Do You Ever Let The Florist Finish Your Wedding Cake?

Business By Viks Updated 16 Aug 2006 , 8:36pm by Aztec9206

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Viks Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:45pm
post #1 of 26

For my last wedding cake I went to the florist that the bride was using so that my flower colours would match exactly (weird colour combinations, so I didn't want to screw it up). The florist wanted to put the flowers on the cake herself instead of just selling them to me...I'm assuming she would have charged me for this service.
But there's NO WAY I would hand over my hundreds-of-dollars and hours-and-hours-of-time creation to someone else to finish with flowers.
Am I just a total control freak? icon_lol.gif

25 replies
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justducky Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:49pm
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As a cake decorator.... no way.

As a former florist.... no way. I would not give or take that responsibility on either end. Let each professional do their job! icon_sad.gif

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ntertayneme Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:52pm
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No, I understand how you feel... I've done 2 wedding cakes where the brides were adamant they wanted the florist/decorator to do their cake flowers... I delivered the cakes and neither florist/decorator was there at the time... I made a call to each of the bride's and explained I was leaving the cakes w/no flowers; however it was completely set up ... I requested pictures of the finished cakes from each of these brides and got NOTHING from either of them!! I called them each again to make sure the cakes where everything they wanted them to be and was as assured over and over they were beautiful and exactly what they wanted as far as taste/design... I asked AGAIN for the pictures and neither bride emailed me or mailed me a pic of the cakes after flowers have been added ... I hate that part more than anything else... I do not like leaving my cakes undecorated so I can totally relate to how you feel.. it's your work; you want to follow it through to completion and have no one else touch what you have painsakingly put in so many hours completing!!

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karensjustdessert Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:53pm
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I'm more than happy to let the florist do the flowers; I usually stand by and watch though, and make suggestions (diplomatically).
I have never paid for flowers for a cake; fresh cake flowers are usually ordered along with all of the other flowers for the reception (and ceremony). I always ask at a cake consult if the bride wants me to do the flowers, or just leave it to the florist.

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kharvey Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:54pm
post #5 of 26

My mom made a wedding cake once that the client's florist insisted on putting the flowers on. After my mom had set up and left, the florist came in and put on the flowers. The next day at the reception, the florist had SOOO overdone the flowers that the weight made the cake shift and tilt. By the time my mom saw what happened, it was too late and there was nothing that could be done. The only way that I would allow the florist to add the flowers would be with me there to help.

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boonenati Posted 2 Aug 2006 , 8:55pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Viki

Am I just a total control freak? icon_lol.gif



Definetly not, I wont allow fresh flowers on my cakes at all, you just never know what the florist will turn up with on the day, plus i like to have all my decorations made well in advance, i dont like suprises.
So i find that not allowing a florist to put flowers on your cake is perfectly reasonable.
Cheers
Nati

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cakesondemand Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 3:11am
post #7 of 26

Well my experiance with the florist was not a very good on. My sons wedding was 4 hrs away so I had to travel with the cake and my daughter in law wanted me not to worry about doing the flowers so I would be at the wedding on time but when I returned to the reception to deliver the flowers from the church I saw my cake barley nothing on it so I had to take flowers from the center pieces to finish it off it was terrible my husband and sister couldn't believe what it looked like. Thank goodness I went back and I could fix it.

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Jenni27 Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 3:24am
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I have let the florist put flowers on my cake once, and I will never let it happen again. I had fancy scroll work on the sides of the cake and the flowers were supposed to go between tiers and around the bottom. She stuck the flowers right in the middle of my scrolls. I was there, but I had my back turned for about 15 seconds and that's all the time it took to ruin my cake. She also put the flowers on the crystal bridge, but didn't put any on the back, so it was dripping with yellow hot glue on the back and was front heavy. The cake was in the middle of the room, so I had to come up with an idea for the back. I told her to leave and I would finish the rest. It took me 2 hours to patch holes and put the flowers where they were supposed to go. When I put the bridge on, the whole cake was tipping forward. I thought for sure it was going to go at some point during the reception, but it stood until it needed to be cut.

