I have made many wedding cakes and worked with many different florists and have not run into this problem until last night. I had talked with the client for many months about how she wanted her wedding cake decorated and we discussed fresh flowers on the wedding cake that were going to be provided by the florist but that I would place them on the cake upon arrival at the venue. I have always placed the flowers on the cake and have never had a florist even attempt it. They are typically just waiting on the cake table for me when I arrive. (Usually the florist isn't even at the venue anymore by the time I get there). When I arrived at the venue last night the flowers were not on the table and I waited about 30 minutes for the florist to bring the flowers inside and when she did she said she would put the flowers on the cake. I said no I can do it and she insisted that she would. I asked her if she wrapped her stems in floral tape before putting them in the cake and she said no... (EWW) so I insisted on wrapping them. She didn't seem to understand why. While she placed the flowers I stayed and watched (very nervously) and she talked about how she doesn't let cake decorators place her flowers on the cake because cake decorators don't know things about placing flowers like florists do and that she would never try to decorate a cake so why should a cake decorator try to arrange flowers. While I do understand what she was saying, the flowers on the cake are part of the overall CAKE decorations. She is messing with my work at that point. How am I supposed to trust that someone won't come put the flowers on the cake horribly and make my cake look bad? Luckily she was good at what she does and placed them well but what if next time I run into a bad florist who doesn't do well in placing the flowers. Not only that but florists don't know anything about cakes so what if they mess it up and can't fix it, or what about them not wrapping stems, or do they check to make sure the flowers are safe to put on a cake? (because I do!) The cake has my name on it so I feel like I should be the one to do ALL decorating. Esp since I have discussed with the client for months how it should look and drawn sketches of where flowers should be placed, etc. Anyways... sorry for rambling on for so long. I was just very shocked and frustrated by this. How would y'all handle the situation? Do you place flowers or let the florist? And if you do it, would you have something in the contract saying that only you can do it and nobody else can touch the cake?

Thank in Advance for any advice you have!

Hello Themixingbowlsc.  Easy answer - NO, I would definitely not allow anyone else to put anything on my cake and I would have no problem whatsoever telling them so.  As you said, the cake is your responsibility.  If the florist had put those flowers on the cake with their raw stems inserted directly into the cake and someone became ill because of it, the blame would fall squarely on you, not the florist.  You are also correct that the flowers are part of the over all cake design, not a stand alone flower arrangement.  

I realize, in good grace, you couldn't make a scene at the wedding, but in the future, perhaps there should be an understanding between you and the bride, regarding the placement of the fresh flowers.

Personally, I don't consider wrapping the stems in florist tape enough protection.  Though I mostly use gum paste flowers, I wrap the wires with floral tape, the insert them into straws, sealed with chocolate, before putting on the cake.

The one point Sandra made I so agree with is the need to not only wrap the stems but that they should be dipped in chocolate &/or places in a straw filled with chocolate or icing   Unfortunately I  learned that many years too late as I wasn’t aware of the problems until shortly before I retired   Sounds like you should follow Sandra’s advice & be sure your brides know that you will be the one placing any &  all flowers 

i always called the florists well before the wedding to ensure we were on the same page -- yes the caker places the flowers