Wedding cupcake mishap AIBU bride wants full refund for me wrecking her big day?

[ilovepombears]

I run a home based cake making business a few months ago I had a request from a bride to make 100 black cupcakes for her wedding. She provided the wrappers and black food colouring paste and also black and white photo toppers of the couple as she asked it this would bring the costs down so I deducted this from the bill.

Today is her wedding day and there seems to be a massive miscommunication somewhere along the lines.
Friday I baked all 100 cupcakes and whilst I was waiting for them to cool I text her and asked if she was sure she wanted them all black buttercream or if she would prefer black and white or black and grey. She texted back and said 50 black 50 grey would be ace. I then had another text asking where the buttercream was going. This should of really set off alarm bells. I told her the buttercream would be going on top of each cupcake. No further response.

As the wedding is out of town she came to collect them yesterday. They looked stunning and really complimented her wedding theme. She seemed a bit off when collecting but said she liked them.

Two hours later I receive a text from her saying how dissapointed she is with the cakes and how they are not as disscused as the cakes are white.

I didn't understand where she was coming from so I tried to call but she didn't answer then text to say I have wrecked her wedding.

After a while of toing and froing it transpires what the bride in her head has ordered is 50 black and 50 grey sponge cupcakes as in no buttercream frosting. Where I was suppose to put the picture toppers is still a mystery.

She has seen hundreds of images of my work and I have never produced a nude cupcake. Always have frosting on them.

She has not given me time to rectify the issue. Not that I would as I am not having my name associated with what she thinks she has ordered. Not would I let black sponges out to be eaten as they will taste horrendous but they have so much colour in them can you imagine the additives.

She is now asking for a full refund as I have "screwed up her order" what do I do? I'm my head she has received what she has ordered.

If you guys ordered a black & grey cupcake how would you interoperate that? What she thinks or what I have made her.

Non iced cupcakes for a wedding????? I think unless she was planning a decorating station (next years big thing I am guessing) it sounds like a fabrication to me.

Vanilla is the flavour not the colour.
Black cupcakes to me mean black cakes not black buttercream.
I think you made a mistake op.

I do agree though that some people's business isn't worth having, so get rid of the issue and don't work for her again (and make your ordering procedure foolproof and provable).

The problem is that there is nothing on that form that allows the buyer to specify the colour of the cake

There's a section for other details, which was left blank.

I have to say that I would assume that vanilla sponge would not be coloured, unless it was clearly specified that the sponge was to be dyed. (I wouldn't want it - I made black Hallowe'en biscuits once, and - well, they might go in black, but they come out dark green. For days, my memory tells me, but it may not have been that long.)

She had some photo topper things, so it's not that unusual to have no buttercream on top. Plus she did ask where it would go.

I don't think she's pulling a fast one. I think she really wanted black, no icing and the order form allowed the miscommunication.

Not sure about full refund though.

They had black cases around them. How was she supposed to know the sponge was not black until biting into one or peeling it off?

A giant swirl of buttercream might not have been what she wanted, perhaps she thought the order form meant a small amount of buttercream to stick the topper on with? However, when she collected them, she saw the swirl and decided she could live with it. After discovering the cakes were the wrong colour she was more upset. I think understandably, as a yellow cupcake is a completely different style than a black one, and weddings are famed for having themes/colour schemes.

a dry un-iced cupcake in grey or black with a photo stuck on it sounds utterly rank.

And yes, maybe she thought oh bugger, all that buttercream oh well as long as they're black inside.

The problem with trying to appease the unreasonable is that they slag you off anyway. Okay if she slags you off then her friends won't use you - but I'd see that as a win really.

If she's reasonable then she'll accept an apology for the misunderstanding & a goodwill gesture of some sort (whatever you feel you can afford).

Ah I missed the 2nd response before posting sorry. I think you are quite right with your response. You might want to explain the reason for no black cupcakes but otherwise your suggestion is perfect.

She did ask for black cupcakes, didn't she?