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cakesbyjess Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 5:22am
post #9 of 26

I always try to get the bride to let me put the flowers on the cake... I hate letting florists put flowers on my cakes. Not only do they sometimes put WAY too many flowers on, but I just don't trust that they will be gentle and careful. I am always a ball of nerves when the florist insists on doing the flowers herself/himself!!! icon_sad.gif

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cupcake Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 6:20am
post #10 of 26

NO.....NO......NO I don't let anyone touch my cakes. I make it very clear to the bride that if she uses fresh flowers, that they are in my possession the day before the wedding. I do not wait on florists to show up with the flowers. When I first started out I had some night mares, and I also almost had fights with florists that insisted on putting their flowers on my cake. Most of them don't understand that you cannot just stick flowers in the cake.

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aadduci Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:02pm
post #11 of 26

i just wanted to weigh in as a floral designer on this one. First off I want to say that as a designer I really don't want to do your cake it makes me nervous. As far as Designers not being gentle, that I have to disagree on. We do work with floers which are equally as fragile and we're never going to treat a cake roughly because we don't want to be responsible for it either. We also usually go in there with little to no direction as to wht we are supposed to do. The cake flowers are always an after thought when the wedding flowers are ordered.. It is also a pain to have to wire and tape all those flowers and often we get to te recption site only to have the mother of the bride screaming about something to do with the cake or the cake table that you were told about but we never were. Just had to vent

Anyways, It's not as if florists are dying to do your cakes, we don;t make alot of money on them. Louisiana is strange since it is the only state that requires a license to practice florestry so there are some legal issues in louisiana as to who can put flowers on yur cake. Too early. Thanks

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ape Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:13pm
post #12 of 26

My one and only wedding cake was supposed to have flowers, which I said I would do if the flowers were supplied. HOWEVER, the florist was INSISTENT that she do them. I was relieved to some extent and worried too. I stuck around while she did the flowers and the only things that bothered me were that she put WAY too many flowers (despite the fact that we had a picture) and she put so many flowers in the top (a 4inch round) that when we pulled the flowers out (I was cutting the cake as well) the top was almost destroyed. Fortunately, we hadn't cut into the next layer and we just had the kitchen wrap both layers.

So.....would I do that again? I don't know.....her floral arrangement was beautiful, but...........

I guess it just depends on your comfort level.

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ntertayneme Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:26pm
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I guess in this sense, I'm lucky... my sister is a florist and a cake decorater too!! So most of my cakes, she and I both do them with the flowers.. when I tell a bride this, they're usually more comfortable with the fact that my sister is a florist and their cake will look great. But on the other hand, I've had many florist tell me they want nothing to do with putting the flowers on the cake... it's really a different experience putting flowers in a cake versus putting flowers into styrofoam sometimes.. you only have one opportunity to stick them in whereas with styrofoam or vases, you can rearrange over and over ... I know my sister tells me this all the time; "one stick and I'm done, so let's decide where it's going to go!" icon_biggrin.gif

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Ladivacrj Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:29pm
post #14 of 26

Floral Designers are not cake decorators.

I know this one first hand. My mom has been a floral designer for 25 years. She does extraordninary work, it is truly amazing. And she is talented and creative beyond belief.

However, floral designers are notorious for over kill. You can keep adding flowers to arrangements and in most cases it does not hurt just gets prettier and prettier. Orgainzed chaos!!!

Now ask her to decorate a cake, she does a good job because she is talented and organized, but it is some serious over kill going on. Way to many leaves, way to many flowers, just way to much going on.

just my .02

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spottydog Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:36pm
post #15 of 26

I haven't run into that problem....Only because I haven't done a wedding cake. But with the experience of my own wedding I would never trust a florist. I guess I was just too trusting! The florist left my cake BARE! When I showed up to the reception (wedding was held there also) People were running around trying to decorate the cake. I have before and after pics. It was pathedic. Never again. Although I cannot prove who's fault it was. It could've been the baker's fault also. All they asked was who was doing my flowers and stated they would take care of it. Guess not.

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Spoondog Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 12:51pm
post #16 of 26

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies...Our best bet would be for us ALL to take a floral arranging class. That way, you ARE a florist and you can just have the bride know that it is under control. I am interested in floral arranging but have never taken a class. I do wonderfully with silk and artificial flowers but haven't the first clue about fresh flowers. This is my next venture! Our local state university offers "continuing Ed" classes for a resonable cost. I think I may just take a class so I don't have to have that argument...although you know how brides can be...By the way, I heard a horror story that happend to a family member. The bride was insistent upon having her aunt do the decorating of the hall which included the cake...she is not a florist. She overused ferns and a lot of greenery and some types of ferns are very deadly if ingested!!! I don't know that anything actually happened but they were not pleased at all!

