Cake Designers: Wedding Cake Designer Spotlight

It’s Spotlight day, where we introduce you to Orlando’s wedding vendor, Patty from Cake Designers, and share the stories behind the company.

When people ask “what do you do”, how do you answer?

I am a wedding cake designer. I design wedding cakes that are customized for each couple.

How did your work evolve to get you to where you are today

I’ve been designing wedding cakes for over 35 years.

How did your work evolve to get you to where you are today?

I was a Wilton Method Cake Decorating instructor for 11 years. I taught hundreds of the art of cake decorating and my students referred their family and friends to me to make their wedding cakes. Over the years I’ve entered cake competitions and have placed in the top 3, Won Best in Show and 2 Cake Designer Showdowns.

What is your favorite thing about what you do? What’s your WHY?

Helping brides design their wedding cake so it’s unique to them. It is not just a cookie-cutter cake that everyone looking for a wedding cake has seen on Pinterest, some other website, or even the grocery store.

Tell us about your most memorable event so far and why it was.

I made a Birthday cake for Grammy Award Winner Chubby Checker. He sang the 1961 song “Let’s Twist Again”

What’s the best part of your job?

Helping a bride to bring her dream wedding cake to life and seeing that sparkle in her eye. Then, I know this is her wedding cake for sure.

What motivates you to do this every day?

The love of cake decorating

What fun fact would people be surprised to learn about you?

My maiden name is Wright and I learned to fly an airplane at the age of 16.

What is the best compliment you’ve received from your clients?

The cake was more beautiful than I ever imagined, I love you!

How did you decide on the name of your company?

I wanted the name to be clear as to what I do. I’m a cake designer!

What is important for clients to know about your company before they book you?

I pay attention to detail. Our cakes are level with straight sides, the designs are even, the cakes are made fresh for every wedding, and we are on time with the wedding cake deliveries.

What is the most unique service/product you offer?

I specialize in custom tiered Wedding, Quinceanera and Anniversary cakes

What makes your business stand out from others in your category?

I love “Bling” My tag line is “If Bling is your thing, give us a Ring”. The wedding day is the day the bride shines and we can incorporate that shine on the cake.

Tell us about your ideal client.

My ideal client is someone who wants a custom design tiered cake. When we meet, the client and I design the cake that’s unique to them.

Why do couples hire you?

I think during the consultation they feel a level of comfort. They’ve never chosen a wedding cake before and are a little scared. I give them lots of options and help them design the wedding cake of their dreams. We make the consultation/taste testing appointment fun!

Why do you think your business is successful?

I provide an excellent product. I want my brides’ wedding cake to be the quality of the wedding cake I expected for my personal wedding cake. Lots of hard work.

What is your best piece of advice for someone that just got engaged?

After you have locked in your date by booking your wedding venue now it’s time to do your research on your vendors. Check out their reviews on Weddingwire.com or Theknot.com.

What are the most common questions you get asked by brides and/or grooms?

How much does a wedding cake cost?  When should I order my wedding cake?

What do you think are the biggest misconceptions that people have about your vendor category?

“Wedding cakes are cheap, after all, they are only flour and eggs.” What people don’t consider is the education it takes to provide a quality professional wedding cake. Most 100-serving wedding cakes will take a minimum of 10 to 15 hours to create. Wedding cakes are not necessarily ingredient expensive, but they are labor expensive. As with any job, you would want to get paid for your labor. That’s why we have jobs. As for a cake decorator we want to get paid for what we do also. Remember, “the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

Name some venues that you enjoy working at and why

Crystal Ballroom – all 4 of them: Elegant, bling venues. The staff is so nice, they’re very welcoming and as a vendor, they are attentive to anything I might need. They are easy to load into and set up at. It doesn’t matter if you delivered a cake the day before, they always greet you like you’re a long lost friend they haven’t seen in a long time.

Diamond L Venue, Deltona:  Susie and her family have a beautiful barn venue on 3000 acres. When I arrive with the cake, I know I’ll be greeted like I’m family. The barn is air-conditioned, so no worries about leaving a buttercream iced wedding cake on a hot Florida day. The venue is easy to get to and load-in with the wedding cake is always easy.

What some of their previous couples had to say….

“Wedding Cake was absolutely stunning! From the moment I met Patty, I knew she was not just another cake baker. She is an experienced, caring person who made my daughter’s wedding cake vision a reality. The cake turned out exactly how my daughter envisioned and was just as moist as the samples we had at our cake tasting appointment. Patty even made sure the cake was set up in the right location on the cake table with the perfect background so the bride and groom would have the best possible pictures! The cake was absolutely stunning! I would highly recommend Cake Designers for your special cake. You won’t be disappointed!” – Joan I.

“Incredible experience. Patty and Terry are not only very professional and courteous, but they sure do know what they are doing. It all started with a wonderful consultation that went over our vision. Different cakes, cake flavors, frostings, and icings were laid out for us to try, and Patty literally drew our cake for us and broke everything down. We could not believe our eyes when we saw how beautiful our wedding cake was. It shined, looked good, smelled good, and even our venue servers stated they’ve never seen a cake so beautiful. Out of everything we offered at our wedding, the cake definitely stole the show. We will definitely be doing business with Patty again!!!!” – Rey Z.

“Patty Ames for President! It’s really hard to put into words just how great my experience was working with Patty Ames Cake Designers. My decorator/florist, who has obviously worked on many weddings before, could not stop raving about how beautiful my wedding cake was and how amazing it tasted. He even went as far as saying that the cake I had for my wedding was by far the most gorgeous cake he has ever seen and quite honestly, I could not agree more.

From the moment I began working with Patty, she was very well organized and so professional. At a very reasonable price, I bought a 5 tier wedding cake with 4 additional 8in round cakes, all of which had different flavors and different designs. I had a red velvet cake with chocolate chips and cream cheese filling, raspberry Irish cream cake with Guava filling, amaretto cake with pineapple filling, chocolate cake with dulce de leche filling, and then a marble cake with raspberry filling.

I love cake so I made sure to taste each of them and I can’t complain about any. They were all incredible and tasted so fresh!! As far as design, Patty really took her time when designing my cake because it was seriously so neat and beautiful! The details were everything with this cake! I HIGHLY recommend Cake Designers. I plan to return back to Patty with any other events I may have that I need a cake for. Seriously, it’s that good!” –  Kawehiokalani N.