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contract conflict

post #1 of 31
3/21/12 at 9:20am
Thread Starter 
I've got a little situation I need advice on. I have a wedding coming up and was finalizing the details with the bride when she tells me the florist insist on putting the flowers on the cake. In my contract it states I will place/arrange any and all flowers on the cake. The bride read and signed the contract 7 months ago and has a copy. So what is the best way to handle this situation?
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post #2 of 31
3/21/12 at 9:34am
I would say if your bride read and signed the contract 7 months ago, then it's up to her to resolve it with the florist. However, if you would be willing to allow the florist to put the flowers on the cake, I would make sure that the bride signed something acknowledging that you advised against it and relieving you of all responsibility in case the florist screws up the cake or someone gets sick due to possible contaminants on/in the flowers.
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post #3 of 31
3/21/12 at 9:50am
Make flourish sign something saying she takes full responsibility for the look of the cake as well as full legal responsibility if anyone gets sick from eating the cake. I'm positive she won't sign it and will just give you the flowers. It's a liability of she places toxic flowers on the cake or inserts any flower directly into the cake.
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post #4 of 31
3/21/12 at 12:55pm
Thread Starter 
While I was putting yalls advice to work I got to thinking and the more I thought the madder I got.

A florist work is showcased all through out the wedding, at the ceremony and reception, and they have dominion over their work. The cake at the reception is the only work I have to showcase and I should have dominion over it. Why in the hell does the florist need to have any dominion over my cake? It's just a flower, the florist didn't create the flower itself, didn't spend endless hours growing it. If a flower falls in the floor it can be picked up dusted off and put back where it came from. If a flower breaks it can be replaced. A cake on the other hand can not.

I mean no disrespect to florist at all. But I think the brides vision of her wedding flowers is between her and the florist. I think the brides vision of her cake is between her and the baker (i.e. me).
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post #5 of 31
3/21/12 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakelady2266

While I was putting yalls advice to work I got to thinking and the more I thought the madder I got.

A florist work is showcased all through out the wedding, at the ceremony and reception, and they have dominion over their work. The cake at the reception is the only work I have to showcase and I should have dominion over it. Why in the hell does the florist need to have any dominion over my cake? It's just a flower, the florist didn't create the flower itself, didn't spend endless hours growing it. If a flower falls in the floor it can be picked up dusted off and put back where it came from. If a flower breaks it can be replaced. A cake on the other hand can not.

I mean no disrespect to florist at all. But I think the brides vision of her wedding flowers is between her and the florist. I think the brides vision of her cake is between her and the baker (i.e. me).



In that light, you are correct and the bride - not you - needs to settle it with the florist, especially since she's known about this for months. She could very easily have nipped it in the bud (see what I did there?) when the florist brought it up.
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post #6 of 31
3/21/12 at 1:08pm
If you look at it from the florist's perspective it's understandable. Guests won't necessarily know which flowers were placed by the florist and which were placed by the cake decorator, and if the cake decorator doesn't do a good job with the flowers on the cake then it reflects poorly on the florist.

Same situation with other people bringing homemade cakes to the event, some cake decorators specifically disallow this in their contract (although whether they are willing to enforce this clause is another story).

I agree with having the florist sign a disclaimer waiving your liability from any damage they cause, but I would coordinate directly with the florist well before the event, in a professional manner of course.
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post #7 of 31
3/21/12 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
jgifford, nip it in the bud, lol. Jason, I'll calm down and handle it professionally. But for now I'm gonna froth.

The flower clause in my contract came about after seeing several of my cakes poked to death. Or they leave a dent on it with their knuckle or something. And mine are buttercream cakes, so not that fun to try to smooth out. Before I started working in contracts last year, I was setting up a wedding cake when this florist insisted on putting the flowers on. Well after some back and forth discussion the florist informs me she has a picture of the wedding cake to go by. I had the same damn picture and in the magazine from which it came in my hot little hand. The cake in the picture had 2 roses on the top tier. She put 7 roses on the cake, 4 on the top, 1 on the middle tier and 2 on the bottom. Big difference.

I'm not anti flower but come on. There are hundreds if not thousands of flowers at a wedding. Florist are getting theirs... on every table, door, alter, pew marker, hand, wrist, lapel, and any and everywhere you can stick a flower. Now that cake is mine to fuss over. I don't want it scratched, marred, marked, poked and prodded with stalks, stems, wire, thorns or fingers. So I say leave our cakes alone.

I having 23 years of cake handling experience know how to place flowers on a cake with out sticking them in the cake. I can do an entire cascade of live flowers on a 6 tier cake without stick on single stem in the cake. Yeah I am that good. And to be perfectly honest it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put flowers on a cake.

