Terms & Conditions
Sometimes there are occasions when we need to discuss the nitty gritty of our technical details, recommendations and our terms of trading (also known as the boring bits). By paying your deposit it will be deemed that the terms are understood and accepted as applying to your order.
Coronovirus Update
If you have any concerns about the Coronovirus affecting your wedding, please do not hesitate to get in touch for our full coronovirus policy. We are monitoring the situation daily and are closed for production of cakes until the isolation requirement ceases and weddings are permitted to continue again. We have/will contact all brides we believe this will affect, but please get in touch if you have any further concerns and we will endevour to work with you as best we can in these difficult times.
Allergies & Special Dietary Requirements
Please discuss with us if any of your guests have special dietary requirements.
Cakes can be made gluten free / egg free / alcohol free / without nuts by request, please refer to our allergen information.
Please be aware that although these ingredients can be removed from the cakes, they are still used in our kitchens so we cannot guarantee that any of our cakes are completely free of all traces for people who are highly sensitive.
Edible Items
Most cakes contain small proportions of inedible items, it is the clients responsibility to ensure these are removed by your caterer/guests before consumption e.g. support dowels in tiered cakes, ribbon, wires in sugar flowers, Swarovski crystals, flower picks& flower tape (where fresh flowers are used).
Best Before Date
Your cake is baked to ensure it is fresh for the date of your event. After this date, we advise sponge cakes are frozen (in an air tight bag with a clip) as soon as possible to preserve it’s taste, otherwise, we cannot guarantee its quality if it’s consumed more than 48 hours after the event.
Our cakes are made entirely of natural ingredients, and are also exceptionally moist, so we’d like to remind you that because of this they will not have the extended shelf life of most supermarket cakes, which are not only drier but contain additives & preservatives to ensure their prolonged life. Please bear in mind that weather is unfortunately beyond our control, and hot weather can accelerate deterioration.
If you are collecting your cake, it should not be collected any earlier than the evening before your event, to ensure you’re able to benefit from the maximum life of the cake.
Storage Conditions
If you collect your own cake, it should be kept in a cool environment and NOT refrigerated, as refrigeration will cause condensation to form on the surface of the icing, and accelerate the staling of the cake, causing a tough dry texture.
Once home, the cake should be wrapped in an air tight bag with a clip to remove as much air as possible, before freezing for a maximum of 3 months.
Please bear in mind that freezing will affect the visual appearance of the icing, as condensation will form upon defrosting.
The cake should not be refrozen if defrosted, therefore it may be appropriate for you to cut it into convenient portion sizes before freezing, so that it can be defrosted on a per portion basis.
Storage & Shelf Life of High Risk Foods
In accordance with food hygiene regulations, high-risk foods such as cheese, cream & crème patisserie (e.g. in mousse, profiteroles, croquembouche) should only be on display unrefrigerated for 4 hours. If they are not eaten within this period they should be refrigerated & not brought back out for display.
If it is likely that you have such items (such as a cheese tower, croquembouche, dessert table with profiteroles) that will be on display for a time that exceeds this, and there is a period of time during your drinks reception when the cake is not required on display, please liaise with your venue to ensure they can refrigerate it upon delivery and put it out on display up to 4 hours before consumption. Please note that for a croquembouche, a walk in chiller will be required. After the wedding, items containing fresh cream should be disposed of and not consumed.
This advice is of most importance for vulnerable people i.e. elderly, pregnant, children. Soft, blue veined and unpasteurised cheeses should not be consumed by vulnerable people i.e. elderly, pregnant & children. It is your responsibility to provide labels for unpasteurized cheeses if appropriate.
Deposits
A non-refundable 50% deposit (total of the cake & delivery price) is required in order to secure the commission of your wedding cake and chosen date with Couture Cakes. For orders under £100, full payment is required to secure the date, and no later than 3 weeks before the event.
Payment
Payment is preferred by bank transfer to Santander, Katie Watts, account number 43204002, sort code 09-06-66. Please give your ref no (written on your quote) as the payment reference, and email us with confirmation of transfer in order to prompt acknowledgement of the payment.
Final payment for your wedding cake is required 1 month before the collection/delivery. It is your responsibility to remember to send this payment as a reminder invoice is not issued. Please label your payment with the brides surname and their reference number (from their quote).
To ensure efficient traceability of payments we prefer to avoid cheques. However if you are unable to pay by bank transfer, a cheque should be made payable to ‘Couture Cakes’ (not Katie Sanderson). Unfortunately we are unable to accept debit/credit cards.
Late Payments
If your deposit is not paid within 2 months of quoting then we reserve the right to cancel any previous arrangements.
If full payment is not received and cleared in our account 2 weeks prior to the event then the order will not be made and no refund of your deposit will be given.
Design Considerations – Alterations & Changes
It is your responsibility to read & check the quote thoroughly; any amendments should be made in writing.
If requested, we will endeavour to adjust the design where possible, but sometimes this is not possible according to the nature of the request or amount of notice given. If the alteration affects the cost, or preparation work for the original design has already been undertaken, then your balance will be adjusted accordingly. Please warn us when you pay your deposit if you are undecided on the design.
We reserve the right to change the design at any point if circumstances beyond our control, may compromise the quality of the finished cake e.g. melting of a chocolate cake or croquembouche due to weather.
