Tuesday, May 26, 2009

An Indecent Proposal

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Wrecks reader Mark B. decided to propose to his girlfriend while they were on a Caribbean cruise last August. Like all good guys, he wanted to do it in a way that was both memorable and a little unique. So, after much thought, he decided to use a cake. (Told you he was a good guy.) With that settled, all that was left to do was choose the perfect words to form his request.

Well, the night before he planned to propose arrived, and Mark still hadn't decided on an inscription. As he and his girlfriend went for a walk on the beach, though, they came across the very inspiration he'd been looking for. There, written in the sand, illuminated by moonlight, was the word "dork".

Ok, so that might not seem like the most romantic of inspirations to you or me, but for Mark it was "a sign". He tells me his girlfriend was always calling him a dork at the time (with much affection, I'm sure), and so standing there that night, he knew exactly what his proposal cake should say.

Now, let's set the scene:

The meal is over, the dessert orders have been given, and Mark is sitting on pins and needles, awaiting the arrival of his proposal cake. The waiter approaches and, with a smile at Mark, places a covered tray before his unsuspecting girlfriend. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the waiter removes the lid to reveal....

this.



Huh.



Well, on the bright side, Mark, this IS quite memorable. In an incomprehensible, what-exactly-did-the-baker-think-s/he-was-writing? kind of way. Still, here's hoping your lovely lady had "many" reasons to agree to "marry" the dork in question. ;)
Karo said...

I love the blind faith these decorators have in piping whatever-the-heck comes to their minds without any thought of "that can't be right?" :)

April said...

Oh, that's funny. I hope she said yes, despite the uhh....goofy inscription. lol

Unknown said...

Oh, that poor guy!

Maaike said...

But did she say yes? *g*

Becca said...

Wow... and an ugly cake at that.

Amanda said...

Aw, and that would have been really cute if they'd gotten the words right. The cake design itself was really nice. Too bad they messed it up.

Anonymous said...

So, did she say she would 'many' the dork?

Judy said...

I'm guessing he wrote the word "marry" on a sheet of paper and the two "r's" ran together to look like "many" . Still the cake decorator must have wondered what the heck it meant but with the word "dork" in the inscription perhaps she thought that "Many this Dork" was in it's entirety an inside joke between the two of them.

The Jen said...

I'm the kind of person that tries to figure out where the translation was lost. What I'm thinking is maybe the person taking the order wrote in quick cursive, so the two "r"s side by side without any definition looked like a cursive "n".

But that's just my opinion.

Half Assed Kitchen said...

I think the baker was nipping too heavily at the whipped cream.

Angie (from over at www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)

Tracy O said...

What an adorable guy (and the cake should have been!!!)!!! Please tell us she said yes anyway!

Bri said...

After laughing to the point of tears, snot and drool...I would have said yes to you Mark. Yes!
Just for the novel thought and for having a sense of humour!
You have most definitely won!

This is toooo good. Too, too awfully perfect.

Sarah :) said...

How sweet! Even if it was messed up, it is the thought that counts. That's too cute/funny. :D

Unknown said...

Hahaha...
Aw. Poor dork.
What happened next?!

Dorci said...

Oh man that's brutal. I'm sure 50 other people will say it, but the cake decorator is the dork. Maybe there are many of them who work there and it was a Freudian slip.

WendyB said...

I literally laughed out loud about this one. She must have been on the floor....

Nancy said...

Well - in my opinion it is probably the way he WROTE the message! I have seen my own children's writing (or printing) and all of the letters are jumbled and not sized correctly (i.e., a "d" might look similar to an "a" or an "r" might look more like an "n". At least the cake was nice - hope she said YES!

wildmaven said...

Methinks the poor guy needs to work on his penmanship!

Anonymous said...

As messed up as the cake it is makes for a good AND cute story!

- Amy

Stacie said...

...can't....stop....(snort) laughing! A super magical moment, the waiting, the butterflies, the moment, the CLIMAX, AND.....MANY???