Now I'm trying to church that up and send that info to the bride and reword my contract so I don't encounter this in the future.
If you can't find time it do it right..how will you find time to do it over?
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If you can't find time it do it right..how will you find time to do it over?
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post #8 of 31
3/21/12 at 3:38pm
I actually am currently trying to figure out if I can take class or classes on flower arrangements after my last run in with the florist. Despite the clause in my contract, while I was setting up the cupcake tower for the groom at the venue, the florist stuck flowers directly into the wedding cake and while doing so, left fingerprints all over the tiers. By the time I saw that, it was too late. So I had to ask the florist to cover up the mess she made. There was no way of smoothing that buttercream up at that point. We had to add more leaves and flowers to cover all of the boo-boos. So, since neither brides nor florists seems to be respectful, the only way I know out of it is mandate that flowers be provided by me, live, silk, or otherwise and charge accordingly.
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post #9 of 31
3/21/12 at 4:20pm
The Florist is NOT. the cake Decorator . He /she has no business touching he cake .
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post #10 of 31
3/21/12 at 4:36pm
Tell the bride that when the florist shows her the license that she has to handle food she can put the flowers on the cake. Until them it's a food product and you're the one who's licensed by the health department to deal with food. And if she wants to mess with your cake, you can rearrange the centerpieces while she kills your cake.

I'd also tell the bride that the majority of fresh flowers are now imported from foreign countries, and they don't have the same regulations about pesticides and fertilizers that we do. They're allowed to use human waste as fertilizer, so you need to be the one to place flowers on the cakes in order to prevent any kind of toxicity issues from affecting it.

I had one florist come BACK to the venue to decorate the cake, She started sticking roses directly into the cake, and I told her to stop. She said "most bakers don't like me doing that" and did it again! I told her "SERIOUSLY...do NOT do that." She stopped, but if I hadn't been there the cake would have been impaled.
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post #11 of 31
3/21/12 at 6:46pm
Quote:
Quote:

She stopped, but if I hadn't been there the cake would have been impaled.



Exactly, and after you left, it could have still been impaled. What I learned is that florists will do what they always done and will just wait until I leave. I cannot stick around the venue and police the cake to make sure noone touches it despite my contract. So, the only reasonable way for me to resolve this is to do my own flowers, so when I leave the cake is exactly the way it was meant to be.
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post #12 of 31
3/21/12 at 7:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pebbles1727

Quote:
Quote:

She stopped, but if I hadn't been there the cake would have been impaled.



Exactly, and after you left, it could have still been impaled. What I learned is that florists will do what they always done and will just wait until I leave. I cannot stick around the venue and police the cake to make sure noone touches it despite my contract. So, the only reasonable way for me to resolve this is to do my own flowers, so when I leave the cake is exactly the way it was meant to be.



I'm usually there after the florists are, and I also generally don't do fresh flowers on cakes at all. Every now and then one will insist on fresh flowers, but I put them on the cake and the florists have usually been there and gone 9 times out of 10. I think that there are a couple of jerk florists around here who would insist on trying to decorate the cake, but most of them are happy to let me do it.
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post #13 of 31
3/21/12 at 7:32pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not sure why this rubbed me the wrong way today but it sure did. Maybe it was because it's on paper and has been signed off on.

Granted the vast majority of florist are fine leaving flowers for me but there are the prima donnas want the whole thing to be about them. I've seen this with other type vendors as well. The cake isn't the center of the wedding but it is generally is the centerpiece of the reception. Folks don't usually see cakes that large or elaborately decorated unless it is at a wedding. So surely if I'm able to turn sugar, flour eggs etc into edible art, I can put some flowers on a cake. And if anything happens to the cake you can't just pull another one out of thin air.
If you can't find time it do it right..how will you find time to do it over?
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If you can't find time it do it right..how will you find time to do it over?
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post #14 of 31
3/22/12 at 2:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jason_kraft

If you look at it from the florist's perspective it's understandable. Guests won't necessarily know which flowers were placed by the florist and which were placed by the cake decorator, and if the cake decorator doesn't do a good job with the flowers on the cake then it reflects poorly on the florist.



It never even occured to me, as a guest at many weddings, that the florist has anything to do with the flowers on the cake. I would assume the baker sourced and placed their own flowers and the florist did the bouquet and decor flowers.
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A down-to-earth South African who has a growing interest in fondant cakes...I've been bitten by the cake bug!
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post #15 of 31
3/22/12 at 8:32am
Thread Starter 
Any suggestions on how I word my response to the bride? I want to be professional but polite. And if she sends it to the florist I want her to read it and say "oh I get it, I've never thought of it like that"
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