The cake was exactly as we specified. It was a very pretty cake. The cascade of orchids were lovely. Cake was a little dense side, and frosting was very sugary! Cake was delivered on time, and displayed very nicely. It could be somewhat frustrating to communicate with her as she had medical issues during our communications but all and all things were very nice.

Melissa did a good job with out cake. It tasted better than all wedding cake I'd ever had. She got really in to our design - which was simple white icing mostly wrapped around each of the three tiers with a sage ribbon, but keeping a blank space in the front to match detailing on my train. My family wanted to use raspberry filling from our own berries, and she obliged us. It made the cake very special.

Melissa can be a bit slow to respond to e-mails, but her responsiveness was generally acceptable.

The only complaint I have is that the decorations on the cake could have been done with more care. In pictures you can see that the icing was not applied smoothly. I sent Melissa several pictures of close-up details of appliques on my train that I wanted piped in icing on the cake, but in the end she went with flowers that looked at best roughly similar, such that I don't think anyone who hadn't been told about the cake design realized the connection with the dress. It didn't really have an impact, and the cake was still quite pretty (especially if you were far enough away to not see that the icing wasn't smooth), but it wasn't quite what I asked for.

Follow up report:
included in the cost of our wedding cake was an additional top tier to be made for our one year anniversary. I did not hear anything from Melissa in the week prior to my anniversary so I called her. She told me that she would have time to get to it the week following our anniversary and she would call me at that time. It is 3 weeks after that phone call, and she still has not called. I would reach out to her, but frankly I am tired of dealing with such an unprofessional person. Good luck to anyone who hires her in the future!

Review Following our wedding:
Melissa is such a sweet person to work with, and ultimately I had a delicious cake on my wedding day.

Unfortunately, The road leading up to the wedding was really rocky and added alot of unneeded stress. I also ordered a groom's cake from melissa to be picked up for the rehearsal dinner. Due to circumstances out of her control (power outage) she had to delay the pickup. Shortly before the pick up time I got a call saying that she would simply have someone deliver it to the venue. Then, a few minutes before the rehearsal was supposed to begin she called saying there would be no cake because of a medical emergency, but she would refund me the money and I would get the cake on the wedding day. All of this was forgiven because none of it was in her control, but on the wedding day she was 2 hours late on delivering the cake. Again, this would not have been a big problem if she had simply called my coordinator and let them know she was running late, but she not only neglected to call, but she also would not answer when we called her cell phone.

Ultimately, we got our cake but I do not think the stress was worth the end product.

As a wedding planner, I have worked with Melissa on several weddings. I have seen the works of art she has put together for other couples and was lucky enough to be able to have her put my work of art together. She was able to take an idea nd turn it into a reality. My husband's grandfather used to make him Harvey Wallbanger flavored cakes for his birthday - Melissa was able to recreate it as one of the tiers of our wedding cake. Not only did it TASTE amazing, but it LOOKED even more amazing - even when it ended up on our faces! Our guests couldn't stop talking about how great the cake tasted!! Not only was Melissa able to put our cake together, but she also did our favors. Each guest got a creme filled chocolate favor and they were gone as soon as the guests sat down! We are extremely happy with what Melissa did for us and are grateful that she was able to make our cake and favors!

Melissa was FABULOUS!!! I got the EXACT cake I wanted the truffles were AMAZING! Everyone raved about it. The best part, it tasted incredible. The chocolate just melted in your mouth. I keep trying to think of more excuses to use Melissa even though we are states away. She was always easy to contact, honest, and you can tell she just puts her heart into her cakes. I love love loved it!!!

Fantastic!! Melissa is not only an excellent baker she is also an AWESOME person! I had so many compliments on how yummy our wedding cake was! I can't wait for our 1 year anniverary cake ;-) and will certainly use Melissa again!

