Cancellations & RefundsCancellations & Refunds

Days are counted back from the date of your event. The balance is the confirmed price less the two deposits.

1. You withdraw within 24 hours of sending your request, before we have replied

   Refunded: The request deposit ($50), in full.

   Kept: Nothing.

2. We decline your request

   Refunded: The request deposit ($50), in full and automatically.

   Kept: Nothing.

3. You withdraw later, before the booking deposit is paid

   Refunded: Nothing is refunded, and nothing more is owed.

   Kept: The request deposit, for the design review already done.

4. You cancel more than 14 days before the event

   Refunded: Any part of the balance you have already paid, in full.

   Kept: The request and booking deposits. You may move the date instead.

5. You cancel 8 to 14 days before the event

   Refunded: 50% of the balance.

   Kept: Both deposits and the other 50% of the balance.

6. You cancel 7 days or fewer before the event

   Refunded: Nothing.

   Kept: Everything paid.

7. We have to cancel

   Refunded: Everything you have paid, in full, or a new date if you prefer.

   Kept: Nothing.

If the atelier approved your commission within 14 days of the event, you paid everything at once. For this schedule, the part of that payment above the booking deposit counts as the balance.

The $50 request deposit is paid when you send a request. It pays for a personal review of your design: we read it, price it and reply within two business days.

• If we approve it, the $50 counts toward your booking deposit.
• If we decline it, it is refunded in full, automatically.
• If you change your mind within 24 hours of sending it, and before we have replied, write to us and it is refunded in full.
• If you withdraw after that, including if you decide against the confirmed price, it is not refunded, because the review it pays for has been done.

Once your design is approved, the booking deposit holds your date. It is 35% of the confirmed price, at least $150, or half the total for smaller commissions, less the $50 you have already paid. We ask for it within 7 days of approval, or by the day before the event if that is sooner. Your date is held only once it is paid.

The booking deposit is non-refundable once paid. From that moment we turn other commissions away for your date, and design and sourcing begin.

It can move with you once. If your plans change, you may transfer it to a new date within 12 months of the original, if we are free that day. Anything the new date changes in the price (the season, the flowers, the guest count) is settled in a revised confirmed price. A second move, or a date further out, is at our discretion.

The balance falls due 14 days before your event. We send a reminder beforehand, with a link to pay.

If the balance is still unpaid 7 days before the event, after our reminders, we may treat the commission as cancelled by you. The schedule above then applies as for a cancellation 7 days or fewer before the event. We will always write to you before we do this.

The atelier is one person making a small number of cakes. When a commission is cancelled, what we lose is real but hard to measure exactly, so we agree it with you in advance. Each figure is our honest estimate of that loss at the time it applies, not a penalty.

• The $50 request deposit covers the hours spent reviewing, pricing and replying to your design.
• The booking deposit stands for the date we hold for you and the commissions we decline for it, along with the design work and sourcing that begin once it is paid. It is never more than 50% of the price, and it can move to a new date rather than be lost.
• From 14 days out, your date can rarely be filled again. We need at least 21 days’ notice for a new commission, and by now ingredients, flowers and materials are being ordered and sugar work may have begun. Much of the bake is still ahead, which is why 50% of the balance comes back.
• In the final 7 days, the ingredients are bought, the flowers ordered and the work scheduled, often already underway. Almost nothing can be recovered.

Write to hello@byninaatelier.com from the email address on your commission, with your commission reference (it begins NA- and appears in every email we send). Tell us whether you would like to cancel or move the date, and to which date.

A cancellation counts from the day your email reaches us, in Eastern time. We reply to confirm it, with what will be refunded. If you would rather talk it through first, say so in your email. Nothing is cancelled until you confirm, and the date of your first email still counts.

Illness, an emergency or events beyond our control could, rarely, stop us making your cake. If that happens we tell you as soon as we know, and you choose: a full refund of everything you have paid, or a new date.

The Terms of Commission explain what else we are responsible for.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with, through Stripe, in US dollars. We start them within two business days of a cancellation being confirmed; declined requests are refunded automatically. Your bank decides how quickly the refund appears on your statement.

If you think a payment is wrong, please write to us first. Most things are settled in a single email. If you dispute a payment with your card issuer, we will share the terms you accepted and the payment records with them.

This schedule is part of our Terms of Commission. It does not take away any right you have under Virginia law that cannot be given up by agreement.