Weddingbee boards

Hi Bees - I had my wedding on July 2nd in Rochester, NY. It was a wonderful day. However, we did have huge problems with our cake baker/decorator. It was a horrible experience. I was a destination bride. I live in Los Angeles, but was married in Rochester. My sister-in-law graciously offered to take care of the cake for us because she lives in town. Below is a review from my sister-in-law who dealt with the brunt of this craziness. I just wanted to share so other brides can learn from our experience. Wedding planning is so stressful and this vendor left me in tears just a few days prior to my wedding. If someone shared the below with me, I would have thought they were exaggerating, but unfortunately it really happened. I tried to upload the review into the review section, but the vendor is not there. Hope it helps someone.

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Vendor:

Club 86

Geneva, New York 14456

http://www.club86partyhouse.com/cakes.htm

I cannot recommend Lori Legott or Club 86. I have never been so disappointed and frustrated with a vendor. I had a horrible experience. Just a few days prior to a wedding, I had to find a new cake baker and decorator because Lori stated she could no longer do what she had promised. She caused a lot of unneeded stress and frustration due to her lack of follow-through, lack of communication, and lack of professionalism. These are things a bride and groom should never have to experience just prior to their wedding.

I know that things come up that just can't be helped, but with Lori it was just one thing after another.

I was ordering the cake for my brother and now sister-in-law. They are from out of town, but decided to come back to the area to have their wedding. To ease their stress, I took care of the cake.

Many months prior to the wedding, a first consult was scheduled with Lori. The intent of the meeting was to meet with Lori, taste-test the cakes, and discuss how the cake should be designed. When we arrived, Lori was not there. Did she forget? I don't know. Per the employee, the appointment was on the books. An employee had to call her to remind her of the meeting. She showed up an hour later. Additionally, there were no cake samples ready for us to test. An employee found one flavor of cake for us to test while we waited that hour for Lori to arrive. When Lori did finally show, there was no apology. I should have left and cut my losses then. However, I realize miscommunications and mistakes within a small business can happen. I gave the business the benefit of the doubt.

During the consult, I gave Lori a picture of the cake the bride wanted duplicated. It was a fondant cake with lace sugar work and a sugar bow. Lori stated that she could schedule a final meeting with the bride and groom upon their arrival in town. She said she would be able to create anything we envisioned. This was not true.

Getting to the final consult was also a frustrating process. We had scheduled an appointment for the Monday prior to the Saturday wedding. The appointment had been set far in advance. I contacted Lori to confirm the appointment a week prior. Lori responded that she was out of town until that Wednesday evening. Here was the problem with that.....if I hadn't contacted Lori, I never would have known that she was not in town and would have made a wasted trip. I expressed concern about having a final consult just a few days prior to the wedding. Lori stated that it was not a problem and she would have plenty of time to make the cake desired. This was not true.

So we finally make another trip to Geneva a few days prior to the wedding. The one cake that the bride and groom wanted and had waited months to sample was red velvet. I specifically requested that red velvet be available on our final consult. But it wasn’t there; one of the employees had eaten it. Lori was also late, once again. So, again more miscommunication and lack of samples.

Upon the final consult, Lori asked the bride what cake design she wanted. We gave Lori the same picture shown to her months prior. This is the same picture which should have been in Lori's files. Lori unapologetically stated, 'I don't work with fondant'. 'I don't work with sugar'. We were shocked. Not at any point did Lori state she couldn't create the design we showed her months ago. The bride wanted a fondant cake with sugar work. If Lori had stated she did not work with fondant, we would have moved on to another baker.

I can't fault Lori or this business for not having the skill to create the cake we wanted. However, she should have communicated this fact and been honest with us from the beginning.

Lori provided the bride with her book of cakes. Lori stated we could pick a style and she would make it. The cakes were very basic and many were extremely dated. They were not skillful in design, but rather more homemade in appearance. The bride was not happy, but selected a plain three-tier cake with three or four orchids. Lori stated – ‘I can't do that one. We don't have the time.’ The bride picked another cake. Lori replied again – ‘I can't do that one. I don't have the time.’ Finally, the maid of honor (MOH) flatly said to Lori - "do you even bake cakes here." Thankfully, the MOH brought some humor into the situation. We had a bride in tears, the groom was so frustrated he had to walk outside, and myself and the MOH were furious. If Lori had kept the original appointment on Monday, would she have been able to make the cakes represented in her own book? I don't know. I still can't believe what we went through.

I do have to say the taste of the signature strawberry cake was very good. I had previously tasted it and this was the reason we pursued this frustrating ordeal.

We ended up finding another baker, 3.5 hours away from my home. We wasted an entire day to try to ensure the bride and groom would have a cake on their wedding day. The cake we did end up with was not ideal. But, honestly, a few days prior to a wedding, you get what’s available. We would have definitely gone with a different vendor had Lori had been honest with us from the beginning.

In a few years, I hope we will all look back at this an laugh. This is the only thing that went wrong with the wedding, which is a plus. Sadly, it was a huge frustration. I am still in shock that this actually happened and a business operates in this manner.

Overall

•Quality of Service - 0/5. There was no customer service. There was no communication. Lori was an hour late to our first meeting and late to the second as well. It's a very oddly run business.

•Responsiveness - 0/5. Lori's responsiveness is horrible.

•Professionalism - 0/5. There is nothing professional about the above ordeal. I have never been so disappointed in a business.

•Value - The prices were low and signature strawberry cake is delicious. The value for design quality is 0, however.

•Flexibility - 0/5. Completely non-existent

@bRooklynRocks: Thank you. Being OOT really brings a new level of stress, doesn't it? :) I was really shocked by their business practices and lack of professionalism. But, at the end of the day, this is the only thing that went wrong. So, maybe we were lucky :) Hope your day was amazing!

@Mrs.ChubbyBunny:Thank you! We are lucky we had no other mishaps. And, at the end of the day, the cake is just a small piece. The lack of honesty still astounds me, but DH and I can laugh about everything now. All the craziness has turned into a funny and strange story. The funniest piece for us is that the employee ate all our cake samples. You're right - they definitely need to work on their business model. They have a nice little bakery and sandwhich shop, which I would likely love in other circumstances. They really should not be involved in weddings - they don't seem to have a focus on planning or organization which is really needed for larger events.

@dani ddha: I am a baker/cake decorator/pastry chef.

What she did was completely unexceptable. It should take no more than 36 hours (including complete cooling time) to make a wedding cake...and even that is stretching it.

Technically a three tiered cake can be done in less than 24 hours (4 hours at the very most if the cake is cooled already). The 4 hours is also for an elaborate decoration or theme. Otherwise a 3-tier cake can be assembled and frosted in 2 hours (or less).

Any sugar pieces, gum paste flowers, etc can be made in advance. Icing/frosting/piping frosting can be made in advance as well. I prefer to make the cake/sponge a day in advance, this allows for proper cooling and firm up a bit before being cut and filled (and allows for a crumb coat beforehand to really help set/firm the cake). 

Unless her bakery burned down, the oven exploded or something else horrendous happened she had absolutely no excuse (she could have called you weeks/months ago to say she would be unable to fulfill the cake order).

I am so sorry this happened to you and your SIL! Thank goodness this is the only thing that soured the wedding!