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cakesbyjess Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 4:04pm
post #17 of 26

aadduci ... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that all florists aren't gentle. I just mean that many of the florists I've dealt with don't know a whole lot about cakes and haven't always been very careful when putting flowers on cakes. I just feel that after I've spent hours and hours on a wedding cake, I would like to be the one to do the finishing touches (i.e. adding flowers).

Some examples: a florist once put flowers over every monogram on the cake (the bride had paid extra for the monograms and was very disappointed that she wasn't even able to see them on the cake); a florist once kept taking flowers back out of the cake and putting them in different places, thus leaving holes and messed up frosting everywhere. I know there are some wonderful florists out there, and some of them do fantastic work with cakes, but I'm just saying that in general, I prefer to put the flowers on myself. In my experience, the florists who INSIST on putting the flowers on themselves are the ones who do the worst job. icon_mad.gif

I really didn't mean to offend you.

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Spoondog Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 4:18pm
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By All means, no offense taken!! thumbs_up.gif I think we should take a class though...wouldn't it help eliviate some of this...all in all, the bride has the final say though. Like I said, I am no professional. I wouldn't want another person finishing my cake that took me hours to get it finished and getting it there either. I totally sympathize...sorry if it sounded like I was offended. I personally want to be able to do the cakes flowers. That is why I want to take a class so I can convince the bride that I am fully capable of doing so. Just a thought! icon_smile.gif

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aadduci Posted 3 Aug 2006 , 11:28pm
post #19 of 26

I'm also not offended, and sorry if it sounded like it. it was one o those 6:30 in the morning things. As a floral designer I know that I usually have almost no direction as to what to do when decorating a cake.

It's always seemed strange to me tthat i hear people say to coordinate your baker with your florist but i have never had a baker contact me. even if it is a home baker.

I know in my experince the bride is charged exorbinate prices for the cake flowers often in the 100 dollar range. The designers don't charge her this, the owner does and we are just trying to give her her money's worth. Sometimes wwe are given a black and whote xerox and than told that it should look something like that but with different flowers in different places and we just do the best we can. At a high scale florist that specializes in weddings, especially after Hurricane KAtrina, you will have two people doing five weddings and staying at work till 10:00 at night and trying to set up these weddings. I don't think alot of people realize how much time goes into all those corsages and such. So the last thing we are really thinking about is the cake.

I know that I would not be offended if the baker called and asked to pick up the flowers for the cake. We would feel relieved. One thing not to think about. But in My experience i have had such a hard time even getting them to accept a cake plateu on there terms. Bakers. Geesh.
Than we have to set up five weddings in one day and coordinate that with the cake decorating and no one knows when the cake is even gonna show up.

i'm soory for being long winded. And I didn't take offense. It's just that sometimes floral design can be a sore subject.
That's why I'm in pastry school now instead : )

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cakesbyjess Posted 4 Aug 2006 , 3:57am
post #20 of 26

Good ... I'm glad that no one was offended. icon_smile.gif It's nice to hear "the other side's" (AKA the florist's) story. icon_smile.gif I guess I didn't realize how much time and energy florists spend on wedding flowers, corsages, etc. I truly admire florists' creativity. I always try to touch base with the florist early in the week before a wedding and coordinate everything then. I think it makes everyone's life easier! icon_smile.gif

By the way, I think it's a great idea for interested cake decorators to take a floral arranging class. I never thought to do that, but I will definitely pursue that now. It will give me more ground to stand on with brides and it will just be fun! icon_smile.gif

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Loucinda Posted 4 Aug 2006 , 4:59pm
post #21 of 26

I was lucky ~ the first cake I did that was supposed to have real flowers on it - they liked the cake so much, they didn't put ANY of the flowers on it!

I just did another, and the florist was wonderful. She and I worked together to set it up ~ and she even asked for my business cards for those who ask her about a cake decorator!

I'll keep my fingers crossed that I keep having good experiences. icon_wink.gif I am not comfortable arranging the real flowers on a cake, so I am glad the florist is there to do that part. I would not leave and just let anyone have at it on a cake I made though, no matter who they were ~ I would want to be present when they are working on the flowers.

