Weddings in North Carolina

The hopeful customers: my daughter and me. She’s been planning a modest (well, maybe not austere, but hopefully not luxury-priced) wedding and is researching, of course, on the internet, since she’s in California but is marrying here in North Carolina. Well, she’ll need a beautiful delicious wedding cake, right?

Anyway, she came across a high-class (apparently) cake baker and sent me a link to his site. We agree – his site is so arrogant and annoying we won’t consider contacting him.

What’s not to like? Check out this language from his website:

We invite you and one (1) guest to one complimentary cake tasting/consultation, by appointment, to sample our cakes and review our portfolio. We also request that the person who will make the final decision for your wedding cake be present at the tasting. Additional tastings are limited to weekdays, for a fee, and are subject to availability.

As a courtesy, we request a minimum of 48 hours notice should you need to cancel your appointment. If notice of an appointment cancellation or an appointment reschedule is not confirmed within 48 hours, and a revised appointment is requested, then a $25.00 tasting charge will be incurred.

At the conclusion of your consultation, we will provide you with an estimate of projected costs.

Consultations last for approximately one (1) hour and can be scheduled Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Prior to our meeting, we request that you have an event site, caterer and florist secured with deposits, as well as preliminary floral and theme decisions. We also strongly recommend that you determine your overall budget for your wedding cake prior to consultation. If your cake budget is undetermined, please contact us prior to consultation to evaluate our predetermined pricing packages. This collaboration will determine and promote a complimentary and successful understanding of any budget requirements and/or restrictions and ultimately determine if the consultation and tasting appointment should resume as scheduled.

If you desire to purchase a full-color rendering with 3-Dimensional details of your designed wedding cake prior to construction and the contract stage, please provide a check for $185.00 at the tasting/consultation appointment. After completion of the color board , you will be invited in for approval before advancing to the creative construction stage.

Maybe I’m naive, but especially in this economy I don’t think wedding merchants can afford to alienate potential customers. If my daughter and I wanted to bring her groom (well, fiance) to the cake testing, actually one of us would have to stay home?

My comment when I saw this site: “I bet we’d have to take out a second mortgage on the house to afford this cake.” And, as an experience old mom, I say life is too short to spend it dealing with irritable artisanal cake creators who assume you are not worthy of their artistic creations.

If you plan to separate the mother of the bride from a whole lot of money, you better be at least a little bit friendly and welcoming.

I went to a party in Greensboro today and met a woman whose daughter married at the Carolina Club a couple of years ago. The Carolina Club is on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, near the Bell Tower. This lady told me that graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can use the Carolina Club for functions, and the space is free – but you must use their food, drink, and service.

Her daughter’s wedding was for approximately 120 people, and they ended up paying the Carolina Club – for catering, service, and drinks – something in the neighborhood of $15,000. (Not including cake, see next paragraph.)

Mother of the bride: “They let us bring in a cake from the outside, but I had a friend who wanted to donate some wine and the Carolina Club would not allow it.”

I have done quite a few functions at the Carolina Club, including weddings. The approach is nice. Parking is not great but adequate. This would not be a difficult location for somebody in a wheelchair, because you can drive up near the lobby and I am pretty sure everything is on one level.

The lobby is impressive, the setup is high-class. As for the space – there is a big stage at one end of the room typically used, you can get an 8-piece ensemble up there, and the room is large enough that it can be partitioned. There is a nice back patio so people can wander in and out at will.

While I’m reporting, this MOB spent $2,000 on her daughter’s wedding dress and $5,000 on a photographer.