We’re a 2 person operation.

That means we do everything – and I mean everything ourselves. This website? We designed it (well, KT did!) and maintain it. We are the baking department, marketing department, supply chain department, purchasing department, customer service department, managers, owners and delivery drivers. We do a lot.  And that means we might be up to our elbows in batter, standing on a step-stool in the pantry doing inventory, at Costco loading up on supplies, driving across town post-delivery, or any number of things when we get a call. Unfortunately, sometimes our day isn’t over until 10 pm and because we’re customer service oriented, we’d rather not call our clients back when they’re in pajamas and watching their favorite show before bedtime. We can, however, email them and let them read it and reply at a time that’s convenient for them!

We need details!

Because we sometimes book as far as 6 months out (maybe longer!) for a wedding, we need to keep detailed records on what our clients want how, when and where. This is so much easier to do via email. When we coordinate the flavors, number of cupcakes needed, decor, and finalize plans for delivery it is a whole lot of information. We find that we can get better clarity when we can bullet point each detail and allow the client to look it over and make changes as needed. This keeps us from getting confused about what our clients want, and keeps the client informed every step of the way so that they’re sure they’re getting exactly what they’ve asked for. Keeping track of all of this via phone conversation would be much more difficult, and we’d feel just awful if we misconstrued the vision of a client and it put a damper on their event.

Record keeping is important!

This is true for us as a business and for the client as well. Does the client have a nut allergy? If so we’d email them our policy on how we sanitize our kitchen and strive to minimize cross contamination at every level of production so that they could make an informed decision on whether to choose us. Sometimes we have a client who hasn’t ordered from us in a while but wants that crazy flavor we custom made for them that they don’t quite remember – we can just look it up in our records and make that flavor for them again. We can even see, via the email thread, if there were tweaks we made along the way when customizing that flavor for them. And of course, should a dispute arise, we have a record of what everyone said they wanted, which makes it that much easier to address and solve.

We think our clients are awesome. Oftentimes, we wish a tasting could go longer so that we could chat more with a potential client we just met. So its certainly not that we don’t want to talk to our clients! Its just that we have a lot on our plates, and we want to give the best service we can without missing any important details, and we want our clients to know that.

In order to share more of our work and the stories behind some of the events we’ve done, we’re going to start posting Featured Events a couple of times a month.  This is the first – EXCITING!  So where should we begin?  With the first really big event we catered:  Jon and Becky’s wedding.

When we first started baking and blogging, I took a lot of our ‘experiments’ in to my office (yes, I still have a “real job”, ugh!) to share with my co-workers.  They’re a critical bunch by nature – our job is literally to critque things – and the feedback Lisa and I got really helped us improve.  Possibly my biggest fan at the office was Jon, a previously self-professed cupcakes hater.  Our cupcakes won him over!  When he was planning his wedding, he convinced his fiancee Becky to try them and they ended up hiring us for what would be our first wedding.

They wanted a very large spread – a cupcake tower with full sized cupcakes and trays/platters/stands with full-size and minis.  At that point, it was the largest order we’d ever tackled.

Were we intimidated?  No!  We totally should have been, but we were confident.  I guess we are forever optimists.  Of course, it was a ridiculous amount of work.  We didn’t have our workflow down yet so everything took longer than it should.  For example, we pre-made marshmallow frosting but it seperated before we had the cake done so we had to remake it.  That was frustrating because marshmallow ain’t easy, but it was an important lesson learned.

This was also our first time making a small cake – the bride wanted it and we thought, “how hard could it be?”  (By the way, this will probably be a theme throughout our posts: we’re always agreeing to do things we’ve never even tried before.  That’s what makes us awesome – our committment to make things perfect is so strong that we rarely refuse to do something special for our clients.)  We made the toppers, too.   We wanted to throw a little of the couple’s punk rock style into the elegant display.

When we arrived to set everything up, we were exhausted and stressed out and nervous to see how the guests would react.  We stayed for the ceremony and reception (both lovely), and when we made it to the cake cutting, pushed our way to the front of friends and family to make sure Jon and Becky loved everything.  They certainly looked like it.  Huzzah, we’d done our job, the bride and groom were happy!