Not cupcakes with black icing?

I imagine that she had in her mind the sponge being chocolate sponge, so not quite black, but dark.

But she signed for vanilla sponge not chocolate.

Just read your update, OP. Vanilla is a flavour not a colour, isn't it?

I think that an anniversary cake will be unnecessary; if the bride isn't happy she won't accept that and if she is because you've refunded, you don't want to do an anniversary cake as well.

Reading the OP, I was utterly confused about who wanted what, and even with the subsequent updates I'm no wiser. Therefore this was kind of an accident waiting to happen really.

She should have just provided some photos of what she had in mind - not difficult.

Black sponge sounds rank, i would have assumed icing colours as cupcakes are all about the icing surely? But as there seems to be huge miscommunication, maybe do what Ace of Cakes and Amazing Wedding Cakes programmes do - send a sketched pic of the proposed design first or sketch the agreed design at the clients first discussion appointment and get confirmation in writing thats what they had in mind BEFORE baking? People have such different perceptions and taste re colour and scale etc it would save expensive arguments going forward.....

Still doesn't say on the form colour of sponge. She probably couldn't see the colour of the sponge when she collected them.

Dear god don't offer an anniversary cake! I can see you just getting into more difficulties with agreeing the spec, the value of this cake etc.

Plus if your cakes truly did ruin her day, why would you want to celebrate the day by remembering the issue with a cake!

Perhaps to limit this in future you could ensure the bride comes over before you make them all to 'taste test' so you ensure they are happy with the design and taste of cakes.

If that's not possible and I know nothing about makin cakes perhaps to avoid problems you should get the bride to send you pictures of what they expect or you could confirm their order by sending a photo or detailed colour picture of what they want.

We ordered a custom cake for my grandad and the lady sent us a detailed full colour sketch of what the cake would look like. I made some changes and she then sent another copy of the picture with these changes. I then visited her and tasted the sponge as little samples so we knew what the cake would taste like, she also had samples of the decorations (it was made to look like his allotment) so we knew what these tasted like.

Only after all of these visits and conversations did she make the cake.

In terms of a refund it would depend how much you charged, how much the potential negative feedback from the bride could effect your business and how much out of pocket it will leave you.

Clearly this is down to poor communication. However I feel as a professional running a business you are responsible for making sure you understand the client's requirements. You have messed up here and should refund.

Black cake is not uncommon and doesn't taste bad, it sounds like you don't know what you are doing tbh.

Please get this thread deleted OP.

I've recognised people I work with posting on mn. It's astonishing how well-known it is now, and how easy it is to put 2and 2 together.

Your posts are fairly OKbu there are people calling your customer a stupid cow, and slagging off her wedding, on her actual wedding day.

I just don't think it adds to your professional reputation.

The problem with trying to appease the unreasonable is that they slag you off anyway. Okay if she slags you off then her friends won't use you - but I'd see that as a win really.

If she's reasonable then she'll accept an apology for the misunderstanding & a goodwill gesture of some sort (whatever you feel you can afford).

This.

If you've truly "ruined her wedding", there will be no making her happy. You might as well just cut your losses.

The fact is, she was happy to accept the cakes, she was happy to eat the cakes, but she is not happy to pay for the cakes.

Offer a token of good will for business PR purposes, and move on.

I run my own business, and trust me. No customers are better than bad customers. If she slags you on social media you can always reply and let her know she signed a contract of what she wanted, and that you do apologize for the misunderstanding.

In the future, include a color for the sponge so this can't happen again.

But don't lose money on this.

I would consider vanilla a white or off white colour. Vanilla ice cream, vanilla paint, vanilla sponge. I think after reading the OPs description of the cakes in the contract the bride is clutching at straws expecting black sponge. When the bride read those words vanilla sponge she should have clarified the black bit which was as we now know un achievable with vanilla sponge.

God point about getting it deleted, unlikely there were two weddings with black cupcakes today and quite likely one of the guests might be a MNer.