A bride was left horrified after she ordered her wedding cake from a bakery and received something far from what she had requested.
Sharing her experience on the Reddit Wedding Shaming forum, the woman said the bakery made matters worse by refusing to refund the cake, which was clearly the wrong color.
“I’m livid. We pick up our cake ON my wedding day and the color is so off,” she said.
“We asked for a shade of dusty blue and sent two references for the color. It’s so ugly.”
She then posted photos comparing her inspiration images with what she actually received, highlighting the many issues, including the color mismatch.
Not only was the cake a much darker shade of blue, but elements from the ethereal inspiration photo, like being covered in dainty flowers, were missing.
Instead, just four randomly placed single flowers adorned the cake.
Fortunately, the bride’s sister stepped in at the last minute to “save” the cake, with the bride confirming she did an “amazing job”.
She lightened the icing, added white draping, and placed a ‘Mr and Mrs’ cake topper on top. She also included more delicate-looking flowers to better match the original brief.
Despite getting close to her dream cake in the end, the bride still wanted a refund from the bakery, but they refused.
“The lady on the phone was so rude and condescending,” the poster claimed.
“She told us to take pictures of the cake next to our wedding decor so she could make sure ‘it ACTUALLY didn’t match’.
“Well, we took pics alright. The first two photos are our reference images. I’ll let you guess which picture after that was the ‘before’ from the bakery and which was the one my sister fixed.”
Reddit users quickly sympathized with the bride.
“That dusty blue in the inspo is SO beautiful I’m so sorry they didn’t deliver for you. Props to your sister,” said one user.
“Yeah, she’s a miracle worker,” added a second.
Some others, less impressed, believed the bakery’s cake was actually better than what the sister made, even though it was the wrong color.
“She draped fabric on the cake???” one commenter asked.
“I’ve never been to a wedding where it looks like the cake is getting married,” quipped another.
“This is a super weird fix. I get the color was off, and OP should get a discount, but it’s otherwise a nice cake. The fixed cake looks a mess and the fabric is a head-scratcher,” wrote another user.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just horrendous. The weird, glopped-on frosting and all those flowers are just bad,” someone else added.
According to Easy Weddings’ 2025 Australian Wedding Industry Report, couples now spend an average of $650 ($419 USD) on their wedding cake, a seven% rise from 2024.
Meanwhile, one of the top five stressors for couples planning a wedding is “finding reliable suppliers”.