The feedback we got that night was amazing – everyone loved the display and the cupcakes themselves.  Even better, we’d had a really great time.  The whole process had been fun, from doing a tasting to designing how the cupcakes and table would look to setting it all up.  Thank goodness we enjoyed it because more tasting requests soon followed – some from friends but many from strangers.  We found out later that Becky had been posting about us on the Knot forums and people were getting our info from her.  Soon we had a buzz and then, suddenly, we had a wedding business.

It’s funny how things never quite go as you expect them to in life.  We’d set out with a mission to start a cupcake truck and concentrate on individual sales, but our path has been totally different.  We made special events (not just weddings – bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, etc) our focus because it ended up really suiting us.  Who knows if that would have happened if it weren’t for such a wonderful “first couple” like Jon and Becky?  Love you guys!

**SIDENOTE:  The wedding was brilliantly and beautifully photographed by Drew Brashler Photography.  Drew was really nice to us newbies, which says a lot in an industry where people are stressed and occasionally prickly.  If you’re looking for a photographer, check out his blog and portfolio:  http://www.brashlerphoto.com/

Chocolate Star has been here in the Valley for over 9 years, serving up homemade cookies baked fresh each day. They’ve recently decided to expand their offerings, inviting My Key Coffee Bar into their shop to provide their guests with small batch hand roasted coffee, freshly ground and served hot or cold, and delicious loose leaf teas served iced and mixed with freshly squeezed lemonade. Because the peeps at My Key are great friends of ours, they introduced us to the folks at Chocolate Star and we hit if off, deciding a partnership would be great for everyone. Now their loyal customers can indulge in cookies *and* cupcakes!

We plan on having 3 or 4 flavors each day – we’ll post them on our Facebook page and our Twitter, or you can swing by and see what catches your eye. I will also be here to talk to customers about ingredients and flavors and upcoming events, and will be happy to take any large orders for birthdays, holidays, or other events that our cupcakes would enhance for you. We’ll be keeping you all updated as we go, since this is just our first day and I’m sure things will shift and change over time as we get feedback about what our customers want.

Chocolate Star is located at 7132 E Mercer Lane, just north of Scottsdale Rd & Shea. They’re open Mon – Fri 10 am to 5 pm. Come by and see us, have a snack, say hello, we look forward to seeing you!

Our Lady of Cupcakes was started by two best friends, KT and Lisa, in 2010.   We started blogging about cupcakes, expecting to do that for a while, but the demand for our products was overwhelming.  We soon found a commercial kitchen, filed paperwork to become licensed as a bakery, and started taking internet orders.

At first, our plan was to start a mobile cupcake truck, then maybe get a small store.  That all changed when we made cupcakes for our first wedding.  Everything about special event catering appealed to us – we got to work closely with our clients, do something new every week, and truly make people happy.   Since then, we’ve made special events, and weddings in particular, our focus.

This is what KT had to say about Lisa:

“Lisa is multi-talented – currently a Master’s student in Rhetoric at ASU, she also make some seriously cool jewelry and still has time to consistently get the highest score in Bejewled.  Lisa’s also one of the best cooks that I know, especially when it comes to all manner of pastas (probably something to do with her Italian grandparents).  When it comes to cupcakes, she’s master of the even batter pour and currently better than me at making frosting swirls.  Before we decided to be business partners, we were just plain best friends – we eat, laugh, chill, shop, scrapbook, go on road trips, have a lot of fun, and occasionally work out together.  Lisa’s the best!”

And this is what Lisa had to say about KT:

“KT is the bomb-diggity!  She loves art, music, food, glittery things, doggies, and now (thanks to me!) shopping.  She is also an avid crafter, so when we’re not making cupcakes we’re probably doing some sort or craft….or eating.  I very much appreciate her belief that you can (and should) do something that makes you happy every day to earn your living, and that life is meant to be enjoyed.  She is my partner in crime when it comes to breaking out of the “rat-race” and creating a space where we can be creative, be a little crazy, and be ourselves with no apologies.  Being a foodie, she comes up with great ideas for cupcake flavors, and being an artist she’s got a great eye for making them look pretty too.   And we both have an insatiable love for Chipotle that cannot be rivaled, so our friendship was just meant to be!”

