Redemption After Ruining Someone's Wedding...is It Possible?
Decorating By KHalstead Updated 9 Jul 2009 , 4:56pm by cheatize
Some of you may remember about a year ago when I had my first and ONLY real disaster with a wedding cake!!! Here is the link if any of you missed it!!
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-591133-0.html
In any case, I felt like I completely ruined someone's wedding. She didn't even get to keep her top tier of her cake for her anniversary. However...a year later, she actually called me and asked if I could remake the top tier of her cake for their one year anniversary, that she still thought it was the best cake she'd ever tasted!! She told me she still had the coupon I'd given her and would like to put it towards the anniversary cake. Of course, I told her don't even think about it...there is no charge ( I still have nightmares about that cake falling).
In any case, I asked her how many people she needed cake for and she said there would just be a few....maybe 5 all together over for dinner that night (another couple with the same anniversary and her parents, maybe)
So instead of making a 6" round like she'd asked for I completely remade her entire 4 tiered wedding cake, only in miniature form! It stood only about 10" tall from top to bottom with the fondant roses on top and the cake board.
She actually teared up when she saw it, since she'd never seen the full size version before it met it's demise.
She said she took pictures of it and people thought that they were photos from the wedding cake before it fell........that they couldn't tell it was so small in the photo. She said she almost feels like the one thing she didn't get (photos of her original cake) has been given back to her in a way!!
Could it be that this cake was my redemption?? LOL
In any case, she was awesome about the whole ordeal from the beginning...I was the one freaking out!
So here's the cake.......thanks for listening to me ramble about this SAME cake 2 years in a row LOL
Tina
Kudos to you for spending your extra time and labour to "make things right" with your customer.
99% of the time, people aren't actually looking for cash to be given back to them....they are merely looking for an acknowledgement of the problem they feel has occured and for you to offer them a resolution that satisfies both them...and of course you in this case!
I think you handled that beautifully.
Good for you! I'm glad she was so happy with your effort to make things right. Sometimes people are lovely - you and her!
Kudos to you for spending your extra time and labour to "make things right" with your customer.
99% of the time, people aren't actually looking for cash to be given back to them....they are merely looking for an acknowledgement of the problem they feel has occured and for you to offer them a resolution that satisfies both them...and of course you in this case!
I think you handled that beautifully.
I agree. I think it was a beautiful thing to remake her cake in miniature form. I probably would have teared up, too.
BTW...the cake is gorgeous.
The cake is beautiful! You did a wonderful thing...no surprise that she teared up! Thanks for giving the update. Good luck in all future cakes!
That's totally cool what you did, give yourself 2 pats on the back. The cake looks great!
wow that is BEAUTIFUL!! and its nice to hear about an understanding bride for once, seems like I never hear about that type of bride
You did a great thing for your customer. That's real customer service. I wish more people had hearts like yours and hers.
Something tells me you have a new life customer with out even looking for one.
Congratulations, your cake is beautiful.
Toni
What a beautiful gesture for you to, She was probably blown away when she saw it! I think it's a gorgeous cake!!
Both of you handled the whole situation, from beginning to end, beautifully and professionally and it was so wonderful of you to recreate the cake for them. Your cake is beautiful, and it is so nice to hear this happy ending!!!
Tina, you did a really wonderful thing with that "redemption" cake. It looks wonderful and I can only imagine how it felt to see her face when she saw the cake! So happy for you [/img]
That was such a wonderful idea and incredibly kind gesture. I can see why she was touched by your cake. Horray for you for coming up with a brillant idea, and a beautiful cake.
It's people and businesses like you and yours that I would recommend over and over. You did good!
Heck, just reading your post made ME tear up! What a kind and thoughtful thing to do ~ there is no doubt in my mind that you made everything right with the world on that one! It is the good deeds of people like you that make the world a better place!
Way to go! I'm glad that you feel better about the situation and that the bride was happy in the end!
you guys are all so sweet, and you obviously understand! I really didn't think about the simbolism of giving her the wedding cake photos she'd been missing until she mentioned it!
She had always been VERY forgiving about the whole situation, citing that her guests "never had a clue there was suppose to be a tiered cake", the only people that ever knew were her family members and the people present at the time of the cake's demise.....she's never once told anyone that her wedding cake fell, all she ever did was rave about the flavor of my cakes and give out my number!
I guess we all learn something, it was because of this cake that i started using sps and I'll tell you, I've had MUCH bigger cakes since this disaster and I'm sure I would have had an even B IGGER disaster on my hands and with not so understanding brides!! Everything happens for a reason!
FINALLY SOMEONE WITH INTEGRITY!!! (and, yes, I was yelling).
Man, I usually rant and rave about how customers always show a lack of integrity, but in all fairness, cakers can be just as shady.
I think it's very admirable of you to have done such a thoughtful thing for this woman. You truly went above and beyond her expectations (anyone's really). So good on you. I, for one, do think you have redeemed yourself.
Oh Tina what a great story and such a wonderful ending to all of this. She sounds like such a wonderful person and you know she will remember this forever.
I'm tearing up over here, too. I'm so very glad you did her cake in miniature. Now the story can be told with a humorous tone to her grandchildren instead of with sadness and explanations about how the cake was supposed to look.
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