The Artistic Whisk, LLC

I really appreciate you bringing this issue to my attention on December 23rd, 2022. In fairness and as my business practice, I have to show the side of my story by showing the reply I sent you on December 24th, 2022. Your deposit is non-refundable. I am willing to give you your full balance back. I find this review very unreasonable. It was a beautiful cake and delicious. I have photos of it and will use it for our social media purpose. All the best, Arlene The Artistic Whisk <info@theartisticwhisk.com> Sat, Dec 24, 4:30 PM (5 days ago) to Kaylee, me Dear Kaylee, First of all, my sincere apologies for not meeting your design standards for the wedding cake we delivered. I'm very sorry for this. I apologized when you said something and the best I could tell you at that moment as your wedding photographer was there was, "I'm so sorry!" Kaylee, I never thought that I would hear from you. I didn't know that you would be very upset about your wedding cake as it looks great! Your cake was very lovely and it was made generously. It may not exceed your design expectations, but it's still a beautiful cake. As the owner of The Artistic Whisk, I believe in providing the utmost customer service. Therefore, I wanted to appreciate your candor and honesty about how you felt about your wedding cake's design. Although, I also believe that asking for a full refund is unreasonable. We have been around for 9 years and followed our standard protocols on customer service, and I can't give you a full refund. (a) The transaction or agreement we had will be governed by the contract you signed in order to book your date. The Artistic Whisk contract says that the "deposit fee is nonrefundable" in order to secure your wedding date. Unless, the wedding cake order was canceled by the bride (4) four weeks prior to their wedding date. Hence, you don't get a full refund, and your wedding cake was delivered and served to your guests. In the contract, "To reserve your wedding date, we require an initial deposit to secure the wedding date. This deposit does not include a cake or dessert bar set-up and delivery charges, or round-trip mileage charges." In the wedding industry, it's a standard practice in their contracts to have a nonrefundable deposit in order to secure their wedding date. These wedding industry professionals are like wedding photographers and florists etc. (b) I'm willing to give some refund back on the decoration and materials cost as a courtesy. And, you were unhappy with the outcome of the color being darker and its gradation (ombre). Our head decorator made some slight changes to make it much better...he wanted the gradation of seafoam to dusty blue ombre color to have more contrast from the white shells and sand on the second and bottom tiers. Our brides have trusted us as experts in designing the wedding cake of their dreams. I'm really sorry that you weren't happy with the darker colors, ombre, and organic buttercream wave patterns on your wedding cake. Also, the design that you paid for only has a cake topper with the color ombre and organic wave patterns in buttercream. The rest of the decorations I didn't charge you for. Otherwise, it would be on the invoice itemized by the number of shells and decoration time. I've been very generous to you for adding all these shells and the sand for each tier. I want it to be a beautiful cake!!! :) (c) Based on my (2) two emails RE: fondant versus buttercream waves, here are a couple of email snippets I sent you. "The ruffles will be more organic than this photo." And, "I wanted to let you know that the ruffles will take about an hour ($100) and the ombre is 1/2 hour ($50) in Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The original wedding cake photo you sent me was done in fondant, and that will take about 3 hours ($300) just for the ruffles. So, I will send an invoice just for the ruffles done with buttercream." I know you're very unhappy with your wedding cake color gradation and how our head decorator made the color gradation and ruffles in buttercream. I did warn you that the photo you supplied me is done in fondant, and it will cost an extra 3 hours. Hence, we will try our best to make it as close as possible but it will be done in organic ruffles to mimic the look. The best I can do is give you a full balance refund back on the cake to cover the decorations, colors, and material cost even if I didn't charge you on the shells and the sand from the invoice. Your wedding cake was served at the reception and the guests ate it. Kaylee, I am so sorry about not being able to meet your expectations. We are constantly working hard to provide high-quality wedding cakes for our customers, and our decorators take their craft very seriously. Unfortunately, the colors and the ruffles design in buttercream didn't meet your standards. I will refund you the $208.57 you paid for your deposit. The total was $588.75 and $171.60. Total Cake Set up & Delivery ($145.00 The Bellwether Round-Trip Gas Mileage $26.60). From the invoice: Top Tier - Design $0.00 Design: Smooth with Piped Pearls (no charge) Color: Buttercream Middle Tier - Design $30.00 Design: Ruffles in Buttercream (included in Simple Sweet) Color: ($15) Seafoam and ($15) Dusty Blue in Ombre (included in Simple Sweet) Bottom Tier - Design $15.00 Design: Smooth with Piped Pearls (no charge) Color: Dusty Blue ($15) Buttercream Please let me know if it's alright for me to give the refund back to your credit card via Square or Venmo. May you have a wonderful happy holiday with your loved ones! All the best, Arlene Aranzamendez