We are getting married in a smallish town in N.Z but living in Melbourne. We went over for two weeks in June to get everything booked, it was a bit of a rush but we did it. We were amazed at how unproffesional so many places were, the were two cake places advertised in the yellow pages. One of these was a lady working from home and was never home to make an appointment. The other was a very good baker but only had the choice of chocolate, carrot, banana or fruit and never returned our phone calls. We finally managed to find a third choice, an extremely good french bakery that makes beautiful cakes. We met with the owner/head baker he was fantastic, so friendly and enthusiastic. We soon had our dream cake created. Three layes plus an extra cutting cake, White choc mud, normal choc mud, marble mud and a fruit for the grannies. He even asked who our florsit was so he could get the chocolate curls and icing to match the flowers on top! He said he would email a quote through and no need for a deposit (i thought a little strange but small town and florists and photographer had only wanted $50 each) We flew home and the waiting begain. After a few weeks i sent an email then got busy with work and suddenly realised 2 months had gone by. I sent a second email and finally got a reply saying they had sold the business in July!!!!!
You what???! we booked at the end of June there is not possiable way you didnt know you were selling! Why is the website still in your name, why is the email "sales@------bakery" going to you?!

they claimed they had passed everything on to the new owners, really? cos i finally managed to contact them and they know nothing! we just had to try and remember everything about it. diameters of layers, colours etc we have no idea what the icing was called. Its so hard to explain what you want when typing. we have a pic but we have no gaurantee the new owners are any good. The new owner typed in very bad broken english, does she understand what im explaining? There's a really good bakery near my parents but that means the cake will be travelling 4 hours in a car, 4 hours over hills and around tight bends, is it worth the risk?

Sorry for the essay guys, im just in shock, i dont understand why they weren't honest and said they were selling.

Oh no! How stressful for you.

Do you think you could give the new baker a call and ask them to repeat back to you what you requested? Perhaps also request they fax/email to you all those details (rather than have them reply and agree). They need to clearly state what they will be doing for you.

If you don't feel confident enough in their abilities you've got seven months. Depending on the cake, aspects of this can be made in advance (not so much the decorating part). Is it an April wedding? If the cake is to travel that far at least it won't be in the peak of summer. My sister in law's cake travelled 3 hours in a car on a 40 degree day and it was ok.

I know what you mean about the hills and windy roads (I'm from the South Island) but with enough care and travel advice from the baker near your parents you may just get there. I'd be contacting them as it's good to weigh up the options and see what you have to work with.

I worked with a woman who used to courier highly decorated wedding cakes interstate and they always arrived completely fine.

Keep us updated as to how you get on.

Oh no! I would be so upset and angry also.
Hope that it all works out for you- at least you found out fairly early, imagine only finding out two weeks beforehand!

Do you have any friends or fsmily that you could rope into going in and having a look at the new owners - to get an idea of what they are like??

Hope you can work it out.

oh that sucks. To give the previous owners of the bakery benefit of the doubt there is a good chance that they actually did hand all the details over to the new owners, but if the new owners are new to the business, its likely that they lost them/forgot about them etc as they are probably a bit overwhelmed and still getting used to running a business.

Having said that, the previous owners would've known they were selling when they saw you in June! So poor form on their part!

If you have a good rapport with your florist over there, why not ask her to go suss out the new owners (if you don't have anyone else to do it like Jenni suggested.)

I just wanted to tell you about my uncle's wedding cake. My Great Aunty was a very skilled cake decorator. She made cakes for everyone int he family with all sorts of delicate lace icing etc. She lived in Canberra. She made the cake for my uncle who got married in January in Sydney (we're talking 25 + years ago) when the drive from Canberra was long and hot.

The cake was properly packed and arrived perfectly. The layers were assembelled after it arrived though.

So if you HAVE to get the cake make near your mum to make the cake, then it wont be so bad.

Having said that, I am sure the new people will do a good enough job, and in the scheme of things it doesnt really matter if colours dont match perfectly etc. I am sure your day will come together beautifully.

sounds like it could work out for the best .... it doesn't sound like the previous owner was all that organised, imagine he didn't sell the business and you didn't find out he'd lost your order until the day of your wedding ! could be a blessing in disguise