I can only imagine the "what the...?" that was going through her head :)

T- said...

Poor Dork!

Fluffy Cow said...

Kind of fitting... proof positive that this guy IS a bit of a dork!

In a sweet chocolaty kind of way....

Puzzled said...

I don't understand why so many people don't TYPE the message out on paper before handing it over to people to decorate. Would seem a no brainer to me. You want it right? Give it to the decorator so there is no question what you want written. Geesh.

Unknown said...

I just wish a picture of her reaction would have been included with the cake! Poor guy... What a dork for thinking up such a dorky proposal. ;o) Kidding... I thought it was sweet!

DK
http://uberfoodnoob.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Pretty cake, bad mistake. But funny, nonetheless. I hope the lady in question thought so too.

Thanks for the morning laugh!
~Amy B.

Jessim said...

I'm going to have to agree with those who think that he wrote it this way. And since he was on a cruise it's likely English was not the decorator's first language, so I'm going to give them a pass.

But it's a good memory.

Unknown said...

I was thinking that "I'm your dork might have been the safer option, but that too has its pitfalls: I'm you're dork. I nothing safe or sacred anymore?

laura r said...

sometimes i think the person who orders the cake should get the basic design and write in their own words! :)

DID SHE SAY YES?

Unknown said...

Maybe the decorator looked at the written inscription and thought, "It sounds like it should say 'marry'... but if I put that, and it's NOT, I could be causing a real problem!!! Maybe I shoud go with how it looks instead..."

Anonymous said...

And then later on down the road when she gets annoyed at him for something, he can protest,
"But honey, you agreed to many me!"

Mandee said...

Poor, poor Mark! Hoping there is a dorky wedding coming up soon!

Dani said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I have an award for your blog at Dani's Daily Drop. Love your blog! Come by and get it- Tuesday Toodles!

MJS said...

That is adorable! Or would have been if it hadn't needed an interpreter.

Karen said...

Poor guy! It's no good if you have to explain the cake. I bet he felt like a dork when he saw what the decorator did.

Becca said...

I see a funny groom's cake at their wedding!

What a cute story though.

LaurenH said...

ha! That would have been kind of cute with the right words :)


And a little off-topic...I was sitting on the bus the other day and caught part of a cell phone conversation. A guy saying something like "...so I ordered the cake to say 'Sorry I punched you in the face'" I almost wanted to follow him to pick it up so I could snap a picture ;)

peewee said...

hahahahha. Come on...that's WAY more fun than the actual Marry...That's a tale they'll tall at their wedding. In fact...I would run with it...put it on the invitation..."mr & mrs soandso are proud to announce the maniage of their daughter..." Or Hey! We're getting manied!

Karen said...

Could this be the reason that good supermarkets & bakeries will have order forms that have you put your inscription in block boxes so the lettering is clear?

Unknown said...

Sweet stuff like this is why I love dorks. Really, Hubby and I are such saps.

The goof up just makes it memorable.

Anonymous said...

And... what did she say?

Kate said...

Not that i am defending the wreck in any way, but most of the employees on cruise ships are foreign. I'm sure if he just asked the inscription to read "will you marry me?" it wouldn't have been the first time they had seen it. It is a good story to tell though.

Unknown said...

Not quite as awesome as "Marry Christnos", but I hope she did choose to "many" that dork! :)

Kat said...

I worked at a Baskin Robbins in HS as a cake decorator and there were occasions where I would call and verify the writing if I could because it would make no sense what-so ever! Not always an option but would certainly help :)

Anna said...

Ooh, that is just so mean. Poor Marc!! Seriously, would a simple "marry" have been so outrageously difficult to write?

Actually, a part of me thinks that having a wrecked proposal cake is much, much worse than having a wrecked wedding cake (I immeadiately thought of the should've-been-a-Sylar-cake cake). I'm sure she still said yes but really, if I had been in his shoes, I think I might have cried.

Some things just aren't supposed to be wrecked, damn it!

Ronnie said...

