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.

Good work op. She'll have to get over it!

She took them, no refund

Just as well you kept your emails then, you're in the clear

On the you tube videos my son watches obsessively they make black cake by adding black food colouring to chocolate cakes, so you need less colouring as they are quite dark already. This is off topic but I hope it could be helpful if you have any similarly insane brides in future.

There was obviously a failure of communication somewhere along the line but IMO YANBU. I can't stand bridezilla behaviour and if she said at the time she liked them she's can't now claim otherwise. And to say it ruined her day - ie the day she and her loved one vowed to spend their lives together - is ridiculous and princessy.

If the buttercream can be vanilla and black, why can't the sponge?
I am the type that probably would be too embarrassed to say anything when collecting, but would then sit and cry in the car! Yes it sounds ridiculous but it is the little things that tip you over when you are getting married.
The bride would not know that vanilla and black sponge would taste horrible unless the professional told her.
There would have been no point to the bride returning the cakes because the OP would not be able to resell and the bride would have been left with no wedding cake.
If I was the OP I would apologise and refund the cakes. I would also make a special little cake as an apology.
To everyone saying the OP should tell her to fuck off - she is running a business, not doing a favour for a friend! Would you rather be right, or have a successful business?!
Then tighten up your ordering process in future so you don't leave yourself open to this situation.

I think this is a genuine miscommunication. I would give her a refund, but I would learn that it's important to check when someone asks for pink cupcakes, for example they expect just pink icing and not pink sponge also. Or do you only do white sponge?

No no no, do not refund anything. She came and saw the cakes and took them away. She has therefore accepted them

That's what Judge Judy would say As for "ruined her wedding" Pffft! A thousand things can go wrong at a wedding (and usually do). That's normal. Get over it and get on with the important thing - the marriage.

Her early email when discussing designs she asked if I could do rainbow "sponge" cupcakes and my reply was sorry I do not colour any of my sponges they are vanilla chocolate or marble so half and half so if you are wanting rainbow cakes I can give you the name of a local baker that specialise in them.

How is that a miscommunication? It's very clear

Cheeky cow, she's just pulling a fast one then.

Also I googled black cupcakes and there are some pics of very unappetising coal like cakes, the rest of the images could easily be plain sponge and black icing.

I think with the emails etc the OP has she's clearly made it clear coloured sponge isn't something shed do.

I can't believe a the suggestion of a full refund AND a further cake by way of apology. Doesn't look like any apology is needed now.

Maybe once the wedding is over and she realised actually some gorgeous cup cakes that she got didn't wreck her entire day and it actually worked out fine she'll be ok about it.

I agree. You told her specifically you didn't colour sponge and she went ahead and picked vanilla sponge knowing it would be... vanilla coloured.

OP I agree with those telling you to get this deleted now. You have your answer she obviously was never clear on the black sponge if she at one stage suggested rainbow colours and you clarified the only colours available. She had a last minute wedding wobble and took it out on you. The joy of dealing with a bride or groom at the start of the wedding day. I do think you can learn a lot from the experience to prevent it happening again. Best if luck.

Op has an email telling the bride that she doesn't colour any of her sponges. In which case that would have been the time for the bride to say "oh, but I want black sponges".

But Op, really, don't you think it's time to get this thread deleted?? Think of your business.

Tbh it all sounds very unprofessional and slapdash.

One thing I don't get and don't think has been mentioned - Why were you texting her at the last minute offering up grey for no reason?!

Don't refund and send her a rundown of your communication.

You told her the sponge wouldn't be coloured.

You told her the buttercream icing would go on top.

She didn't question any of it at the time so she has no leg to stand on. You didn't 'screw up her order' you discussed specifications as you went along and she didn't want to change anything. Funny she didn't mention you'd screwed up the order when she collected the offending cupcakes.

"I am the type that probably would be too embarrassed to say anything when collecting, but would then sit and cry in the car!"

You're right, that does sound ridiculous. It's only cake. My wedding cake had a ginger bride and groom topper - neither my husband nor I are red-haired. I can't even remember when I noticed it for the first time but it didn't cause me any more than a slight double-take. Because it's cake! Who cares?

I don't think you could have been much clearer in your own communication, OP - you said you don't colour sponge, pictures of your work all feature buttercream. If the bride had something different in mind to what you usually do, she should have spelt that out.

PomBears.. that's a hell of a dripfeed... it changes your thread completely and you are, indeed, in the clear now.

Well your last post changes everything, send her a copy of the email and no refund.

Well there's a pointless thread.

I don't like dripfeeding,especially when it comes out to shows everyone to be wrong after the op clearly was.

Surely as a 'business' owner you would check all that first rather than whinging about a customer on a public forum?

Hmm

Well there's a drip feed.

I don't believe that somebody would 'forget' that the sponge had been agreed at the outset. There have been a few hundred posts on this thread on that subject and it should have jolted the OP's memory. It didn't.

I'm out now as this is just a thread to beat up the bride. Bad form, PomBears, very bad form. Please get the thread deleted because the bride has been very much criticised on this thread because of you when really it's been a non-issue all along, you had everything you needed to refute her claim and do it in a respectful manner. You chose not to. What was this thread for exactly?

I make cakes as a hobby and am friends with many professional bakers. I honestly think you're at fault here, even in light of the later mentioned email. When you are a progressional cake maker, it's your responsibility to clarify what the customer wants. 'Black cupcakes'to me means black sponge. 'Cupcakes with black buttercream or black icing' means exactly that. If anyone Orders cupcakes then you should be clarifying what flavour sponge they require and whether they require buttercream swirls or fondant icing on top and how they want this to look. Tbh, if they wanted photo toppers I'd be more inclined to think fondant would look better. Obviously at this point the customer may have said 'actually, I don't want any iving on top' and then it is your job to explain any technical difficulties with this.

As she had already mentioned coloured sponge, I would actually be more inclined to think she wanted black sponge, knowing how difficult (and maybe dim) some people can be.

What a bloody drip feed!
Ffs