A month or so ago, we posted a story about a bride whose mother canceled her daughter's wedding cake without telling her. "As far as I am concerned, the wedding is off," said the mother. I can only imagine what events may have lead up to this action.
In any case, the wedding is NOT off. The bride came in with her fiancé a week ago to confirm and pay for the cake. Luckily for us, she already knew what her mother had done. It would have been REALLY uncomfortable if we were the bearers of the bad news.
The whole event played out EXACTLY as her mother had predicted. The daughter asked could she just pay the balance due? No. Could she pay us, and we reimburse her mother for the deposit? I explained the non-refundable aspect of our deposit policy, but suggested that if she repaid her mother, we could transfer her mother's "credit" back to the wedding cake. She said she was speaking with her mother and that would be OK. I re-wrote the contract with her in the driver's seat, asking if there was anything she wanted to change.
"No, same wedding, different management" was her reply.
Before she left, I reminded her that should her mother not be "OK" with this arrangement, I would have to ask her for the deposit. She agreed to give her mother the money, so I watched her walk out of the shop and waited.
A few days later, while I was working in the back office, I overheard a lady's voice say "I have a deposit to use." Uh-oh. I immediately walked out to the front and it WAS her, the mother of the bride-to-be, wanting to spend the deposit from the canceled wedding cake. What an awkward moment.
Me: Uh, have you spoken with your daughter lately?
Her: I just dropped her off at work.
Me: Umm, well, she asked us if she could pay us the deposit so we could reimburse you, and I had to tell her no, but I told her SHE could repay you and we could apply your deposit back to her cake, which is what she said she wanted to do.
Her: Oh. (Really long pause...)
Me: I told her that if you were not OK with it, she would have to come back in. What would you like us to do?
Her: Well, I'll just pay for this (some muffins, cheese straws, and cookies).
Me: OK, just let us know. I didn't have your phone number (which is true, it was the daughter's cell phone number on the original contract, even though the mother had paid the deposit and signed the contract), or I would have called you to be sure it was alright.
Her: That's OK, I'll call her when I get home.
Potential crisis averted. For some strange reason, I don't think this is over yet. There is still a month before the wedding.
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