, just make sure that EVERYONE knows the cake is your work, and the topper is MOB work. Take a picture of her holding the darn thing.
That's an b**t ugly thing!!!!!!
Grooms are now more involved in wedding planning - has the groom seen how he is depicted with wings and bouquets and ruffles - OH MY!? If you have to use it, you can always put a little plaquard next to the cake saying cake by you and cake topper by MOB!
crazy, baby...lol!
i do agree that the best bet here is to email the pic to the bride, asking for confirmation on the use of the topper. i would mention, gently, that the colors/flowers/theme are a little different than the cake she has planned and you just wanted to confirm her wishes. if she says this is what she wants - save the email! maybe even bring a copy w/ you when you set up the cake! that way, when someone starts pitching a fit that it doesn't work together, you have it in writing that you pointed that out and got confirmation of use.
It's fine to take photos without the topper -- if asked (which is highly unlikely) -- simply say you want to showcase your work for potential clients, and don't want to infringe on someone's personal creation. Say it with a kind-hearted smile.
Maybe practice saying "I was happy to work with the bride on the cake, and the MOB graciously contributed the topper" -- without a trace of snark. Try it out on your most honest critic first. It can sound quite pleasant if said with a kind note in your voice.
Being gracious at the wedding will also get you lots of customers. I know many professionals who are glady recommended for calmly and kindly handling family conficts, and "beeing discrete," as much as their other services.
I agree with bebea and costumeczar...send bride a pic for her confirmation on the topper and then sugggest ways to redesign the cake to make the topper work.
Or if you have time...suggest one last meeting to go over the final details and have a pic/sketch of the cake and the topper sitting on the table when she arrives...plus all your other notes. That way she will see it in all it's glory and can make the decision to use it.
I don't always agree with the toppers the bride picks but use them...after all it's their wedding. But the bride does need to know about the topper...heck, she may have helped make it.
Well at my wedding, my topper wasn't ugly at all, but it also didn't match my cake. So what I did was have the lady that made my cake make a matching flower topper for the cake and display my topper next to the cake in a way that it was visible but didn't have anything to do with the cake. Maybe you could suggest something like that. So that people wouldn't associate your cake with the topper.
I mean she's already gotta use the topper or face that music--I'd make the cake she wanted--I would not be so quick to try & change it to match the topper. Why would we want to match or harmonize with the topper?
You will definatly be in my thoughts in the coming days ! When is the cake due? You can only do whats right for you and what you're comfortable with. I agree with most of the postings...it is awful but, do make sure that you have an email responce from her that she has seen and approves of the topper and cake design! Or better yet, attach the topper picture and cake design pic to your contract and make sure you've got it dated and signed. People are funny sometimes, you never know what they may do, and I wouldnt want you to get scammed out of a cake. She could use you as the "scape goat" to get a free cake...........
All I can say is that I needed a laugh this morning & I found it in this post. This is toooo funny (& I haven't even finished reading all of the post yet!)
Good Luck
WOW!!! That is ugly! I would do as suggested and just snap a photo before placing it on top. Maybe its tradition... she makes ALL the toppers for family weddings! LOL
I had a MOB give me some frilly cake plates to place the cake on. Then plastic items to use. I just told her that the cake was too heavy to use the items and she was fine with that. The daughter I'm sure was thanking me! It so did not go with the cake.
All you can do is ask to make sure she is fine with it and if she is you have no choice but to use it.
I am so sorry!!! I feel your pain! There are soooo many ugly toppers!! Here is what I do when I don't like the topper. I take a picture of the cake BEFORE I put the topper on. I do it after as well, if anyone is watching but of course delete it later,lol. One Bride... I kid you not.... actually bought a cake topper at walmart and PAINTED their hair to match her and her groom.... TACKY!!! Good luck with this one!!!
Lol....yes, pictures BEFORE!! I can't stand toppers, I wish they would die and go away!!
Oh. My. God. Who actually fronted money for the production of that hideous thing. I think someone was hitting the crack pipe when they "designed" that thing. And then whoever approved it was flying high on LSD.
Actually, it's probably an experimental object in a secret scientific study, and they are tracking the people who purchase it, for future reference in case the nutters have to be called to action (or for sacrifice to the Goober-Booger aliens when they come to Earth)
Oh Dear.....Definitely interesting I've had to work with toppers that I didn't particularly care for or didn't really "go" with the theme and yes I wonder - what were they thinking!! LOL But I made it work b/c that's what they wanted. I've shown up at a venue to find the topper sitting there waiting for me and it had been broken and glued back together!! I didn't want it on the cake but that wasn't my choice. They were well aware of what the cake looked like and they picked that topper anyway. I don't think anyone will think that you had a hand in picking the topper. They hopefully will have enough sense to know that just b/c you made the cake doesn't mean you picked the topper. Now if it was sugar flowers or something else on top that obviously matched the other decorations on the cake then, yes, I could see how they would assume that the decorator did the topper also. If I were at this wedding and I saw the cake and saw the topper I would in no way think that the cake decorator had anything to do with it. When it's obviously nothing that matches or "goes" with the rest of the cake I would assume that the bride picked it out and, bad taste or not, that's what you had to work with! I wouldn't think bad of the cake decorator - I would think the bride just had bad taste or it was something someone guilted her into using for whatever reason.
I do feel for you - I hate having to work around something that I don't particularly care for or think is just plain wrong. I can't wait to see how this turns out! By all means take pictures of the cake before you put it on. Just b/c they have bad taste doesn't mean you have to showcase it on your own work.
People just don't always have the mind set to think of things on a whole - they say oh, I want this and I want that and sure mom make the topper but they can't wrap their minds around or think ahead enough to realize that just b/c they pick things the go with their theme doesn't mean they all go together! I would just send her a final sketch - or have her come meet you one last time and say here are the elements you wanted. Here is the topper. Here is what they look like together. If she still looks at it and thinks nothings wrong with it and likes it then just do it. If she comes to her senses and sees it all together and how awful it is then she will have to change something. But I wouldn't go out of my way about it. Let her decide! Some people just have no clue and are extremely ok with otherwise tacky (to you and me) stuff!!
Here is the cake that I had to put a topper on that in my opinion didn't "go" - and you could see where is had been broken and glued back together.....It was a beach theme and the topper was the wilton huge platic rings with the ginormous fake diamond on top which in person looks very cheap especially with glue marks all over it ..... nothing to do with beaches or shells and to me was just not my style, I made it work I covered up the whole bottom plastic thing with sand and surrounded it with chocolate shells (luckily I had brought enough extras) so you couldn't see the bright white bottom (the cake was tiffany blue and ivory)- - -although it's not 1/2 as bad as what you have to work with!!!
What the heck is it sitting on?! Looks like a freaking cake pan!! The topper is like something from Midsummer Night's Dream. I think Shakespeare wants his topper back.
I just had to use that SAME ring topper!!! That thing is HUGE too! Except mine went on top of a 6" cutting cake. The topper was bigger then the cake itself. What are people thinking?? I agree.. toppers should just GO AWAY! haha
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