I cannot recommend Lori Legott or Club 86. I have never been so disappointed and frustrated with a vendor. I had a horrible experience. Just a few days prior to my wedding, I had to find a new cake baker and decorator because Lori stated she could no longer do what she had promised and what we had paid for. She caused a lot of unneeded stress and frustration due to her lack of follow-through, lack of communication, and lack of professionalism. These are things a bride and groom should never have to experience just prior to their wedding.
I know that things come up that just can't be helped, but with Lori it was just one thing after another.
Many months prior to the wedding, a first consult was scheduled with Lori. The intent of the meeting was to meet with Lori, taste-test the cakes, and discuss how the cake should be designed. Lori was not there. Did she forget? I don't know. Per the employee, the appointment was on the books. An employee had to call her to remind her of the meeting. She showed up an hour later. Additionally, there were no cake samples ready for us to test.
During the consult, Lori was provided a picture of the cake we wanted duplicated. It was a fondant cake with lace sugar work and a sugar bow. Lori stated that she would be able to create anything we envisioned. This was not true.
So we finally make another trip to Geneva. The one cake that we wanted and had waited to sample was red velvet. I specifically requested that red velvet be available on our final consult. But it wasn’t there; one of the employees had eaten it. Lori was also late, once again. So, again more miscommunication and lack of samples.
Upon the final consult, Lori asked the bride what cake design she wanted. We were confused as we had given Lori a picture months prior. This is the same picture which should have been in Lori's files. Lori unapologetically stated, 'I don't work with fondant'. 'I don't work with sugar'. We were shocked. Not at any point did Lori state she couldn't create the design we showed her in our prior meeting. We wanted a fondant cake with sugar work. If Lori had stated she did not work with fondant, we would have moved on to another baker.
I can't fault Lori or this business for not having the skill to create the cake we wanted. However, she should have communicated this fact and been honest with us from the beginning.
Lori provided us with her book of cakes. Lori stated we could pick a style and she would make it. The cakes were very basic and many were extremely dated. They were not skillful in design, but rather more homemade in appearance. I (the bride) was not happy, but selected a plain three-tier cake with three or four orchids. Lori stated – ‘I can't do that one. We don't have the time.’ I picked another cake. Lori replied again – ‘I can't do that one. I don't have the time.’ Finally, the maid of honor (MOH) flatly said to Lori - "do you even bake cakes here." Thankfully, the MOH brought some humor into the situation.
I do have to say the taste of the signature strawberry cake was very good. I had previously tasted it and this was the reason we pursued this frustrating ordeal.
We ended up finding another baker, 3.5 hours away. We wasted an entire day to try to ensure we would have a cake on our wedding day. We would have definitely gone with a different vendor had Lori had been honest with us from the beginning.
This is the only thing that went wrong with the wedding, which is a plus. Sadly, it was a huge frustration. I am still in shock that this actually happened and a business operates in this manner.
Overall
•Quality of Service - 0/5. There was no customer service. There was no communication. Lori was an hour late to our first meeting and late to the second as well. It's a very oddly run business.
•Responsiveness - 0/5. Lori's responsiveness is horrible.
•Professionalism - 0/5. There is nothing professional about the above ordeal. I have never been so disappointed in a business.
•Value - The prices were very low and signature strawberry cake is delicious. The value for design quality is 0, however. Lori is not skilled in decorating.
•Flexibility - 0/5. Completely non-existent