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Just Said Yes June 2020

Post Wedding Vendor Etiquette - Cake was hideous

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Alex, on September 30, 2021 at 5:30 PM

Hi All, My wife and I just got married a week and a half ago and everything turned out perfectly, except for the cake. We had decided to go with this particular cake vendor which we found through social media outlets. Everything checked out, their designs were creative and beautiful. We met the...

Hi All,

My wife and I just got married a week and a half ago and everything turned out perfectly, except for the cake. We had decided to go with this particular cake vendor which we found through social media outlets. Everything checked out, their designs were creative and beautiful. We met the owner/baker who was super friendly when we did the cake tastings and the flavors were good. From the get go, we knew the style of the exact cake we wanted, which was a cake that was made by the same baker, and we discussed that this was the look we wanted to go for. There were no issues, the owner said she had remembered this particular cake and how she made it and that it could be done - no problem at all.

Fast forward to our wedding day, she delivered the cake and set it up herself. Not only did it look nothing like that original photo we provided, it was extremely sloppily made, and the entire cake was tilted! The blackberries seemed to be randomly placed and gave off a random blob appearance, and the frosting between the tiers wasn't even spread. Our guests said it was a pretty hideous cake overall.

We've reached out to the owner via email with no response still. They are a private baker what operate out of a shared kitchen space and only have an Instagram (no Yelp or anything), and do not have much presence on sites where we could write a review to warn others.

We are simply looking for an explanation or anything that would've possibly went wrong on making the cake or just a simple apology. I don't understand how a product with an appearance like this could even be delivered for a wedding. We've even gotten some pretty embarrassing comments from our guests on the appearance of the cake, who thought we wanted this Tower of Pisa look.

The left photo was a photo of the cake we wanted and was expecting, one that was designed and made by her pulled directly from their social media page. The right photo was the product delivered to us.

What is the right way to approach this situation? I'm starting to believe that we would simply just not get an answer.

TIA!

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25 Comments

Just Said Yes June 2020
Alex · on October 4, 2021 at 6:14 PM
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Thank you all for your advice. It's now been over a week and we still have no responses even after trying to follow up. We then tried to file a dispute and claim with the credit card company (Chase) and unfortunately according to them, because the cake was consumed and not returned, it was out of their hands and the dispute would have to be with the merchant directly. We obviously weren't going to "return" the cake when we saw it for the first time during the reception.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences with CC/bank disputes regarding vendors and a situation like this?
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Just Said Yes June 2020
Alex · on October 4, 2021 at 6:52 PM
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We worked with them directly, we met them in person and even did a cake tasting with the owner/head baker. For whatever reason our cake turned out to be nothing like the cakes, or even just the aesthetic, you see on their social media and website. It looked like an amateur had baked and designed it. Either their photos are not legit or something went terribly wrong when making the cake. But we're just looking for an explanation and we're being ghosted.
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Savvy November 2021
Melissa · on December 12, 2021 at 1:45 PM
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I had a similar experience. My wedding cake was also tilted! Though I had worked with the Baker before and she presented a beautiful display originally she did not put as much effort into our wedding day. The colors of the cake flowers were also not matching. So disappointing! Especially after planning everything so carefully to end up with bad results. Luckily it tasted great.
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Master May 2020
Kari · on December 13, 2021 at 11:39 AM
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I would honestly question if the original cake and the one you received were done by the same person. Is there a chance the Instagram account consists of stolen photos from other bakers?
I would do a reverse image search on Google using photos of the cakes on the baker's Instagram account and see if any pop up in other places not directly tied to the baker. If so, you can report the images to Instagram as stolen/copyrighted and notify the original copyright holders of the image (they can take legal action against the baker). If the Instagram account consists largely of stolen images, Instagram should suspend the account entirely.
Regardless of whether the original cake was made by the baker who did your cake, I think a refund is perfectly justified in this case. I would request a refund and file a complaint with the BBB if you do not get one.
I'm so sorry this happened to you. It sounds like you did your due diligence and research and took a chance on someone who seemed promising only to get really screwed over.
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Super December 2021
Alyssa · on December 13, 2021 at 1:23 PM
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There is no way that same person made the left cake. The cake that you got was made by a novice. The top cake was left in not long enough or the bottom too long (they are different colors which is a huge no no with the naked cake trend). Also, cake leveling is one of the first things that is vital so it doesn't FALL OVER.
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