^_^ I hope when my guy proposes, it's as memorable as that.

Hopefully in a more positive way, though.

Molly said...

But, did she say "Yes" ???

We need to know!

Sariah said...

I actually called my (now) husband a dork right after he proposed to me. Well, I said yes first, then I called him a dork. It really is a term of endearment. :D

This cake cracks me up. I'm sure she loved it and said yes. how could you say no to that?????

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, a proposal cakewreck...love it!

Anonymous said...

THIS should be the cover to your book!!! Seriously would grab a lot of attention.
Jennifer

Belle Epoque said...

Well, he's upfront dork...and it's the thought that counts.

Christina Ragusin said...

Wow...

Haiku Joy said...

"Next time," Mark muttered
"I'll hide the ring in cupcake.
What could go wrong there?"

;-)

Chey said...

Awww, poor Mark! And he thought up such an adorable idea, too!

I'm sure she still said yes. And now they have a great story about their engagement to share. ^_^

Kristine said...

LOL! How many proposals DO go as planned? Love it!

Morgan the Muse said...

Well, it looks like a great tasting cake, though, mmmm...

Rachel Erstwhilely said...

NOOO!

my, that narrative was well-paced.

and the cake is so beautiful, otherwise! arg! at least I think so. if the inscription had been correct and centered properly and...etc.

I can see how it happened, though. someone used doctor's office-style scrawl on the order form and the two r's resembled one n.

Sounds oddly like the beginning of a poem.

Arlynn said...

I have that song, "Many a New Day," from the musical Oklahoma running through my brain. Though several lines in it begin with "Many a new.. (day, face, love, etc.)," I don't recall a "dork." Hee.

Anyhoo, I thought the cake itself looked sweet. Hope she said yes once getting the true message.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Sounds like a new Wreck meme/T-shirt idea... ;)

Laurie said...

This is hilarious! I just love this blog!

Jay said...

I don't belong to the tribe that believes proposals are still valid if made through some other medium, and I think the brown-ness...well, I guess he is a great guy but my mind would surely be made up many or not many dork.

WV: hanscoch...what?

Anonymous said...

I hope she said yes because this is hilariously adorable even if it's wrong!

Mark said...

I am the guy who ordered the cake. This happened back in September. Yes, she said YES!...or, I should say, Yes...Dork. Actually, we did not notice the mistake until a few days later when we actually started eating it. It was my soon to be mother in law who caught it.
It was most likely the language barrier, but just to defend myself, I was worried about that, so after the worker wrote it down, I asked them to also have the actual person writing it to call my cabin before putting it on the cake to verify.
We were married one month ago and we went on a second cruise. I had a cake delivered that said, "Thanks for manying this dork." Yes, you are reading it right. I tripple checked that the cake was "misspelled" the "right" way for this one.

Real Food, Real World said...

Aw, the error just makes it more dorky. Or something.

OK, not really, but the poor guy - he tried so hard to do something whimsical and ended up with a wreck. I hope she laughed!

Suzy said...

On the positive side, the cake was kinda pretty and looks yummy! I guess a sloppy "marry" could look like "many" if the "r's" were smooshed...still...a double check would definitely be in order!!!!

Adrienne said...

oh! yay! that's so great!!

Melissa (& Billy) said...

It really is a shame it's so wrecky--that ganache looks mighty tasty.

Oh well. At least they'll have something rather memorable to tell their grandkids! *g*

Versaclouds said...

I once revealed a cake to a swan that informed it of my intent to bury it in peas.

Barb said...

Personally, I'm a "dorkling" - slightly more original I reckon.

Are we going to get to see the wedding cake?

Very memorable story.

Katie-Rose Tuttle said...

What's sad... I got the SAME CAKE... just different writing... Carnival Cruise Lines need to change it up!

Mel said...

Let's just hope we don't see their Wedding Cake here on Cake Wrecks...

Miranda said...

Well at least this looks like it would taste good.

Scritzy said...

Well, some of us had to go through many a dork to find the perfect one ...

Amy said...

