Following the cancelation of her wedding, one woman is paying it forward, literally, to another bride who can take advantage of the cake she ordered to plan the dream celebration she herself didn't have.
All she asks is that a couple who thinks their love story is worthy of the gift submit it for consideration to St. Augustine bakery Crème de la Cocoa by Valentine's Day on Feb. 14.
Pamela Cates-Smith, 22, of Tallahassee, had been set to walk down the aisle this October at Castle Otttis in Vilano Beach, until she and her groom-to-be recently broke up.
Cates-Smith had already signed a contract with Crème de la Cocoa, at 299 San Marco Ave., and paid $1,000 in full to design an elaborate custom, multi-tiered fondant wedding cake for the occasion.
"Most places don't offer refunds, and what was I really going to do with this big cake or even cupcakes or other desserts?" Cates-Smith said in a phone interview with The Record Thursday.
Cates-Smith originally thought about filling the order and handing it over to a homeless shelter but ended up going a different way.
"I thought someone maybe could benefit from what I couldn't," she added.
So she decided to turn her misfortune into someone else's gain and is opting to gift her $1,000 pre-paid wedding cake contract to another engaged couple.
But there's more.
After hearing about the giveaway, a St. Johns County-based local wedding planning company, Coastal Coordinating, has added on a $1,600 wedding planning package for the winner, and another vendor, Ryrad Home Builders, has chipped in $500 for gift baskets, décor and other accessories for the big day.
Bailey Rowland, who opened Crème de la Cocoa with husband Nils, a pastry chef, in 2016, said it's the first time she's seen such a charitable gesture on the part of a bride, even as more than 200 other wedding contracts with the bakery have been postponed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's really generous. While she [Cates-Smith] was sad it didn't work out for herself, she wanted to give someone who couldn't afford their own dream cake or are truly in love the chance to have theirs," Rowland said.
Katy Turchich-Martin, owner of Coastal Coordinating, said she hopes the same for the lucky bride and groom who eventually claim the prize.
"This is such a hard time for weddings, with COVID and all," Turchich-Martin said, "so this is our way of giving back."
To apply for the wedding package giveaway, couples are instructed to submit their love story, wedding date, names, phone numbers and a photo to hello@cremedelacocoa.com before midnight Feb. 14.
Three finalists will be chosen by Crème de la Cocoa and Coastal Coordinating, with input from Cates-Smith, and announced by Feb. 20. The general public will be asked to vote for the final winner on the cremedelacocoa.com website and that winner will be announced by March 11.
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