I would not recommend Sugar 'N Shindigs to anybody.. I paid 491.26 for a three teir wedding cake with beautiful decorations and i got none of that but the three teirs. She did not decorate my cake and it was nothing like i asked her to do. I myself had to decorate the cake at my own wedding reception. She just gave me a plain iced cake. When my fiance and I met with her she told us about how beautiful the cake was going to look and how she would make the flowers out of candy-clay so everyone would be able to eat them. She seemed to be very nice. But when it came to my actual cake, it was terrible. I myself didn't even eat the cake because i was so angry about how it looked.
I called her when i got back from my honeymoon and told her how disappointed i was with her service and she then told me how sorry she was and that she knew that wasn't the cake i ordered.. She then decided that she was going to give me my money back since she did not give me the cake I asked for.. All i have to say is DO NOT end up like me being frustrated on your wedding day that your cake was not done the way you were told is was going to be done. As well as having to go out and get decorations for your cake while your reception is going on.. If i had to choose between getting my money back or having the wedding cake of my dreams, I absolutly would've choosen the cake of my dreams... Take it from me, CHOOSE SOMEONE ELSE...

Working with Melissa was great. She was flexible and understanding, and went out of her way to meet our desires. Not to mention, that our guests continue to rave about her delicious cake.

When searching online for local bakers, I was very impressed with the philosophy on the Sugar 'n' Shindigs site: whatever we wanted for our cake is what Melissa would work to create. That she also provided Day-of-Coordination services was a plus since we were also debating hiring a coordinator.

When we met Melissa for the first time we were a little surprised by how much she DIDN'T fit our expectations for a wedding coordinator. And ultimately that was what we liked so much about her. Just like with the cake baking, the coordination services were totally flexible. We came away from the first meeting believing that Melissa would not simply be a baker or coordinator that we hired, but a partner in the creative process.

We thought her prices were extremely competitive. She also asked us a lot of excellent practical questions that we had not thought about. We decided pretty quickly that we wanted to hire her. The first cake tasting was a delight and we both felt that the event would be much less stressful for us if she was in charge. Weddings definitely ramp up emotions for the extended family as well as the couple and we could tell that Melissa would be professional and well-grounded.

She was extremely helpful and very responsive throughout the planning process, including attending at least one Open House with us at the venue. On the wedding weekend, she took the bulk of the decorations to the venue for us, set it all up, and did a great job of keeping us close to on schedule. She established an excellent rapport with our other vendors and the maid-of-honor. When the event was winding down, she took care of getting all our belongings collected to make it easy to pack up when we left.

We have absolutely no reservations about recommending her services.

I was very impressed with Sugar n' Shindigs. Everything went exactly as planned and my cake turned out amazing.

Melissa was an amazing asset to our wedding. She was so welcoming to us and helpful with what we wanted. She helped us create our perfect wedding cake that tasted DELICIOUS! I have plans to go back to her for cakes for other events. Plus her taster cakes were super great and we were able to get a lot of opinions on what we wanted in terms of flavors, much better than a bite on a toothpick!

The cake looked a little different than in the picture, it didn't have as much quality as the photo did. The deion of the size of the cake (height of each tier) was a little larger than the cake I actually received.

Melissa was flexible and very patient with us. She brought the tasting cake to my work place then worked with us diligently to create two personalized cakes designed like the flags of our countries of birth - the US and Belarus. She was always punctual to every meeting and on the most important day. The cakes were a hit and they were delicious. She comes with our highest recommendation.

We ran into a last minute problem with not having enough chairs. Not only did she help us get the chairs we needed, she brought them to the reception hall and helped us set up the night before and break down after. We were very lucky to have found Melissa! She went above and beyond what we had hired her to do. She made our wedding day extra special and I would definitely recommend her.

In addition to the above, the cake was delicious! She designed the cake just like how I wanted it to be and it was beautiful!

I highly recommend Sugar 'n Shindigs for all special occasions for which you want a cake, not just weddings. She is great!