OK.... so I havn't been doing wedding cakes very long....but I need to rant and have you guys tell me if I am the crazy one in the situation. I have a cake this weekend and a friend of the family was doing the flowers. That cake was 4 tiered and was supposed to have a flower topper and flowers between the 2nd and 3rd tier. She calls me to say specifically tell me she would only be there from 12:30 tom 1:00 to set up flowers for the reception so she would have time to go back to the ceremony. I say, ok cool, and set up my other delivery for the day to coordinate with her. So I bust my @ss to get there at 12:15 so the cake is all set up and ready, and I can't just be there in case she dent's the icing or something. One, the room is NOT set up (had to track someone down to get me a table... and two, no florist. 12:30 comes and goes..... 1:00....1:30.....2:00.....2:30... still no florist. At this point i'm panicking because I had my other delivery at 4:00. So when 3:00 comes and there is STILL no florist, I tell the staff I had to leave and go. I figure I gave her 3 hours of my time... if she screws up the cake it is on her. WRONG! I get a call from her 3 hours later saying I ruined the brides cake because I had put too tall of pillars between the cakes and there was space between the flowers and the cake, and how if I had been there when she showed up I could have fixed it i couldn't believe her nerve.... especially when I had sent her the specs for the cake (with the height of the separation) and I SHOWED UP ON TIME!!!

It just pissed me off.... I've never had to deal with florist and cakes before, and am now gun shy (give me gum paste roses any day!) I'm hopeless when it comes to doing real flowers myself.... but I don't want to have to deal with my reputation be tarnished by someone else not doing their job....

Any advice or suggestions on what to do if this happens again would be much appreciated!


Thanks!

I only let that happen to me once. The florist did not deliver the flowers the bride supposedly ordered.

Now, I require the flowers the day before. I have them pay for them and I pick them up. They will normally be fine over one day with refrigeration. I don't mind making the arrangements.

you did everything right. so if the bride doesnt like the look of the flowers, its not your fault. i wouldnt have even waited that long for the florist, you were kind to wait that long.

im dying to know what you said to the florist, let us know.

i also checked out your website, your cakes are amazing!!

I was worried for a moment that you were going to say they had you set up the cake at the wrong venue!

Agree with qtcakes, certainly wouldn't have waited that long - inclined to suggest you send her an invoice for your time as that won't be cheap!!! Am guessing they didn't have a wedding planner then...

In the light of you supplying her with all the information you needed before hand her behaviour was just plain offensive - perhaps she didn't order enough flowers to fill the gap? Glad you had given that info in writing at least you can show the bride who's at fault if need be.

When I'm organising stuff and need it all to come together at the right time, one thing I have found that helps no end is to have a mobile number plus landline/fax/email (the lot) details for all the key people involved. If I've got these on me then at least I feel I have a fighting chance of making progress and getting everything to come together in time. (if only just in time on occasion)

My first wedding cake was similar to that, flowers between the layers and a bouquet on top. I was doing the flower arranging myself, and the flowers were there, but when one of the aunts of the bride took me to the flowers she said "I hope you have enough, we had to get rid of quite a few". Huh? Turns out the bride ordered '2nd hand' flowers (which I guess are the ones the florists are going to throw away because they're past their prime) from a florist friend because it was cheaper, and when they got the flowers a bunch of them were moldy and falling apart. (great for a cake, EWWW!) At least they did the sorting before I got there! Good thing the cake was in a corner, because I didn't have enough flowers to do go all the way around, the back was bare! You couldn't tell from the front, so it turned out ok.

PLEASE....... tell us what you said to her, and what her response was..... that is just UNBELIEVABLE !
Did you get a picture of the finished product ?

That was incredibly rude of the florist to blame you. It's not your fault she can't make it on time. You waited a lot longer than most would have. I definitely think she was in the wrong.

My goodness I sure hope you gave her a good peice of your mind!

she would not have liked the few choice words comming from the ear peice of her phone from my mouth lol AT ALLL!!!!!!!

All but one of the florists I have dealt with were quite happy to hand me a box of cake flowers and say 'here you go'.....'these are for the cake'. I think a lot of them do not want the responsibility of touching someone else's 'work' - especially one that has the potential for disaster.

