Showing posts with label A Carefree Cupcake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Carefree Cupcake. Show all posts

Sunday, April 27, 2014

No Laughing, Bunny

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Susan and Dick were fabulous hosts, hauling our butts all over to get the last minute things we needed or wanted. One hot ticket item I could not find anywhere in Budapest was over the calf dress socks in brown. The black ones available were over $15 a pair, but most stores only sold them in packs of 3. 

Susan took us to a mall to find these evasive socks. Even in this state capitol, it took multiple store stops to find what we needed. On the way from one end of the mall to the other, we happened upon Chocolaterie Stam. Immediately, I recognized the name as the place where the bakers were going to order our cake toppers from. In fact, the chocolate version was in the window in various sizes. We stopped in to see if they had a white version just to get a sense of what ours would look like. They offered that in the white version, the colors are reversed, so the nose is brown. Just what we needed, a couple of brown nosers. Bad move!

We were informed that they only make the white bunnies by special order, but they had not received any special orders for 2 bunnies. Due to my insistence that they had to be wrong, the manager offered to call their other location to confirm our mishap. With the phone line busy, we suggested we shop and return for the final verdict.

Knots forming in my stomach, we did find the needed elusive socks by the third try. Now it was time for hunting rabbit and we returned to Stam. We were not greeted with any comforting facial expressions, which prepared us for the negative news. There was only one special order for 300 white bunnies, but they were picked up a week ago. Primal screams are totally unhealthy when one has to suppress them.

Back at Susan and Dick’s I called the baker. No answer - left a message after hearing “You may or may not have heard that we are moving…” We went to lunch, came back and I called the baker. No answer - left a message. Susan suggested we drive by their location, which was a comforting idea at the time. However, I knew they were in the process of moving, so the location could have been one of two sites. Dick assured us it was not a problem to swing by both.

As it turned out, they were right around the corner from each other. One was an old Victorian type house that was obviously vacated with a giant For Rent sign on the front porch. Shockingly, the second location has no association with a bakery of any sort; it was a coffee roasting company. We wanted to go in, but it was closed. The pressure was building and the panic started somewhere around my big toes and was flooding upward.

Back at the house, I checked the phone book, their website, their Facebook page, but all I could find were these two addresses. This was not comforting. If they were moving, where were they moving? If they were to have the 2 laughing bunnies, why weren’t they ordered? This was distressing, but there was nothing to do about it.

On Friday, I received an e-mail from the bakers. They were on track, if not on the ball, and all would be delivered on Saturday.

As it turned out, the cookies were boring yellow and white frosting and the bunnies were totally white without any flourish. At least we did have a cake.

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A Carefree Cupcake That Is Not So Carefree

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People kept asking me “So how does it feel to be back in the US?” 

Well, there were no fits of panic attacks, the sky did not turn red, white, and blue, I didn’t crumble into dust, and there were no marching bands playing Hail to the Queen. I guess it was rather uneventful on the whole, but totally eventful on the whole, if you get my meaning.

Actually, the entire time was surrealistic. There was this sense at times that I was astral projecting hovering over some other version of me, while experiencing my life just an observer. This could be partly due to the difficulties with the last piece of the wedding puzzle: the cake baker.

We had contracted with a company in Des Moines called A Carefree Cupcake a.k.a. Carefree Patisserie back in November. At that time, I gave them an approximation of the anticipated number of guests. I had also requested that they provide us with decorated cookies that looked like Easter eggs. They sent me a picture of what they could do, I modified their rendition and we settled on a design for both the cake and the cookies.

As the time approached, by March 1st, I started to reach out to them to inform them of the final numbers. At that time, we had 80 people attending; this meant modifications in the size of the cake as well as the number of cookies. Ron had said that he did not want two groomsmen on the cake, but would settle for two Easter bunnies. He said it in jest, but I thought it was a fun idea. This was not meant to be a stuffy affair, but one that was playful and light. The bakery was informed.

From mid-March to the final-final days, there was a breakdown in communication with the bakers – two sister-laws in business together. I would write, they would not answer. I would call, but only get their message machine. I would write to arrange a phone call, but not get a response. Two weeks went by without a whiff of their existence. I started getting nervous. Every other day, I would send a new e-mail hoping for some signs of life. Each time, the auto-responder would arrive in my mail stating there was no computer in the bakery due to flour and other flying particles. Guess they have not heard of an iPad before. Still there was no response to my reaching out. This continued to the point where I was questioning whether or not we should pick up cookies from the supermarket to serve in lieu of a wedding cake.

Finally, I received a message that they had us on their calendar; they were planning for 50 guests and had as many cookies planned. The cake was to be almond and they returned the wrong design. Oh, and they were in the process of moving. NOOOOOOO!!!!

Panic set in. The cake was not correct, the number of servings was not correct, the flavor was not correct. And so the cycle continued with calls unanswered, e-mails not responded to beyond an auto-responder and hives were about ready to erupt all over my body from stress.

Right before we left Budapest, the ladies sent an e-mail to arrange a call. With great restraint, I kept my anxiety under lock and key when we spoke, remaining polite and professional. We made the corrections and it seemed like a done deal with everything on track. That is until we reached Des Moines…

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