Terms & Conditions

  

Please take a few minutes to read through the terms and conditions, as these form the basis of the contract. Further information can be provided on request. These terms and conditions do not in any way affect your statutory rights as a consumer.  

Sue Hurst Cake Design is henceforth abbreviated to ‘SHCD’ for ease in this document, and ‘we’ refers to SHCD. 

‘You’ means the ‘clients’ – and can refer to either or both parties if more than one client. 

The term ‘clients’ applies to both of the clients jointly and individually.  Each client is solely and jointly responsible for all the obligations set out in this agreement 

These terms and conditions form part of your contract, alongside your Order Form for the following wedding:  

Names of clients:  

Address:  

Date of Wedding/Event:   

Venue:  

 

**Payment of your booking fee constitutes acceptance of the following:** 

 

1. ORDER PROCESS 

1.1  All orders are subject to acceptance and availability.   

1.2  It is your responsibility to provide us with a valid email address and telephone number so that we can contact you if necessary. 
You shall be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the details provided by you during the order process. An Order Form will be sent to you once design details have been confirmed, and this will be resent with your final invoice eight weeks prior to your wedding, for you to confirm that details remain the same. 

1.3  Once your booking fee has been paid, we will provide you a receipt to confirm this, as well as an Order Form once details have been confirmed. 

 

2. PAYMENT POLICY

2.1  Payments are currently taken in cash, or bank transfer  

2.2  Upon placing an order, you agree to secure your order with a non-refundable and non-transferable booking fee of £100 (or 50% of your order, whichever is the smaller of the two) – unless agreed otherwise. Orders are not deemed confirmed, and dates are not reserved until this payment is received.   

2.3  The booking fee is taken to cover for initial work undertaken on the design of your cake and administration. It also holds your date and will mean that SHCD only takes a maximum of one other cake for the same day. By turning down or not advertising for further work, a cancellation by you will mean a likely loss of income from alternative orders for me. 

2.4  (WEDDINGS ONLY) Payment of the final balance is due a minimum of eight weeks prior to the wedding date to allow for preparatory work to take place and supplies to be ordered.  I will produce your cakes to the specification as per the Order Form which I will resend with your final invoice, eight weeks before your wedding date. Please double check that it is detailed as you require. By paying your final invoice, you are confirming that what is detailed on the Booking Form is correct. 

2.5  (CELEBRATION CAKES ONLY) Payment of the final balance is due 4 weeks prior to colletion/delivery date.   

2.6  Failure to complete payment of the final balance by the due date on the invoice will result in the cancellation of your order and the booking fee will not be refunded or transferred. 

 

3. 3.DELIVERY OF YOUR CAKE 

3.1  Kindly provide details of your wedding/event planner or the wedding/event coordinator at your venue and SHCD will happily liaise directly with them regarding time to set up and other arrangements.  

3.2  Delivery will take place in the morning, between 10am-12pm, unless agreed in advance. An additional fee of between £20-£40 will be chargeable if later delivery, between 12pm-3pm is required and additional fee of £50 for any deliveries required after 3pm. Deliveries on weekdays will always take place before 1.30pm unless specifically agreed at the time of booking.  If delivery times are not known at the time of booking SHCD reserves the right to add the additional charge, once known, either as part of the final invoice or as an additional invoice if the final invoice has already been submitted.

3.3  The Order Form will stipulate the address and time for delivery. Amendments to the delivery address or time may be permitted at the sole discretion of SHCD, and may incur additional delivery charges to cover for time and petrol, but in the case that SHCD cannot deliver to the new venue, due to distance or other reason, section 4.4 and 5.3 below applies.  

3.4  You will become the owner of the goods you ordered and responsible for the risk of loss or damage to them once they have been delivered to the delivery address or collected from SHCD. 

3.5  When setting up the cake and attaching externally purchased flowers or other decoration, SHCD reserves to right to leave any of these items off, or arrange them in a different way, if there is any doubt about safety or security of said items. 

  

4. CHANGES TO YOUR ORDER 

4.1  SHCD understands that sometimes situations occur which can result in you wanting to change your order. Please contact us as early as possible before the order is due to ensure any changes can be implemented, at least eight weeks’ notice is required for any changes for wedding cakes and at least 4 weeks’ notice is required for any changes for celebration cakes – and please note agreement to any such changes are at the sole discretion of SHCD. Please be aware changes may incur additional costs, in line with additional work required for administration as well as additional materials and time required for the design change. A full quote will be given for proposed amendments before they are agreed upon. 

4.2  If you wish to reduce the value of your order, a fee may be applicable depending how much notice is given, and how much work has already been carried out. Please refer to 4.3 below for further detail. 

4.3  A reduction in the value of the order of 25% or more, will be considered a cancellation by you, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing by SHCD. Workload is considered when other orders are taken and turned away and therefore large reductions in the order will have an effect on the income of SHCD. Please refer to section 5. 

4.4  This contract is based upon the agreed place of delivery (the “venue”) of your wedding/celebration cake as per the heading on the top of this document. If this changes, you are to contact SHCD immediately to discuss whether we can accommodate the change. If not, this will be deemed a cancellation by you and section 5.3 applies. 

4.5  This contract is based upon the agreed date of delivery/collection of your wedding/event cake as per the heading on the top of this document (“Wedding/Event Date”). A change to the date will be treated as a cancellation by you as per the section 5.3 below, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing by SHCD. The booking fee is non-transferable.  