LOL! Poor guy...

Michelle said...

Awww, Congratulations Mark!!! Glad she said yes!
That cake gave me the giggles. Trying not to wake the baby.

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Mark. Hope you have a long, happy "maniage."

Samantha Suzuki Photography said...

I hope she said yes anyway!

Feisty Irish Wench said...

OH wow. I'm glad to see Mark updated us though. And what a way to impress the future mother-in-law! LOL
Happy "monthiversary" Mark and his dork-loving wife!

btw: WV- scintly, but at first the graphic LOOKS like saintly...like Mark's "marry/many" cake situation...

Promise said...

When I worked as a grocery store decorator, if I had an inscription that I couldn't read or didn't make sense, I'd call the customer to verify it. If I couldn't get hold of the customer (you'd be surprised at how many give FAKE phone numbers on cake orders!), I'd leave the inscription blank and then verify what they wanted when they came to pick it up and write on it then. Unfortunately, this was a daily occurance as many people have horrible handwriting (both customers and my coworkers).

Michelle S. said...

hahahaha! Mark you're a catch! Congratulations to you and Mrs. Dork!

Here's wishing you a lifetime of happiness!

sendingtheclowns said...

Mark said...
"I am the guy who ordered the cake. This happened back in September. Yes, she said YES!"
***********************
WELL, in that case...!
Marry congratulations are in order!
May you have marry happy years together!
>^~-^<

MarieA said...

the next t-shirt and apron eh?

Anonymous said...

this is the best idea for a proposal i have ever seen. i hope someday i get proposed to with cake...just one with proper spelling.

joomlafied said...

Mark is Awesome! Re: the second cake: if you weren't already taken, I'd ask you to many me!

Word verification: fedfo

If all the wrecks were sent to third world countries, it would keep them fedfo years.

Unknown said...

Dude, it must be said: I want to be proposed to on a cake wreck. A horrible, horrible wreck with spelling mistakes a plenty.

SMLP said...

Classic Fail!

Unknown said...

Awwww! *Melts*

It may be the preggers hormones talking, but that entire story in Mark's update is just SO SWEET! I'm nearly in tears. I love weddings. *Sniff*

Congratulations to the happy couple. Umm... Marry happy returns?

Elle said...

hahaha!! oh what a great laugh!! thanks!

christine said...

It's such a pretty cake... without the words.

Teen Reader said...

This is simply stunning! Isn't that how it always happens? Man tries hard to make it perfect, something happens that is out of his control, he ends up looking like the idiot. Hmmm. I hope she took the poor thing anyways and married the Dork!

Anonymous said...

I was recently on a Carnival Cruise (not as recently as the dork), and the logistics of loading on board the food that everyone will want to order for however many days at sea is pretty tricky. That they can whip out these cakes at all is an accomplishment; I wouldn't expect a variety of designs unless you ordered before sailing.

Pademelon said...

As much as I'd like to jump on the "it must have been his handwriting" bandwagon, it might just be the decorator. I worked as a cake decorator/manager at an ice cream shop and the owner and I had to check every cake before it left the store because some of the decorators apparently lacked reading comprehension skills, regardless of how neat the order form was written out. We started to call a group of employees "The Frosting-For-Brains." I'm waiting for old pictures of some of the cakes that customers got before we figured out that we needed to be checking their work to show up on this site.

Anonymous said...

Well, at least it looks like a really yummy cake! Hopefully that's enough to get a yes! :)

Photographer Sydney said...

I just hope she'll say yes to you... this is really cute..

R2P2 said...

I have been on a cruise and barely anyone on the staff seemed to have English as a first language. That's my excuse for the poor guy.

Still, I am impressed that he could get a custom dessert. It looks nice except for that spelling error. At least it makes a good story.

Melissa said...

Still laughing.

Shannon said...

The cake may not have turned out exactly how he wanted it, but he certainly gets props for creativity in method.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the decorator was the real dork :-). We all have our mess ups and are a dork at one time or another.

