Wedding cake disaster

CMS23 · October 2015

I just want your opinions and maybe that of someone that makes wedding cakes, my wife's wedding cake didn't turn out well, she paid 700 dollars for a five layer cake, the top layer fell off due to it leaning , the next layer was. Crumbly, the other three layers were good , I know the cake is a huge focal point and for that kind of money it should be near perfect what is reasonable compensation for this? This lady owns her own business where she makes the cakes but it's just her We are meeting with her cake lady today but I didn't want to be too unrealistic

climbingsingle · October 2015

What are you expecting from this meeting? Do you want to be completely reimbursed?

My entire cake collapsed just as my guests were walking into the reception/dining room. I was left with a tiny little 4 layer cake for display. Thankfully all of my guests still got a good cake for dessert. But when I found out the cake fell, I honestly didn't care. And the cake was included in my package, so I didn't bother asking for a discount. Your situation is different though. When you say it was crumbly, did it taste bad? Was it edible? Do you have picture of how the top layer fell off?

southernbelle0915 · October 2015

It doesn't hurt to ask. I'd be super pissed if I paid $700 for a cake and two layers of it fell apart. If you have pictures if the fallen/crumbly layers, you should bring them and show them to her.

CMS23 · October 2015

All the guests were fed with cake with the bottom three layers and it was good but due to the appearance of the crumbly cake and it falling apart we didn't serve that , it was set out at two and our cake lady knew we weren't cutting until 8 so either it was originally messed up or the temp of the cake didn't stay cool enough, just looking for a female perspective , as a male I think logical in the sense without feelings or emotions and I know there should be reimbursement for a terrible looking cake since that part of her perfect day is tarnished

CMS23 · October 2015

Here's a picture , someone had to hold it so we could get a quick picture but as you can see the top two layers are leaning

lyndausvi · October 2015

CMS23 said:

I just want your opinions and maybe that of someone that makes wedding cakes, my wife's wedding cake didn't turn out well, she paid 700 dollars for a five layer cake, the top layer fell off due to it leaning , the next layer was. Crumbly, the other three layers were good , I know the cake is a huge focal point and for that kind of money it should be near perfect what is reasonable compensation for this? This lady owns her own business where she makes the cakes but it's just her We are meeting with her cake lady today but I didn't want to be too unrealistic

wasn't it your cake too?

Anyway I think 10-20% discount would be reasonable. See ETA below

Our cake collapsed also. We didn't ask for any discounts. Although in our case there was a storm and it was pretty humid, so I figured it was cause of that.

ETA - I just saw your cake was out for a long time. The thing is the baker has no control over the venues temperature nor the stability of the table or the floor. Meaning the vibration of the floor and/or the temperature of the room can cause the cake to collapse. Even a guest hitting the table to can cause it to become unstable. I'm not sure if they baker can really be held responsible for something that had been sitting out for so long.

Maggie0829 · October 2015

What time did your wedding start? Was the ceremony and reception all in one place?

Your cake was sitting out for 6 hours. Based on when your wedding was to start your cake lady only had a certain time frame to deliver and set up your cake, unless you wanted her to deliver it in the middle of your reception. She has no control over the temperature of the venue, which probably was a contributing factor to the top layer falling. Also if anyone bumped into the table and maybe just the vibrations of the floor could cause layers to split or fall.

IMO, this is one of those things I would probably just let go. It wasn't like the entire cake fell over. You still had plenty of cake to feed your guests. The most I would maybe ask for is a free top layer on your one year anniversary since the top layer was not salvageable.

climbingsingle · October 2015

Eesh. If the cake was out for that long, yeah, I don't know.

Also, please don't say that your wife's day was ruined because of the cake. My entire cake fell on the ground, literally 1 minute after they brought it out. And I laughed. Big deal. It's a cake. My day was perfect because I got married to my husband.

ShesSoCold · October 2015

climbingwife said:

Eesh. If the cake was out for that long, yeah, I don't know.

Also, please don't say that your wife's day was ruined because of the cake. My entire cake fell on the ground, literally 1 minute after they brought it out. And I laughed. Big deal. It's a cake. My day was perfect because I got married to my husband.

Maybe his "wife's day" was ruined because there appears to be no spouse here. If it's "her" cake and "her" perfect day, who did she marry?

lyndausvi · October 2015

I worked a wedding where the groom's cake collapsed.

Reason? The couple insisted on lights to shine on the cake. Lights put off heat. Heat caused the cake to collaspe. Not the bakers fault.

ShesSoCold · October 2015

lyndausvi said:

I worked a wedding where the groom's cake collapsed.

Reason? The couple insisted on lights to shine on the cake. Lights put off heat. Heat caused the cake to collaspe. Not the bakers fault.

NBD though because it was a groom's cake, right?

CMS23 · October 2015

The reason the cake was out for so long was the bakers choice, she wanted to set it out at one and said it would be fine but we let her know it wouldn't be open until after two , she knew our ceremony didn't begin until five and reception was at 6 but said the cake would be fine

CMS23 · October 2015

I think we all got sidetracked , the cake was already leaning once she dropped it off but due to the time it set out it eventually fell ( top layer)

lyndausvi · October 2015

CMS23 said:

I think we all got sidetracked , the cake was already leaning once she dropped it off but due to the time it set out it eventually fell ( top layer)

why wasn't it addressed at that point? There was still plenty of time to fix the issue.