“Are you going to be / when will you be / have you been on Cupcake Wars?”

The answer is no, never, and no.  Too competitive.  Lisa and I are both pretty laid back and that show seems STRESSFUL.  We also don’t have a typical cupcake shop to promote, so it wouldn’t make sense for us.  And did I mention the stress?

But that’s not really what I wanted to blog about today.  I actually want to talk about the comment that we heard the most at those events:

“I love your logo!”

Whether it was on our t-shirts, our business cards, our flyers, our display table – peeps were loving the logo.  And who could blame them?  It is SO cool!  We only wished that the person who had designed it had been around to hear all those great compliments on her work.

Since she wasn’t, this is our digital shout out to Diane at Grey Cat Dot (http://www.greycatdotdesign.com):  YOU ARE SO AWESOME!

The truth is, we didn’t even have a logo for more than a year after starting the business.  We know – terrible branding on our part!  We just didn’t have the money at the outset to pay someone to design it.  A couple of people did designs for us for free but they didn’t really capture our style and we didn’t want to ask our friends to spend a lot of time making changes when they weren’t getting paid (in money – we did give them cupcakes).

So we went to Diane and told her what we wanted.  We both had a very clear vision:  A tattoo-style cupcake with swirly pink frosting that has a banner around it and a sacred heart on top like a cherry.  Diane listened to us and gave us perfection on the very first try!  It was as if she was in our brains.  We felt like she really understood our style, our brand, and our business.  We wanted a logo that was so cool, we could get it tattooed on us at some point… and that’s exactly what we got.

We went back to Grey Cat Dot design when we needed fliers for an event.  Like a lot of small business owners, we try to do everything ourselves, and I had initially planned on making the flyer in my “spare time” (what a joke).  I am so glad that I didn’t!  Diane’s work was far, far better than mine would have been – we got a professional looking flier that still reflected our style.  And we got a lot of compliments on the flyer, too!

We’d highly recommend Grey Cat Dot design to any local business looking for design services.  Diane is amazing – she really understands personal style and branding, her work is professional, and she has integrity.  It might seem like design is an area where you can do it ‘on the cheap’, but in the end, paying for professional help is SO worth it.

Thank you, Diane!

It’s that third point that I’m stuck on.  It seems like the majority that I’ve seen have white or brown liners with basic swirls of frosting.  WHY?  Why have wedding cupcakes that look just like any other cupcake at any bakery?  Everything for your wedding is customized to fit your style, so shouldn’t cupcakes be custom decorated, too?

There are about 57239590 products bakers can use to make cupcakes extra-special.  Colored sugars, pearlized sugars, jimmies, nonpareils, quins, dragees, sixlets, edible glitter, pearls, candy beads, fondant, edible paper, isomalt crystals (edible diamonds), and almost every color liner imaginable.  Many bakeries and cupcakeries are already doing a great job using this stuff (shout out to Crumbs and Doilies, who I can’t wait to visit next time I am in London), so why do I still see so many plain ol’ cupcakes?

Lisa and I don’t really do ‘plain’ in our own lives (ask me about my Bollywood-inspired living room!) and we certainly bring that to the business, so maybe we’re biased.  But one of the reasons I love this job is that I get to be creative and design something both pretty and special, even personal, to the couple that’s getting married.  So I wanted to feature one of our recent wedding towers to show how great personal design can be.  It’s not plain, and maybe it’s not even elegant, but it’s as fun, colorful, and literary as the couple we made it for:

The good news is that prices are supposed to steady in 2012.  The bad news is that they’re not going down.  So we’ve had to redesign our pricing for cupcakes, small cakes, and delivery.  We’ve also had to add a set up charge for weddings because we found we were spending as much as two hours helping with set up (not just of cupcake displays – when we show up, we’re prepared to help with anything the wedding party needs) for about $5.  Undervaluing our work isn’t good business.