Lapiz de la Guerra said...

This cake should totally make a reappearance at their wedding... granted that she chose to "many" the dork! LOL!

Michelle S. said...

I just realized something. I don't include those little notches on the r's of my own cursive hand and neither do several people I know. I wonder if that kind of double cursive r - two steep humps - might look just like an n to someone. Add the language barrier and there you go.

Marie said...

DID SHE SAY YES?! :)

Neen said...

What a cute story.

Anonymous said...

Hahah awesome cake! www.saucydish.com

Bald Outing said...

cute idea gone wrong.

- http://baldouting.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's upsetting. But cute. I can just imagine the nervous explanation afterwards. Awww

Jules said...

Love that chocolate cake..=)

A Writers Den
The Brown Mestizo

Beth said...

I wish I had pics of the "cake" my husband proposed to me with.
I surprised my hubby with a birthday party and had them make a strawberry cake that said Happy Birthday. It was a real wreck... http://tinyurl.com/qqyc3w

The one he sneakily had them make for me was supposed to be french silk PIE but I dont know if the person who made it knew what that was *shrug* It was really funny looking, too, but they put a ribbon on it that said "Will you marry me?" I said yes :)

Congrats Mark and wife! Cute story!

Jenna Lynn Cody said...

that is the cutest thing I have ever seen. cuter than that kitten picture with big blue eyes and folded ears.

jackie31337 said...

Versaclouds said I once revealed a cake to a swan that informed it of my intent to bury it in peas.

Wait, what? Am I missing something here?

Unknown said...

Oh my, i want that choco cake...Grrr..;D

Travel and Living

Anonymous said...

Hilarious!

What I really want to know, though, is did ANY of the people involved know that "dork" means "penis"? Seriously, look it up.

A unique proposal, even IF the decorator had gotten it right!

-Diana

Anonymous said...

Wow, I just read where these people put a word that means "penis" on the cake. Actually, it is how you use the word. In this case, Websters states:
Definition of dork
Pronunciation: dôrk
n. 1. a person who is stupid, socially inept, or ridiculous; - always used disparagingly.
2. the penis.

Related Words
jerk, misfit, schmo, schmuck, shmo, shmuck

Meaning, the use of the word would be of the first choice, a joke on the SCHMUCK type of person. A lovable fool, if you will. Just like using the "B" word to a female dog is not saying that she has a bad attitude.

I love English class. You are Dismissed!:)

Grace said...

I laughed so hard after reading this "many the dorks". I am still tickled by this.

Valraven said...

makes me think of the time I picked out a beautiful card for my girlfriend for valentines...
only to find out when I went to sign it that it was an anniversary card. She had a good laugh over that, and thought it was cute.

katie said...

When a proposal that goes so wrong is met with mutual good humor, you know "Yes!" was definitely the right answer. Congrats! :)

Katie said...

It's like he was asking her to have his babies. Make this dork many!

I'm glad to see Mark's update that she said yes and this continued as a joke.

Anonymous said...

creative.
my dad proposed to my mom at our local farmers market right in front of the chicken stand.

Isabelle

jyotiness said...

I mean, I guess if it had said Marry, we wouldn't get to hear the story, but oh my god.. how frustrating! After all that fretting that he went through to come up with the perfect phrase. Oh well.

Erin said...

omg i cannot stop laughing!!! i just keep imagining the buildup to this moment for both parties and then the complete randomness of the nonsensical statement on the cake. amazing. i am literally crying with laughter trying not to wake up my boyfriend!

Anonymous said...

I just want to know if Mark was a reader of cake wrecks...and if he was...

DID HE DO THAT ON PURPOSE TO GET A CAKE ON HERE!!!!!!!!!!.....?

APPALLING!

Anonymous said...

Marry that dork? No thanks, hes a dork.

Anonymous said...

Did you notice the unfinished piping on the left side?? haha, i sure hope she said "yes" *Lexie*

Cupcakes Lady said...

Poor guy. It's no good if you have to explain the cake. ha ;) xx