My First Paid Wedding Cake Experience

As an upcoming baker, I have gotten used to clients making enquires but the deals never clicked, LOL :-/, I always took it in good faith and always told myself that when the time is right it will eventually happen when you least expect it. On this fateful day, a client I least expected contacted me and requested for pictorial samples and pricing of wedding cakes I had done. I happened to be quite acquainted with the client and from the little I knew about her, she is a big critic, I said to myself, wahala dey!!! I sent the ones I had and was honest with her that I had never done a paid wedding cake for anyone outside family; the most recent one I had done was in 2021 which was the cake I made for my big brother's wedding. I sent the samples and my price, and even attached a sketch of the proposed cake which she was impressed with, she said okay she will get back to me after consulting with the rest of her family. I was like Ahh!! Again!! Otilorr!! I confirmed my otilor when no feedback came from her after three days. One evening i was watching my favourite K-drama on Netflix and her message popped on my screen and it said "please kindly send your account details so I can credit you for the cake" I could not contain my happiness, I screamed and jumped; I even made Sujood in gratitude to my Lord for making this happen. Yes! My first ever paid wedding cake. I already imagined many scenarios in my head (brand new Camry and house in Lekki ), how perfect I wanted the cake to be, I was so engulfed in my excitement that I forgot about the challenges and hurdles that would accompany the project. It dawned on me when she left another text after showing her proof of payment saying "I fought so hard to make this project come to you, please do not give me a reason to regret" I took those words as a promise to be fulfilled! I did not owe it to her alone. I owe it to her brother and his wife to be, her parents too – the excitement was much, e remain small I for add my ancestors inside the owing, but we muuve. The prepping got-off pretty well, everything was going according to plan, I had made all the edible flowers and proceeded to baking the cake, I had just started mixing the first batch when, just as expected, village people collaborated with NEPA! To Village it furthermore, the generator suddenly developed a fault. Though I was optimistic that power would be restored soon, I still called the mechanic to fix the generator and he was telling me the repair would be finished the next morning, I had already started tearing up as it was almost sunset and I had not even baked the cakes yet, talk-more of covering it up in fondant and I was expected to finish the set up by 9am the next morning!! Amidst all this chaos, trying to figure out how to make all this work, I stepped on a broken glass, the cut was deep and it hurt so much I could barely stand, this was where I cried like a baby uncontrollably. It is said that with every difficulty comes ease! Out of the blue power was restored around 8pm; I immediately forgot my pain and got to work. I baked all night, waited for the cakes to cool and covered it in fondant, how I achieved this on a 25-inch tall, three-tier cake still remains a mystery to me. I got to the venue by 7am and started setting up professionally like no drama happened; eye-bags and the occasional limping told how drained I was. Compliments here and there, from her father and some of the guests while i was setting up gave me so much joy that I forgot my pain again - the power of Positive words! After the set-up, the cake sat so pretty that I refused to leave the venue for the fear of someone bumping into the cake and crumbling it - hah! I stood guard and watched like a new mother hen that just had her chicks and totally forgot that I was invited to the wedding. Finally sha, I said a little prayer to the cake "Fii Amanillah" as I left. While driving home I kept checking my phone nonstop (Note: Road Safety should not come for me oh #sideEye) to see if someone would text me saying Aunty your cake has fallen oh!! I sent her a photo of the cake already set up, I waited so long and eagerly for her response but i did not get anything. I started to panic thinking I did not meet her expectations but I was forgetting that she was the grooms sister, she would definitely be busy. Later in the day after the party I got a sweet review that was the highlight of my night. She did not forget to mention the sweet compliments and skill commendations by her aunties. It was a caking rollercoaster, it was a happy ending! NB: people might be wondering why I did not bake the cake earlier, I am a muslim and the client too is a muslim, we do not add any form of alcohol to the cake as a preservative, hence we make it fresh!