We do a numerous amount of elopements at our B&B, and I really enjoy doing them, they are much more personal, and intimate and I feel like you really get to know the bride and groom and the ceremony is focused on their union.

As a part of our elopement package we provide a bouquet for the bride, a boutonierre for the groom, a cake and a bottle of sparkling cider for the two of them to enjoy. Previously I was making and decorating the cakes, but they just took too much time. I wanted a cake large enough that 6 – 8 people could all have a piece but small enough that if it was just the bride and groom they could save the top for tradition, and have plenty of cake to enjoy. I had thought I had found the perfect place. The cakes were delicious, they were small, lots of flavors, simply decorated and reasonably priced. I had email correspondence with whom I am not sure, I don’t know if she was the owner, head decorator, or what, but was assured if I needed to order one that wasn’t a problem they could do them in any flavor, they just needed a couple of days lead time.

So our first couple of elopements we had since then were a tad bit last minute to say the least. One of them I had one day’s notice. So when I went in there I just picked up what they had in the case. We have another elopement coming up and had more lead time so I assumed that I place an order, they are a bakery after all, it is all they do! So Nathan and I went in yesterday and said we needed to place an order for their mini two tier cake. The gal said she didn’t think that they took orders for those, and I said, I have talked to xxxx and she assured me I could with a couple of days advance notice. So the gal at the counter dug through the case and found one that was white cake with raspberry filling and said, “One like this right?” I said yes that is what we would like to order, and she said, “Ok I will go talk to xxxx.” XXXX was sitting in the back, didn’t even come out or stand up looked at the cake and shook her head and had a conversation with the gal from the counter and she came back. The gal said, “She only does these for fun when she feels like it, she doesn’t take orders, she said you can take what we have in the case, this one has been frozen.” My reply. “No thank you, I would rather make the cake myself.” And we walked out.

EXCUSE ME!? Only makes them when she feels like it? Is this not a business? Is a bakery not in the business to bake cakes, to order if they need to be?

So I was resigned to making the cake myself. I thought about going to search for smaller cake pans so I could make smaller tiered cakes, and looking for recipes for german chocolate cakes. While I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, a fellow innkeepers called and I was lamenting to her. She said that she has her cakes done at Top Foods and they do a fabulous job and the cakes taste great.

Well what do you know, we have a Top Foods in Olympia, so off I went and they were fabulous! I told them my dilemma and they worked with me to find a solution. They typically don’t do cakes as small as I was looking for, usually the smallest is a 4″ round, so they were trying to figure out if they could do a 4″ with a 2″ top by using a cupcake, but their cupcake pans are not square on the bottom, they taper in. So what they are doing is a 6″ round with a 4″ round top, decorated as a wedding cake should be, and for not that much more than I was paying for the other cakes. Before I was paying $25 for a cake that would at a stretch feed 6 -8 people, and this cake will be $50 and will feed at least 18. She did give me a bit of a pricebreak on it as I didn’t really think it needed to be fully decorated, just simple white frosting, but she said her cake decorator wouldn’t know what to do with herself if it didn’t have decoration on it. The downside, they don’t have as great a flavor selection, which is a bit of a disappointment, but I would much rather support someone who will work with me and listen to me, than someone who “Only does cakes for fun when she feels like it.”

I sent an email to XXXX yesterday telling her how dissatisfied with her establishment I was, and that I would not be getting any of my cakes from her, nor would I be sending any of my wedding couples or anyone else to her for that matter, and I have also pulled off all of her information from our website and our literature we give our brides and I won’t be going back there. I don’t care how good your cakes are, if you have horrible customer service, why would I want to support you or send one of my wedding couples there, so they can be abused as well? So far I have not gotten a response, and frankly I don’t expect I will, why would I, apparently the focus of their business is not customer service! But if you don’t have customer service, pretty soon you won’t have customers!

I haven’t put the name of the bakery or the individual who I spoke with, pending a response from them, but let me assure you I will tell you who they are privately and if I ever get a response or time goes by and I never get a response I will be adding their information in.