Thursday, February 11, 2010

Cake Tasting #5

By cake tasting number 5, I was a little discouraged. Everything was ending up over our price range, and we just hadn't found a vendor that was the complete package: taste, price, design and customer service. We had met with two really great options, but one was over our price range, and the other tasted good, but not great. Then there were the other two which were definite no's from the start.

I was hoping to use a vendor out of RI, but after 4 strike outs, I decided on a whim to call Konditor Meister, who had done Sister Newport's Wedding Cake. I had already gone on a tasting with them for Sister Newport's wedding and loved it. It was the best tasting I have been on. I couldn't remember their starting price per slice and had no idea what their delivery fee was. I wasn't too hopeful about it, just pretty desperate.

Michael Sparks Keegan photography

I asked a couple of my bridesmaids to accompany me to the tasting. They had an opening the following Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

When we arrived, we met with Meghan, my cake consultant. I showed her my cake inspiration. She checked on pricing and I was extremely surprised to find out it was in our budget! She checked the delivery fee, and with that included, the cake was still in our budget. Pretty much right on point.

The tasting started off on a high note. I already knew I loved their flavors, but it didn't stop us from digging in. We tried....

  • yellow cake with lemon mousse
  • chocolate cake with oreo filling
  • chocolate cake with chocolate filling
  • red velvet cake with cream chese filling
  • carrot cake with cream cheese filling
  • tiramisu cake
  • white cake with strawberry grand marnier filling
  • chocolate cake with rasberry mousse filling
  • yellow cake with banana cream filling

It was just as last time, delicious!

After we had dug in to the cakes, another consultant stopped by with bride and groom chocolate covered strawberries.

I knew for sure, we had to look no further. The cakes taste amazing, the price was right, and the customer service was unparalleled. I sent Mr. Newport a text (he was at work), saying "I found our baker!"

Before leaving, I booked a second appointment for the following Saturday to take Mr. Newport, Newport Mom, and Sister Newport to finalize our flavor choices and make a deposit.

As we left, Meghan, our cake consultant gave me a box of pastries to congratulate us, boxed up our leftover cakes (I didn't want them to go to waste!), and 4 cookie favors to test out.

After a great experience, I was looking forward to bringing Mr. Newport to our final tasting. I still can't get over the customer service. They really know how to make a bride feel special!

Did you go on any vendor visits with exceptional customer service?

6 comments:

Aylee Bits said...

Yay! Congrats on the check! We're using Konditor Meister too! We have gone to 3 bakers in RI and 2 in MA, and I was surprised that Konditor Meister was cheaper than any of the other bakers I went to (except the one with a dummy cake of course). And I've always loved their cakes :)

starfish said...

I still can't believe that they were cheaper too! What flavors did you go with? We are going tomorrow to make the final decision.

GM said...

That's great! Can't wait to see what design you choose :o)

Shannon said...

Wow that sounds like a fabulous tasting! Ours went well but we didn't get to try nearly as many flavors or get the extra goodies that you did. Congrats, can't wait to see how it turns out!

Aylee Bits said...

We chose strawberry grand marnier and chocolate mousse. I may have to schedule another appointment to finalize our flavors tho.

starfish said...

@ Ayleebits I recommend a second tasting. You can call ahead special flavors if you want to try them. We did that for two of our flavors. I'll be doing a final post soon! Strawberry Grand Marnier was one of our choices though, it is soo good!