This review is for brides or any individual non- bride who isn't having a typical over 100 person wedding: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
1. My request to change the design (which was made over a month before my wedding lunch) would have been met with a change fee that was nearly a third of the cost of entire cake!
2. I asked for an additional layer of fruit filling in my cake because we felt the fruit flavor was severely lacking in our sample cake. When we dug into the actual wedding cake, it was as if even less fruit filling had been used than the sample cake! We happily had paid the change fee for additional fruit to be added only to feel like the fruit flavor had diminished when we got to the wedding cake!
While Anna seemed to want to work with my very small, 27 person guest list, I would have appreciated her turning down the job since it seems like whatever I asked for was not in her wheelhouse and/or outside her pricing manual. I want to be clear that this was my own fault, not Anna, because I did not ask enough probing questions prior to signing my contract. I just want to warn other brides who may not be having a traditional reception like me to go to a baker who is much more realistic in terms of understanding how to work with a very small group of people and a very small lunch. Instead. I felt like I was treated like a robot in a factory and the flavor I most wanted to stand out in my wedding cake (important for cultural reasons) did not even manifest on the day of my lunch.
In response to Anna's comments:
1. Not once did Anna state that she had an email communication limit. "50 emails" was due to my seeking clarity on many questions that were not answered in a way that was clear to me. My apologies, Anna, for not being smart enough to immediately understand your answers. I recommend for future clients you include your communication limits since this appears to be a big deal for you, and you mention it twice in your response, but never once told me in our exchanges that you were annoyed with answering my questions. Future brides: take note that Anna has a limit to how much she wants to communicate or she will find you very annoying, which is evident now but I did not know when signing the contract.
2. Yes. You provided two layers of fruit filling per my request. My point was that guests who tried the sample cake, along with myself and spouse, all felt that even with the additional money charged for another layer of filling, somehow the layers of fruit became even thinner and we were not able to taste it at all. Just because one fulfills a request does not mean that it accomplished the feedback we gave. We all felt we were just eating a vanilla cake. I should have never wasted additional money on an additional fruit filling layer because it was unapparent on the cake your provided.
3. I never complained about the charms. Not sure why you need to raise that issue. My review was about the nature of the small cake I ordered and the charges associated with the changes. I even stated that this was my fault- not yours. My point is just to warn other brides about my own stupidity and mistakes so they don't encounter my same predicament if they are having an under 30 person event.
4. You never told me that it would be a problem to pick up the cake a day early. Not once did I see any communication stating that this was a huge accommodation you would be making. Just say something to your client next time if this is such a big deal to you.
5. Do you think that after seeing the pictures my dad sent I was going to say "I hate that, send it back"? And I had to feed people the cake in less than 24 hours? The cake looked fine from the exterior. I had no idea how disappointed I would be with the interior. You also made it clear you would not accommodate the design I wanted unless I paid you the equivalent of 1/3 of the cake cost, which you have every right to charge since it's your business. I'm simply trying to tell future potential clients that those charges can, depending on the number of people the cake feeds, cost nearly the same amount as getting another cake. You could charge the equivalent of two cakes if you wanted for any change. No complaints- it was my own fault for not reading more carefully how disproportionate the change fees given that I was feeding less than 30 people.
Again-my review is pointing toward my own stupidity and inattention to detail. Not you, nor your contract terms, which I did not read carefully enough. I just want other brides to know that if they have a small group, go elsewhere or be prepared to really pay up for any change in case they don't read the contract carefully like I should have. read more