The last wedding cake I did, the florist insisted on doing her arranging on the cake. I didn't have a problem with it, and I was able to stay ..... just in case. She was excellent and very careful with everything she did. I was real happy.

That being said..... most of the florists I've dealt with have always had extra flowers that they would bring (not necessarily for the cake). So if there was a shortage, it could be dealt with (even if it was just greenery or something cheap like that).

In your case, though, she is clearly in the wrong. You gave her the dimensions.....end of story. It's not your fault that 1) she didn't show up even close to when she said, and 2) she didn't measure her flowers right.

I don't know what she expected you to fix had you been there. Did the bride have any comment about it?

I guess one suggestion would be to call the florist a few days before the wedding to confirm your measurements with them. The only thing I can see is that maybe she wrote the wrong numbers down or something.

My terms require the bride to be responsible for supplying florals .... silk or real. I always tell them the florist can leave them on the cake table and I will put them on the cake.

Had one where there were no flowers on the cake table. I checked with the staff at the reception site and they had no knowledge of flowers. So I set up the cake, told the staff on site, "When the florist gets here with the flowers, tell him to go ahead and put them on the cake." I also ask them to let the bride know there were no flowers when I arrived. (It was a Drop-n-Run cake so I wasn't staying for the reception.)

No flowers available? Not my problem. It's an issue between the bride and the florist.

So in this case: space between the flowers and the cake? Not your problem. THe FLORIST made the flowers wrong .... you didnt' do the cake wrong.

Come On.... Want to now what the florist have said to you, or the bride.....




The florist was wrong here....

I hate when brides choose to have their florist do the cake flowers! It never matches my vision and I hate leaving my cake with someone else.

More often than not, I will arrange to pick up the flowers from the florist and arrange them myself, this way they coordinate. It's been my experience that most florists don't mind since they won't have to bother with the cake at all.

I have a clause written into my contracts that specifically states that if the florist is the one doing the flowers:

I will contact the florist and relay all relative cake information, including dimensions, 2 weeks in advance of the wedding.
Both the cake designer and the florist receive a sketch or description of cake and table layout.
A time that meets the needs of both parties will be agreed upon for delivery, as I will not leave the cake there undecorated.
Both the cake designer and florist sign off on the delivery.
In the event that the florist does not honor that time, the bride will be charged $25 per 1/2 hour that I have to wait.


If terms are not agreed upon by the customer, then they have to sign a waiver and the cake is not my problem once I leave the building. yes, I have billed for that 'waiting penalty' and successfully collected.

ok.... so I talked to the MOB today when she dropped off her rentals. She said the cake was wonderful, she just wished I had put more flowers on it. I told her that the flowers were the responsibility of the florist, And I that she had not been available when I had dropped the cake off. then she said to me, "No, you must be mistaken (the florist) came over during the cocktail saying she wished she had more flowers to fill in where you didn't have enough." yeah...my jaw is still on the floor. I told her that i do not supply fresh flowers (as stated in my contract) as was sorry that they cake didn't have enough, but that I waited 3 hours for the florist, and even if she had come on time, i couldn't fix her not bringing enough. Needless to say, she was in denial that her friend f-up and say she would put a call in to her. I said I would as well just to make sure i had given the right dimensions etc (which I knew I had because I still had the fax!) Yeah.... left a message, haven't heard from her.... honestly don't think i will....

oh well! At least the other fresh flower cakes I'm doing have planners!

oooooh!! that florist tried to pass the buck. hopefully you wont work with her again. what is the MOB thinking, the florist brought some flowers and you were to supply the rest??duh, get real.......some peoples kids....haha!

well when a bride asks for a referral for a florist, you know who not to recommend.

i prefer to put the flowers on myself. everytime the florist does them they mess the cake up. i know not all florist do this. but the last 2 cake deliveries they have made boo boos and told me to fix it. they are so bad it wont fix right. so i tell them to put a flower there. one even left the stem so long it poked out the other side on the corner of the cake.

im sure the MOB knows the truth. thanks for sharing, we were dying to know. and im sure you wont hear from the florist. but if you do, please share the info.

well that is actully a nice idea... Then its up to the bride to deal with the florist after the wedding, the problem will never end on you.

I was just wondering if anything ever came of this?