We did a lot of research, a lot of math, and discussed every detail to arrive at pricing that we believe is both fair to our customers and doesn’t undervalue our product.  We believe we provide the absolute best customer service and the tastiest cupcakes (our 5 star ratings back us up on that), but we know part of that great service is the feeling of value.  So let us break it down for you:

• The average wedding cake for 120 people costs roughly $543.
• The average cost of cupcakes for 120 people is $434.
• Our cost, even after raising our price, is just $310.

You can add in a small cutting/anniversary cake, cupcake tower, delivery, and set up and we’ll still save you money – it’ll total only $408.  We’ve also kept our pricing ala carte instead of creating pricing packages so that we can work with any budget.  Because ultimately, what we want to do is give everyone the option of having a great tasting, beautiful, memorable dessert at their wedding (or commitment ceremony, bridal shower, baby shower, birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, holiday party, family dinner, etc).

So our prices may have gone up a bit, but it comes with a promise – we’ll never cut back on service, quality, or our commitment to our customers.

Hello ladies and gents! The holidays are fast approaching – can you believe it? We just wanted to remind you that weddings are not our only bag, we would LOVE to do holiday orders for your family event, holiday
party, office potluck, church get together or any other occasion!

We’ll have special holiday flavors available – Harvest Pumpkin Spice, Swiss Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow, and Peppermint Mocha to name a few (more to come!) and as always we will custom decorate to your taste =) Head over to our order form and order up yours! 1 doz minimum, we’ll need 48 hrs to complete your order.

Today we spotted a post on the (truly excellent) blog A Practical Wedding about the pledge that they have all their vendors sign before they can advertise on APW (and one they ask potential clients to take, as well).  Though we don’t have an advertising budget yet, we’re proud to say that we already live by their pledge.  It is reprinted below with a few additions specific to Our Lady in italics.

The APW Sanity / Our Lady of Cupcakes Pledge

-  A wedding is an awesome party, but it’s the marriage that really matters.

-  It takes two people to get married. It’s not all about the bride (and sometimes there isn’t a bride to begin with).

-  We support LGBTQ couples’ right to marry, and we are delighted to work with them.

-We don’t charge a premium just because we heard the word “wedding.” (Note: Our pricing is the same regardless of event.)

-  We will be upfront and fair about our pricing. We won’t surprise you with a secret fee because you want frosting on the cake, not just the cake. (Take a look!)

-  You don’t have to have cake at your wedding.

-  However you decided to tie the knot, we’re on your team.

-  Weddings come in all different shapes/sizes/colors/budgets/etc., but as long as you two end up married to each other, it will have been a successful wedding.

-  Our cupcakes will never be old, stale, frozen, or contain fillers like shortening.

-  We will communicate with you in the most timely manner possible and answer all questions, no matter how silly or frantic.

-  We respect all members of the wedding industry and will work with your other vendors (and maybe even send some leftover cupcakes their way).

-  We will do everything within our power to make your experience easy, worry-free, and disaster-proof.

Not getting married?  This pledge applies to you, too!  It’s not just weddings we go out of our way for – it’s every client.  Whether you order 1 dz or 25 dz, we want to make them perfect for you.  It’s why we do what we do!

Since February, we’ve been really busy turning what started as a blog into an actual business.  We’ve filled dozens of orders for office parties…

birthdays…

graduations…

bridal showers…

baby showers…

and the biggest of all:  WEDDINGS!

Very exciting stuff!

In addition to the special event catering, which we love, the Lisa half of OLoC graduated with her Master’s degree AND started baking for Royal Coffee (http://www.royalcoffeebar.com/), where our cupcakes are featured along with cookies, scones (from KT’s mom’s secret recipe – the best ever!), biscotti, bars, pie and other sweet treats.

See?   All perfectly reasonable excuses to slack a bit on the blogging.  We really WANT to do more – put up a gallery page, tweet on a regular basis, streamline the site design, get a new logo, etc – but who can find the time between baking, our “real” jobs, our boyfriends (two of the most awesome guys on the planet), family, friends, and dogs… whew!  Until we can make more time in our day, please check out our Flickr account to see pics of all the great stuff we’ve made lately!