K&M’s Tithe Barn wedding
I’ve waited a long time to finally make K&M’s cake for their Tithe Barn wedding celebration. Over 28 months. And yet I so nearly couldn’t make it.
K&M first enquired in February 2019 – a world away from today’s ubiquitous phrases of ‘lockdown’, ‘social distancing’ and ‘new variant’. They really loved the style of my cakes and were delighted for me to create their bespoke wedding cake for their July 2020 Tithe Barn wedding celebration.
K&M’s bespoke cake sketch – Tithe Barn wedding
2020…
Fast-forward to March 2020, K&M were feeling uncertain but with four months still to go were remaining hopeful for their July 2020 wedding.
Late one evening in May 2020 I received an email from another client postponing their wedding to July 2021. I confirmed that I was free for their new date.
K&M’s wedding cake – Tithe Barn wedding
I love meeting all my couples and it’s a privilege to make any wedding cake. But it makes me particularly happy, as with K&M, when couples like my style of work, are keen to meet me and have me make their wedding cake. This is the way I like to work – making my own designs for couples drawn specifically to my work. So I was really looking forward to making K&M’s cake. As the above postponement could potentially clash with any postponement K&M may be forced to make, I thought it best to alert them. Just to let them know that if they were considering the same date a year later, I’d be unavailable on or around 31 July 2021.
The next day…
K&M informed me they were tied to certain alternative dates offered by their venue so they’d had to choose 30 July 2021.
Of all the cakes I was due to make in 2020, I now would never get to make theirs. I was unavailable. I was so disappointed. K&M were really hoping to keep me as one of the suppliers for their wedding. And I’d been really hoping to keep them. An emotional phone conversation with the couple ensued. K&M were desperate to work something out. To be fair and professional I gently explained I had no option but to honour the commitment I’d already made in my email to the other couple just a few hours earlier. But, I’d try to look into a solution.
Quality over quantity
You may think, hey, just do both, you’ll be fine, worry about it when the time comes. But after 12 years in business I know my limits. And I know I’m unwilling to compromise the quality of my work (or work/life balance) by taking on too many commissions. That’s nothing new for me – it’s the way I’ve always worked – quality over quantity every time. Compromising the quality of a couple’s wedding cake isn’t a risk I’m willing to take. Even in a pandemic. Especially in a pandemic when couples have already had to compromise so much.
So I reluctantly decided to delegate…
As the other couple’s cake was a large three-tier asymmetric design I’d always planned to assemble it on site. I researched the possibility of transporting assembled and decided it was safe to do so.
I much prefer to take full responsibility for delivering my clients’ wedding cakes to their venues. But, having decided to assemble in advance, I could perhaps now delegate the delivery to the only person I trust to do so on my behalf. My husband agreed to book the day off and deliver the cake for me. This now freed me up to devote the whole day to continuing with K&M’s wedding cake.
After an afternoon in excel preparing a planning sheet, although the 11 days would be very challenging, I was confident I was able to create both wedding cakes without compromising my quality of service. K&M were delighted!
“… it means so much that you’ll find a way to make our cake. There really is no one we’d rather have for the job.” K&M
They even sent me a box of gorgeous flowers by post to thank me. Despite being in the grip of lockdown I went to bed that night with a beaming smile on my face marvelling at the extreme kindness of some people.
2021
Fast-forward to January 2021. The other couple informed me they’d told me the wrong wedding date. What?! It didn’t clash with K&M’s wedding date after all. I thanked my lucky stars that my commitment to do everything I possibly can for my clients during this pandemic had made me commit to both couples. Imagine if I’d not done so only to find out 8 months later I was available for K&M all along?
I was always destined to make K&M’s cake. And now I was able to devote ALL my attention to it. It all worked out in the end.
Sugar flowers
I made lots of sugar flowers for the cake, firstly these blush sugar roses…
I filmed myself making the blue delphiniums – check out my instagram reel.
and my sea holly instagram reel.
I also made gypsophila… 
I can never resist putting together an arrangement for my Sugar Flower Portfolio…
Blush and blue wedding cake – Tithe Barn wedding
For their long-awaited Tithe Barn wedding, here’s K&M’s cake which (due to a typo) I nearly didn’t make! The couple chose Masala Chai, Caramel & Praline, Lavender & Pear, and Lemon cakes in a blush and blue colour palette with watercolour accents. 
Some close-ups…
More close-ups of the sugar flowers… 
Pretty gypsophila – which I also filmed – check out another instagram reel.
The couple asked me to include this hand piped detail inspired by some Venetian lace bought as a souvenir in Venice when M proposed…
I also filmed a short video of the cake up close, which you can view on instagram.
As a cake maker I’m on the periphery rather than in the thick of it like your photographer or make-up artist. And that’s fine – it’s where I’m used to being. But that doesn’t diminish my investment in your day. An investment so great that, whilst it’s always a huge relief and feeling of contentment to see your cake in situ at your venue… 
it’s weirdly bittersweet because it’s all over. 💙
Feedback
I received a lovely email thanking me…
and the couple also left the most amazing Google Review for which I’m incredibly grateful.💙
Bespoke wedding cake design
I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing these photos. If you’re wedding planning and they’ve inspired you to enquire about a bespoke wedding cake design for your special day I’d love you to get in touch!
With love, Amanda x
