Cake Wrecks & How To Avoid

I just found the funniest site. Cake Wrecks has oodles of real pictures of these horrible, horrible cakes--all professionally made--bad enough to ruin your wedding unless you have a really good sense of humor. And people wonder why many women turn into bridezillas?
I use a handful of good local bakers for all my weddings, so I've never had a cake turn out horribly. The only way to avoid a cake wreck is to use a good baker, period, end of story.
A couple of other things to keep in mind:
If you are having your wedding in a banquet room or a hotel, find out when your vendors are allowed to arrive. This can be from a couple hours to a couple days, and you won't know unless you ask. The Durham Sheraton Hotel Ballroom only allows an hour set-up time for you and your vendors--good luck getting those 300 chair bows tied!--while Deejay's banquet room in Raleigh lets you come in at 8 A.M. to set up. No matter where you book, if you get special permission from your site to show up early, be sure it's written on your contract.
Make sure the site has everything your baker needs. The site might have a fridge, but does it have a cake fridge? If the baker needs one (most don't, but some do) and your site doesn't have one, you're out of luck.
As with all vendors, make sure it's clear who is providing what. Don't expect your baker to show up with a cake table unless it's on your contract. Usually the cake table, table cloth, cake plates, and utensils are provided by the site (if it's an all-inclusive site) or the caterer. The caterer usually cuts the cake, too.