I am going to start at the beginning, so bear with me! I met this bride at the Bridal Fair I did in January. She loved my cakes and wanted to book me for her wedding in May, her mom threw a fit because she hates fondant and I only do fondant cakes. So, a few weeks later the Bride calls and wants to book me, but, her mom wants to know if I will take a $1 less per serving than I charge, my answer was emphatically, "NO"!!!!! I had this really bad feeling in my gut that I did not want to do this cake, but, I did, and the only reason I did was because my son is good friends with the groom, and the Bride seemed very nice, it was just the MOB that was the B****!!!! So, she pays deposit and then calls a week or so later and decides she wants Stargazers cascading down the cake, I told her there would be an extra charge for them, so the decided to go with fresh, which BTW, the florist is a wedding caterer also, and that is who the MOB wanted to do the cake, so there is a bit of conflict there obviously. Anyway, I deliver the cake Saturday to the venue before noon, because the Bride wanted to see it before she went to her hair appt., wedding is at 7. I get there and the Bride is very happy with the cake etc., then asks me if I will put the flowers on the cake! I am like, "I guess so"!! So she gets the flowers that this florist (who does cakes, supposedly) has made for the cake. Hideous!!!! That's all I can say, my mouth hits the floor, in disbelief. First, there is not one Stargazer in the bunch. The topper has pink roses and fillers and one Casablanca lily that is practically rotten, has brown all over it, and the rest was 3 Corsages that were supposed to go down the cake!! What the H***!!!! The topper was in green florist foam that was saturated in water, I looked at the Bride and said, "I can't put this on the cake, it will melt the Fondant, besides the fact when you sat it on the cake the whole base container would show underneath, and the fact the Lily was rotten, and brown.. I said, "I thought you were having Stargazers"? She said, "I did too, this is what they gave me"!! Long story short, I had her Aunt take all the flowers back to the florist and get Stargazers, while I went home and got the few Celpics I had left to use for the flowers, which btw, weren't really big enough, because they needed room for water also, in order to keep them alive. Came back to venue placed the flowers as best I could, with what I had to work with. I did all of this in addition to having to deliver another cake, within 30 minutes from that point. So.... my husband is sitting in the car waiting for me to finish with the flowers so we can deliver the next cake, I get in the car, have the cake on my lap, we are pulling out of the parking lot and the dumb B*** that does the catering pulled out in front of us, and we had to slam the brakes on, and I just about lost my deer head, broke a leaf and thought all was well, delivered deer head, take the plastic wrap off and I have two small cracks in my bottom base cake the deer was sitting on. OMG!! I flipped out on my poor husband when I got back in the car. They weren't really that noticeable, but I am anal about stuff like that and was just sick to my stomach.. Went to lunch and drank heavily!! Thanks for letting me rant, sorry if it doesn't make sense, I am totally distraught everytime I think about it!!! Oh and I forgot to take good pics of the cakes, so excuse my pics, they are from my Iphone!!

Well they both turned out wonderfully and kudos to you for going over and above what you were payed to do!

They look gorgeous. well done you for being so helpfull.x

Wow I feel your pain! Unbelievable! Think the caterer/florist or MOB was trying to make you look bad? I can't imagine! And to WAIT while they get new flowers! You went above and beyond and honestly I don't know if I would have stayed and put flowers on or told them that the florist would have to do it. Your cakes looked lovely. After this experience you might want to include a fresh flower placement fee or some kind of disclaimer. We always had wonderful relations with florists and knew way ahead of time what to expect. This MOB was determined I think to try and mess you up. Deep breaths...it's over and your cakes looked wonderful in spite of all of it. Great job.

I hate it when a bride tells me they want real flowers on their cakes. Never fails the florist doesn't do what they are suppose to do, and you end up doing floral arrangements so the cake looks good. Totally sucks!

Wow - so sorry you had to deal with that nightmare.

Does anyone simiply "refuse" to let anyone else have anything to do with the flowers on their cakes? I would be nervous leaving the cake bare and trusting some other person to come in and put - who knows what - on a cake I had done?? I just can't imagine that even being an option. It almost sounds like that might have been what happened if you had left so I don't blame you for staying - but it sucks because you almost HAD to stay to make sure it wasn't ruined. And then who is liable if the florist comes in and jacks the cake up but nobody was there to see who did what? Who is liable? Yikes...

I guess view it as a learning experience. Make friends with a florist - do all your business with that florist - and if any bride wants a cake with fresh flowers - you do the wheeling and dealing with your own florist - end of story. That way - hopefully - no mishaps.