There is a saying I read.......trust only 2 people with the wedding cake, the person who made it and the person who paid for it.

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MainCake Posted 4 Aug 2006 , 6:56pm
post #22 of 26

I'm glad you all are discussing this situation. I have a wedding cake coming up in Nov and the bride mentioned the florist putting the flowers on. I was like "Wha...?" but I didn't say anything. My first thought was pictures... I'd have a picture of the cake without flowers. I prefer to take my own pictures so I know I'll have one. But the thought of letting someone finish my cake doesn't sit well with me either. I mean, that has my name all over it but it's not all going to be my work! I think I'll mention it at the next meeting we have to finalize the order. I did ask the bride and her mom if they had seen pictures of cakes this florist had added flowers to. They hadn't and weren't sure if she had pictures. I think I'll politely suggest the florist and I show up at the same time and she can 'assist' me with putting the flowers on the cake. Definitely a stipulation to add to the contract. Thanks for bringing it up and thanks everyone else for your opinions!

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MainCake Posted 4 Aug 2006 , 6:59pm
post #23 of 26

[quote="Spoondog"]Ladies, Ladies, Ladies...Our best bet would be for us ALL to take a floral arranging class. That way, you ARE a florist and you can just have the bride know that it is under control.quote]

I like this idea a lot!! I've always been interested too, just haven't done anything about it yet.

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Hula_girl3 Posted 14 Aug 2006 , 6:21am
post #24 of 26

So I just started a couple months ago at a new bakery where I'm taking over the wedding cakes so things are still really crazy right now.
...So this weekend one of our wonderful managers (who is an amazing artists) is helping me paint on a rather difficult cake and the finished work is totally amazing! So we take before pics and send it off on its marry way to be placed on one of those stands 3 tier slight spiral stands....in my opinion totally tacky and soooo 80's so with that I'm not happy but when my two delivery people get back they show us what the florist did....I was LIVID!!!!!!! 6 hours of work on this cake totally down the drain because she used OUR cake to showcase HER ugly and I mean UGLY floral arrangments. She basically put a tiny amount of flowers on top and then put tons around the base of each cake to cover their boards but by doing that she covered up all of the hand painting!!!!!
We both almost cried, it went from being a totally knock out cake to the most ugly/tacky 80's cake I've ever seen. I wish the bride would have just used Safeway or Vons instead of us if that is what she planned on doing to our cake.

so needless to say I'll be finding out who that florist is and put them on our new little black list I'm creating as well as a new wedding cake contract to keep things like this from happening again. Untill I learn which Florist know how to dress a cake I dont trust them and I dont want them within 10ft of my cakes

Sorry to vent but the wound is still fresh and raw.
B.

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msmeg Posted 16 Aug 2006 , 8:17pm
post #25 of 26

yes and no... good and bad... I do have one local florist I have no problems working with I know what she wants and her work is lovely she always wants a picture of what the bride wants ahead of time... she lets me know when she needs the cake there I try to be there at that time so I can put frosting where she needs to stick flowers but if now I just leave a few parchment cones of frosting.. She NEVER sticks the flowers directly into the cake they go into a blob of frosting not the cake.

But I also have had bad luck with others.. I delivered a cake and the florist said they were only paid for the flowers not to decorat the cake well I had not either.. I did put them on but they were a poor choice as they wilted easily they had those wather things on each flower stalk but they had to be cut and not enough for all the cut pieces

and then the cake I was paid to deliver 3 hours away and the florist was not there as they said.. I waited 30 minutes.. finished assembling the cake and left it with no flowers..and prayed they did not wreck it taking it apart so they could put the finish arrangement inbetween the tiers.

so will I ???? only with the one local florist.

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Aztec9206 Posted 16 Aug 2006 , 8:36pm
post #26 of 26

Florist putting flowers on the cake? WRONG! not mine...either I put the flowers on or I prefer not to do the cake. Cake decorating is PT for me. Imagine someone will ask at the event who made the cake? Oh so and so did it....I'll be sure not to use them then. Our cakes speak for themselves both the baking and the decorating they are the best advertisement we have....and then have someone destroy the original design, I don't think so! There goes your business...no more baking.... icon_cry.gificon_cry.gif

Keep on baking!!

Cindy

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