Salty Disappointment…read more
Normally wedding cakes are sweet, but my own experience with Jenny Layne Bakery (JLB) for my wedding cake was salty. It started out well enough; Jenny is kind and cares about her work (we met her at an open house event). I chose her because of her accolades, her beautiful cakes on Instagram, the fact that my MOH enjoyed working with her, and because she was my venue's preferred baker. All good things, right? So I thought.
My now-husband, parents, and I tasted boxed up cupcakes instead of an in person cake tasting post-Covid. I wasn't impressed by most of the cupcake flavors, but it was too late since we'd already booked with JLB, and I thought, "At least the final cake will be beautiful."
After I researched wedding cakes, Jenny and I personally worked on the wedding cake design together. I was excited with what we came up with! A lovely white cake with royal blue ribbon, an edible "C" crest for my new last name, and some classy pearl necklaces wrapped around two tiers to match the one I'd wear that day.
Come wedding day, I saw the wedding cake for the first time at the reception and was surprised to learn that there wasn't one but two things wrong with the cake. First, the "C" crest was missing. Second, the pearl necklaces had slid off the rims of the tiers in several places, so they were more pearl "L" shaped (see pictures below).
After my honeymoon, I reached out to JLB and nicely asked what happened, sending pictures of the cake design vs. the final reception result. Jenny herself let me know that it was "a sad cake" and asked how she could make it up to me as she understood she couldn't redo my wedding cake. She also explained that the delivery person dropped the edible crest, which she forgot to tell me earlier, and it seemed the pearls had melted in the sun. Apparently 72 degrees is too hot for a professional four tier wedding cake, but not a one tier groom's cake my mother's friend made that had traveled over 250 miles in a car without an issue. Thus, I asked for a refund.
A few days later, Jenny's assistant let me know they could not give a refund because "Walters does not offer refunds and because we do not handle the financials as it pertains to the wedding packages." Aka because I went with the Walters Weddings vendor package and preferred bakery, the bakery can't do a refund directly, as we paid the Walters Wedding venue for the cake. Therefore, Walters would need to refund the bakery for the cake (or something like that). JLB could offer a new anniversary tier or $50 in store credit to be used by the end of the year.
Mind you, JLB did not bother to reach out about the "C" crest being damaged even though they knew it was upon arrival. The venue placed the cake where they normally do as this bakery and venue have worked together countless times with Jenny Layne Bakery listed as its preferred vendor.
I reached out to the venue's GM and told her the story. She said she'd see what she could do.
Nearly three weeks later, I followed up with the venue GM again. Then Jenny reached out and offered the same $50, but now as a refund, store credit, or an anniversary tier.
We opted for the $50 refund, a salty disappointment to what I was expecting to be a sweet and beautiful wedding cake. If you've made it to the end of this review, please know Jenny Layne Bakery doesn't come recommended from me because they made not one but two mistakes, and because of the lackluster consolidation offered. I chose this bakery primarily for the aesthetics - and that's where they fell short *twice* with my wedding cake. So I'm coming home with $50 to make up for this "sad cake."
Brides to be, something will go wrong on your wedding day. But ensure your vendors care enough about you as a customer to try to right their wrongs, as I experienced with my hair stylist, but not with my bakery.