   

5. 5. CANCELLATION POLICY

5.1  You have the right to cancel the contract at any time up to eight weeks before the date your order is due for delivery/collection.  
 
5.2  To exercise your right of cancellation you must give written notice to SHCD via the email address shown on SHCD’s website, giving details of the goods ordered.  

5.3  By the customer: If the order is cancelled, your booking fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. There will be no refund or transfer of the booking fee, and any and all expenses already incurred on behalf of the finished product above this value will be invoiced. If the order is cancelled within eight weeks of the date of the wedding/event, the remaining full balance will be due to be paid to SHCD. This is because at such short notice, due to the nature of weddings/large events, it is unlikely that SHCD would be able to secure another order for the same day. This would result in a significant loss of profit for SHCD through no fault of their own. 

5.3.1 If ingredients / supplies specific to this order have not yet been purchased, or they can be used for another order, the cost of these would be deducted from the final balance and refunded to the customer in the event of a cancellation which occurs once said final balance has been paid. 

5.3.2 If a delivery charge has been paid as part of the final balance, or in addition to your non-refundable booking fee, this will be refunded to you by SHCD. However, if further funds are due this payment will be offset against what is owed to SHCD. 

5.4  By SHCD: In the event of exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness, Sue Hurst Cake Design will give as much notice as possible if we are unable to fulfil your order. We will endeavour to find someone else who can produce your order to an equal standard and will refund you all monies already paid, including the booking fee. However, this cannot be guaranteed. SHCD’s liability will be limited to the full cost of purchase, and we will not accept responsibility for any consequential loss. 

5.5  You are strongly advised to take out adequate wedding insurance to cover you in the event of cancellations 

6. POSTPONEMENT POLICY 

6.1  For the avoidance of all doubt, if your wedding/event is postponed this will be treated as a cancellation. SHCD will be happy to discuss the possibility of rebooking for a new date should this be possible, and if so, a new contract would be issued. 

 

7. 7. COLOURS AND DESIGN

7.1  Should you have any swatches of ribbon or material, this can be helpful to SHCD in creating the colour theme of your choice. However, please note that due to the fact we are working with many different materials, an exact match cannot be guaranteed. This also applies to food colourings and icings.   

7.2  We can only create your finished order from what we interpret from the wording of your order; therefore it is vital you check everything is correct. It may not be possible to create exact specifications when modelling food; however, we will work with you, often using sketches to ensure you are happy with the design. 

 

8. 8. NON-EDIBLES

8.1  A list of non-edibles (such as supporting dowels, floral wire etc) will be provided to the venue. It is your responsibility to ask the venue to provide this to you and ensure these are not served to your guests. 

 

9  FRESH FLOWER POLICY 

9.1  Should fresh flowers to be provided by your florist, to decorate the cake, the responsibility of the flowers’ safety, quality, freshness, and colour will rest with the florist and not with SHCD. It is your responsibility to communicate with your florist to ensure they are not providing toxic flowers to SHCD. If the florist or any other supplier adds anything to the cake after we have left it set up, responsibility for any resulting damage or harm will not rest with SHCD. 

 

10  FOOD ALLERGY DISCLAIMER 

10.1  Sue Hurst Cake Design is NOT an allergy-free kitchen. It cannot be guaranteed that our products are free from ingredients that may affect those with food allergies, but all efforts are made to minimise this risk where requested. At Sue Hurst Cake Design we recognise the seriousness of food allergies and we recommend that you contact us before you place an order to inform us of any food allergies that you or your party may have.  SHCD will not assume any liability for adverse reactions to our products. 

 The following ingredients are used in our kitchen: 

• Milk and other dairy products 
• Eggs  
• Nuts: peanuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews, coconut 

• Wheat & gluten 
• Sulphites (from dried fruit) 

 Please note that some food colourings may have an effect on behaviour in children. 

10.2  SHCD will discuss any dietary requirements, allergies and intolerances with you at the time you place your order or during your consultation. It is your obligation to inform SHCD of any such special requirements.  
 

11. 11.HIRING OF EQUIPMENT 

11.1  SHCD requires a refundable deposit (“the hire deposit”) for the hire of cakes stands and equipment. The hire deposit will normally be £100.00 but if SHCD requires a different amount this will be discussed with you at the time you place your order. This is in addition to the agreed hire fee. 

11.2  The hire deposit will be held for a period of time discussed with you when placing your order.  

11.3  All information regarding the hire deposit will be stated on the order form including the return date. 

11.4  The hire deposit will be refunded in full when the item(s) / equipment is returned in the condition it was hired out, and within the stipulated time period.  

11.5  If the item(s) / equipment hired out is lost, returned damaged, or returned late by you SHCD will retain your full deposit for the item/items to cover the cost of replacing it/them.  

11.6  For the avoidance of doubt you will become responsible for any hired equipment once that equipment has been delivered to the required address or collected by you from SHCD. 

 

12. 12.IMAGES

12.1 Photographs of your cake will be taken by us and used for social media / marketing purposes. These images remain the property of SHCD.  

12.2  Should you kindly share any photos of your day/event with us, we will of course ask your permission before sharing these further, and that of the photographer who took the images. 

 

13. 13. COMPLAINTS 

131  If for any reason you are unhappy with your cake, SHCD request that you return the tier(s) for inspection within 48 hours of your event.  

13.2  If a refund is deemed appropriate this will be to the value of the affected tier(s). In any event SHCD’s liability will be limited to the full cost of purchase, and we will not accept responsibility for any consequential loss.