*Starmusica*

baystateapple

How was your cake tasting at Montilio's?  FI and I have ours scheduled for this Saturday.  What did they do and what did you think of the overall experience?

noodle_oo

Hi BayStateApple!  I went to Montilio's in Quincy on Sat for a cake tasting, so I'll put in my 2 cents.  We met with Jennifer I think and she was really nice.  She showed us a bunch of albums of photos of cakes.  We already knew what we wanted for decorations, so we described it and she drew out a detailed pic with colors and specific things labeled.  If you dont' know what you want yet, you can look through the books for ideas, but you might want to bring inspiration photos as well if you have them. 

Then she brought out like 7 slices of cake to taste.  2 flavors had an upgrade charge (strawberry grand marnier and a ricotta cake, both were good!).  I was a little disappointed in that because I didn't like the ones that were included in our package as much as the upgrade flavors.

We actually left after that because we decided to go with another vendor, but I'd basically be prepared to choose some flavors and the design of your cake.  After you do that, she'll probably give you a copy of the contract and you can either take it home and think about it or just book them!

Good luck and have fun!!

PS.  If you are buying the cake yourself (that is, not part of a package) make sure you ask about delivery and setup fees and taxes, etc.  Any additional costs.

baystateapple

Thanks, noodle_oo!  We have sort of a dull outline in our heads of what we want the cake to look like, but we're not sure what flavors yet.  We have to go with Monitlio's (they're booked through our venue), so I'm interested to see what the package deal is when we get there!

Starmusica

hey baystate!!!! Sorry- I've been hiding today!

Well our first shot with Montilios went badly because our lady didn't show up. Maria rescheduled with us and it went better. FH and I had no idea what we really wanted (despite looking at a gazillion photos) so she was great about showing us dozens of ideas. I will say she was pretty distracted by another bride that crashed 5 minutes before our appt. (GRRRR). but she still helped a lot. We explained which cakes we liked and she helped us combine them to a design that worked for us.

That was the first part. Once we designed the look she brough out samples- both those included in our sample and upgraded flavors. After we decided what flavors, she drafted it all into a contract.

Couple things- if you want frosting that is a certain color- try and bring a sample! I have to mail one in. You can bring fabric, a paint swatch, etc.

Fondant- this was not included by our venue. We paid for an upgrade.

Initials and monograms- they charge $15 a letter!!!!

All in all, we paid $95 in upgrades which we didnt think was too bad.


Good luck!! I think our lady was slightly annoyed that we were so clueless in design so that was frustrating but all in all she was pretty decent.

baystateapple

Thank you SO much!  And it's good to know the cost of the upgrades so we can decide what we do and do not want to spend money on when we get there, lol.  We want a pretty plain wedding cake, so hopefully we won't go over, or if we do it won't be too much.  Thanks for your info!

Starmusica

Yea we really didn't want to spend a dime! But we reallllly wanted fondant soooo .. that was the bulk of the money. Then we got ONE initial, his last name/my future last name.. and that was another $15!!

for flavors- the upgraded flavors are sooooooooooooo good. But honestly, the regulars are yummy too so we didn't bother upgrading there.

noodle_oo

Hmmm... I was curious if you upgraded your flavors or not, Star.  I think the upgrade charge was $0.50 per person to do the premium flavors, which isn't too bad!

It was only $80 to do fondant?  Not bad, especially for a big cake!

Starmusica

Yea! I was shocked the fondant didn't cost more. We decided against any flowers because our cake has a lot of design to it already. It's 4 layers and is intended for 160 guests... so they are pretty well priced!