MesmrEwe · October 2015

O.k. looking at the cake for "Where is the weakest link" in the structure ... The top tier is fine as are the bottom three tiers, it's the next one down from the top that is the problem. There is inadequate support for the two tiers which is causing the lean, but something is different about that tier vs. the others (was it a cream cheese icing under the fondant?) It looks softer. Still not an excuse to have a poor structure. Also, sitting out for that long really didn't help matters any, but, it happens. But also, you don't know if someone bumped the table, kid ran into it, etc. in that frame of time which can mess up a dowel structure which would make it not the baker's fault necessarily...

Getting to the heart of your question, what is reasonable compensation. The whole cake was not a wreck (though definitely an option to send it in to CakeWrecks) in that your guests were still able to eat it. You missed pictures and some servings. The top two tiers worth of servings in a future cake of similar design/detail IMO is a reasonable request. Rather than financial compensation, go for a cake unless she offers something higher than that value.

CMS23 · October 2015

Once the cake was dropped off the manager of the reception saw that it was leaning and no one other than the cake lady and him were in the room, she dropped it off and left we did call and keep calling as her son reported she was unavailable the first seven times on the eight time we reached her and was told that the table must of been bumped and there was nothing else she could do , we will talk to her two weeks after the wedding as this is the first time she was able to make time for us

justsie · October 2015

CMS23 said:

Once the cake was dropped off the manager of the reception saw that it was leaning and no one other than the cake lady and him were in the room, she dropped it off and left we did call and keep calling as her son reported she was unavailable the first seven times on the eight time we reached her and was told that the table must of been bumped and there was nothing else she could do , we will talk to her two weeks after the wedding as this is the first time she was able to make time for us

I have a feeling she is going to continue saying this. If she didn't take responsability the day of what signs do you have that she will now?

wink0erin · October 2015

CMS23 said:

All the guests were fed with cake with the bottom three layers and it was good but due to the appearance of the crumbly cake and it falling apart we didn't serve that , it was set out at two and our cake lady knew we weren't cutting until 8 so either it was originally messed up or the temp of the cake didn't stay cool enough, just looking for a female perspective , as a male I think logical in the sense without feelings or emotions and I know there should be reimbursement for a terrible looking cake since that part of her perfect day is tarnished

For real? SMH. You won't get a refund, nor do you deserve one. The baker MIGHT give you a small discount for the one layer that was messed up, but honestly, it's a CAKE. If it was edible it was a success. And what makes you assume everyone here is female, btw?

justsie · October 2015

wink0erin said:

CMS23 said:

All the guests were fed with cake with the bottom three layers and it was good but due to the appearance of the crumbly cake and it falling apart we didn't serve that , it was set out at two and our cake lady knew we weren't cutting until 8 so either it was originally messed up or the temp of the cake didn't stay cool enough, just looking for a female perspective , as a male I think logical in the sense without feelings or emotions and I know there should be reimbursement for a terrible looking cake since that part of her perfect day is tarnished

For real? SMH. You won't get a refund, nor do you deserve one. The baker MIGHT give you a small discount for the one layer that was messed up, but honestly, it's a CAKE. If it was edible it was a success. And what makes you assume everyone here is female, btw?

QFT. Also if your thinking more logical then I'd notice that everyone was fed cake and wouldn't get caught up in the emotions of how it looked. But that's just me, a woman.

Don't generalize genders on here OP, it's not welcomed.

climbingsingle · October 2015

Well, our female brains can't think logically. Only the menfolk have that ability.

Listen dude, I don't think you're going to get anywhere with this baker. She already knows what happened and is saying someone bumped the table. Meet with her and see what she'll offer. Maybe she can do a nice 1 year anniversary cake for you or something. But I wouldn't go in to this meeting expecting reimbursement. And seriously, move on. Things happen. I could write a whole list of things that went wrong on my wedding day, and it was still the happiest day of my life so far.

wink0erin · October 2015

Sidenote, go into the meeting with a reasonable idea about what you want. Be calm, state the facts. Don't expect anything. The baker might do something for you, but as the facts stand you can't prove it's her fault vs. the fault of someone at the venue bumping the table.

BTW, she is a baker, not a "cake lady."

MesmrEwe · October 2015

What the WHA???? On the whole Men vs. women....

jacques27 · October 2015

I must have a faulty vagina. It never would have occurred to me to use the words "wedding cake" and "disaster" in the same sentence. Nor would I ever think of any day as tarnished because 2/5 ths of a cake leaned to the side.

Look, I get that it sucks to pay money for something and have it not live up to expectations. Stuff happens. What would you and your penis do if this weren't about a woman's cake? Apply that same penis driven logic here. Pretend you're talking to a mechanic about a carburetor. Or a carpenter about a tool shed. How would you handle that? What does the contract say? Was there a guarantee?