I've never really had any complaints on wedding cakes until tonight. I delivered a cake earlier this afternoon along with alot of other wedding cakes. I just started listening to my messages and the father of the bride called and nicely complained that I had brought the wrong cake with the wrong color icing to the venue and if I could fix this immediately. The venue called right after the father complaining also. I just called to venue and the wedding cake has already been eaten.

When I make cakes I am very detailed oriented. I repeat the contract to bride twice so there's no mistake. I'm looking at the contract and what she ordered and what she recieved? I'm speechless????

I'm sure i'm going to get a phone call about this. How would you handle this. If there is no mistake and or if by some crazy mistake I goofed what would you do and what kind a refund would you give.

Help please, Andrea

Andrea did you take pictures of the cake after you set it up at the reception location? I would send the photo and a copy of the contract to whomever ordered the cake and let them no there was no mistake. If you find there was a difference in the contract order and what you made then I would call them, apologize and offer a free or discounted cake for another occsasion or a partial refund on the wedding cake. They did eat it so it's not like they were without a cake at all. If the mistake turns out to be yours the reception hall may comment on this to someone else, you don't want your reputation sullied. If you can prove that you delivered the cake they ordered I would make sure the reception venue knows this as well.

i haven't done a wedding cake under contract yet. Sorry this happened to you!

here's a bump

I do have a picture of the original cake and I did take a picture today (I always do!!). Still i'm pretty bothered by this. At least the dad was'nt screaming.

Relax. I'm sure it was just some emotional waves and they realized they had the cake they ordered and then ate it. They probably just remembered wrong, or imagined differently, but it does sound like they are rational and it will iron out easily.

Man I hope your right about the nerves. I wish I was tougher. I really would never do anything to upset a bride on her wedding date.

There has been no complaints on any of the other cakes tonight.

I had a mother of the bride trying to scam me earlier this summer over a wedding cake and I quess i'm freaking cause I don't ever want to go through that again.
Andrea

How were you scammed earlier? Some people can stoop to very low levels. I wouldn't put it past someone to try and get a freebie or something. Hey, they ate it... no evidence, so free to complain..... Good thing you have pics. I would wait a week (honeymoon) and contact the bride directly and ask her what the problem was. Tell her up front you have pics of what you delivered and a copy of the contract...

Have you thought of emailing a conformation to each bride? Then you have an email copy and a response that you can refer to.

you would be amazed at the lengths people will go to get some money back.

and perfectly normal looking people who run scams on ya.

its really sad.

they tried every trick in the book on me the first year i opened....

i never give them any money back unless i feel like i need to....which is very rare.

if you do, word gets around and these types come out of the woodwork like roaches.....

Don't let these people yank you around. You made the cake to their contract specifications, they signed the contract, you completed your end of the deal perfectly. I think it would be fine to offer a small discount off a future cake if you felt like being concilliatory, but I wouldn't refund any money from the wedding cake. I second the idea of sending them a nice letter with a copy of the contract and a picture of the cake, and something like:

"Dear Bride,

I was so surprised to get your troubled call after the wedding cake cake was delivered! I went back and checked the details on your contract, and compared it to the pictures I took of the cake (both attached), and the cake was made as specified. Sometimes it's hard for a person to perfectly communicate his or her vision, and I'm guessing that's what happened here. But I make XXXX cakes per week, and I really depend on the bride to set down her expectations in the contract, because that's my roadmap when I'm constructing the cake. If it's not in the contract, it's not happening.

My regrets for any inconvenience on your wedding day. Please accept this coupon for 10% off a future order.

Sincerely,
Kick-tuckus-cake-lady-who-isn't-being-pushed-around"

I would take photos of the completed cake at the reception site and attach it to the contract , and maybe have someone at the reception site sign off? I'm not sure about the signing off part b/c the employees at the reception site might not know what the cake is supposed to look like, but anyhow ,definitely take pics of the completed cake at the site and then attach to the contract and if anyone says their cake wasn't correct, you have what they asked for and what it looked like all right there

What was the venue's complaint?

I guess I'd be thinking that either the venue swapped the cakes if they had more than one wedding there, or that they really don't know what they're talking about. But the venue complaint has me, personally, wondering.

I wonder if maybe mob and bride had several discussions about the cake, bride picked what she wanted, mob came in, saw and it wasn't the one she thought bride was picking and had fob call you. There is so much chaos on a wedding day sometimes that maybe this is where the confusion is coming from.

If you know you made and delivered the correct cake per the contract I don't think I'd even offer a discount. Sure it's being nice but you did your job, you don't have to offer up anything extra. I don't want to sound mean but there is no reason to give them something for nothing when it sounds like the confusion/mistake is on their end.