Each cake is made individually by hand, so although every effort is made to ensure consistency, a small amount of variation may occur form the picture supplied.
Chocolate
We recommend caution if you are considering a cake decorated with chocolate for a summer wedding (May-September).
We cannot accept responsibility for any melting of the cake once it has left our possession, as we have no control over the environmental / venue temperature. We can however advise you of designs that are less susceptible to melting and do everything within our control to reduce the impact on the cake.
Home Baked Fruit Cakes
We are happy to ice your own fruit cakes (but not sponge cakes). However, we must ask that the cakes conform to our strict guidelines so that you can achieve an appropriate finished look and are not disappointed with the end result. Unless otherwise required for the design, each cake should be 4.5” deep, and be consistent increments in size (such as 6,8,10,12” sizes). Please enquire for further advise before baking the cake. If your cakes do not conform to these requirements a dummy cake will be used as a substitute and the fruit cake give to your venue for cutting.
We cannot be held liable for your own baked fruit cakes from a food hygiene perspective.
Delivery Conditions
Delivery charge is calculated on a mileage and time basis. Alternatively, cakes can be collected from our studio.
If you choose delivery, it is our intention that your cake will be delivered in perfect condition prior to the start of your reception.
However, we ask for patience with factors that may be beyond our control (e.g. traffic conditions) as we cannot be held liable in the rare occasion of any such delays. In some circumstances, we may recommend the cake is delivered 1 day in advance.
It is your responsibility to ensure you inform us of your correct ceremony and reception time plus the postcode of the venue.
In the unlikely event of late delivery, the maximum compensation will be a refund of the delivery price.
In the extremely unlikely event of serious damage due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. car accident during delivery that destroys the cake) we will endeavour to provide a replacement display cake for your cake cutting photo.
We cannot be held liable for any damage that is rendered to the cake at the venue once we have left the premises.
If you choose to collect the cake, we cannot be held liable for any damage to the cake once it has left our studio. Tiered cakes are most at risk during transport, so please seek our advice on how to transport it, and we highly recommend you check your wedding insurance covers cake damage. To ensure your cake is as fresh as possible, we recommend it is collected the day before the wedding.
If any damage does occur to the cake whilst in your possession, we would be happy to rectify the damage where possible. However it is your responsibility to ensure the cake is returned to us to enable the repair work to take place.
Late requests for delivery (after securing the booking based on collection) will be accommodated where possible, but cannot be guaranteed as earlier delivery commitments must take priority.
Fresh Flowers
We recommend that we have charge of the arrangement of flowers on our cakes as we cannot take responsibility for any damage rendered to the cake caused by a floral arrangement that was implemented by your florist.
If fresh flowers are used, the cake will be set-up as late as feasibly possible to ensure their freshness throughout the day.
Cake Table
Please ensure you make arrangements are made for the cake table, linen, cake stand and knife, which should all be set-up prior to our arrival. Failure to ensure this may mean we have to leave the cake with the event manager to assemble / move into position as appropriate (in order to keep to schedule for our next delivery).
Please take extra care to ensure a stable & level cake table if you are having a marquee wedding, as surrounding floorboards & dance floors can easily rock the cake when stood upon nearby.
Cake Stand Hire
Please make arrangements to ensure all items hired are returned within 5 days of the wedding.
The safety deposit should either be paid as a separate cheque, or into the separate designated holding account: Santander 09/01/27, 75355719. Without the safety deposit we are unfortunately unable to leave any hire items at the venue.
For the benefit of forthcoming brides requiring the items hired, it is imperative that we are strict with the security deposit policy should any issues occur. The value of your deposit value returned will be deducted in the following situations:
• Late return of the item (charged at £2 per day per item)
• Item returned dirty & requires cleaning (£3 charge per item)
• Item returned broken (full replacement charge). Please note that cake stands require plenty of protective packaging if returned by post. Apothecary jars should not be returned by post.
• We have to collect the item ourselves from the wedding venue (charge calculated on a per mileage basis)
Cake knives are usually supplied by your venue, so are not provided by Couture Cakes
Cancellation
If cancellation of the event takes places we reserve the right to retain your 50% deposit. If cancellation takes place 4 weeks before the event then we reserve the right to retain 100% of the value to cover the costs of production of the cake.
Cancellation must be made in writing (by letter or email) to Couture Cakes and will only be deemed to take effect from the date your letter/email is received at our premises.
We retain the right to cancel the booking in very unusual circumstances beyond our control, such as fire or ill health, during which we will refund any money taken in full. In the event of non-delivery due to circumstances beyond our control, no compensation will exceed the value of the cake.
Problems
We take feedback very seriously and adore hearing positive feedback from our lovely brides but we also appreciate honest and negative feedback as a crucial part of our continual development so that we can give you the best possible service.
If you have concerns about your cake, please make sure we are notified as soon as possible, such as upon delivery/inspection, so that we have the opportunity to rectify it in time for your event. Contact Katie on her mobile 07968 596912.
Assuring you of our best attention at all times. We take pride in the quality of our service and reputation for providing the best quality and service for wedding cakes in the region.
INFO
CONTACT
07968 596912
katie{at}couture-cakes.co.uk
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