MMMMMM, cake I love cake! I never thought it would be so hard to choose my wedding cake, but with my mom visiting that was one of our many things to do for the wedding. With the help of our wedding planner Denise we had a few appointments to taste some cake around the venue for the reception. I knew that we had to make sure it was near the reception area so we don’t have to pay a large delivery charge. We got off to a bad start since we went to a bakery in crystal lake, IL that made us feel very unwelcome.
Now, I never use the race card, but my mom and I both felt as if the lady (not sure if she was the owner) had something against us being that we are Hispanic. After, she messed up and told Denise we had an appointment on a Sunday when they weren’t even open on Sunday’s. I remember when Denise told me about the appointment she found it odd that they were open on a Sunday. Anyway, we ended up traveling to the store two times in one week to get mistreated. First, she didn’t let us sit, she had us stand at the counter. You would think being a tasting she would have everything ready, nope! I only got to taste chocolate and vanilla. That’s it! I know that most people know what chocolate and vanilla taste like, and that every bakery may have different recipes, but for the most part all chocolate cake taste the same. For a second, I thought maybe they only have 2 cakes and different frosting/fillings. Yes, they had more fillings, frosting, and other flavors of cake, but she didn’t have any of it ready for us. Now, I talked to her on the phone myself when they never showed up on Sunday since I had left a message, and I understand people make mistakes, but I would of rather have her tell me to come another day or different time when everything would be prepared for me to taste. Instead of wasting not one but two days and wasting the gas money that it took for me to drive the hour drive both days. A good business person knows to treat every client like your biggest client because you never know if they have a blog. 
or who they know. My fiances dad has his own business and would use this bakery for events and fundraisers. Needless to say not anymore.
So, after this horrible experience we went to grampa Johns favorite place Lovin Oven in Round Lake, IL. This place made up for the nightmare we had experienced. They treated us like you should treat clients. We got to sit down, and had drinks avaliable at no charge, and we were spoken to with respect. They had a lot of different options to taste, and their prices were very good. The girl that worked with us was very friendly and helped us out a lot with putting together the vision of our cake.
Which cake; white, chocolate, red velvet, marble, and more. Then, what filling do you want? I learned that fresh fruits cost more and can ruin the cake with the weight, and moose was the best option. Now, I still try to go against tradition so I wanted a square cake. Little did I know that square cakes waste less cake therefor are cheaper then round cakes.
This is the look of the cake we decided on getting but the art work is different on each layer, and will go with our colors. Lovin Oven also does the cookies we wanted to do for one of our favors. The cubs and White Sox.
The ones we are going to have will have the actual logo of the teams, but pictures werent available online. (both pictures came from www.lovinovencakery.com)
I have to say flowers may not be something most grooms want to tag along to, but cake tasting is something to include the groom. He really enjoyed tasting the cakes and picking out the designs. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there for the first place because I think it would have gone down differently. Of course, he was very upset at the experience I had but it’s in the past and I’m not the one that it hurt. I got my cake and I love it!
Word of advice when going to taste cakes eat a light meal, don’t go hungry since it can blind your taste buds because all you want to do is fill your tummy, but make sure not to eat to big of a meal that your to full to taste the many options that are possible. Enjoy your cake! I know I will!
By Proud father