STL Cake Bakers

We tasted cake from three St. Louis bakers and here are my reviews:

Wedding Wonderland:
Located in a large warehouse in Florissant, these people specialize in cake instead of being a full-service bakery with pastries and what-not. Really awesome white cake! with a slight "almond" flavor. Goes great with any fruit filling and with the cream cheese filling. The cherry chip cake with cherry filling was also very tasty, and unique. Wasn't a huge fan of the other flavors (red velvet cake just tasted like regular chocolate cake, and banana cake tasted like some terrible holiday fruitcake gift)
Pros: The cake flavors were above average and the price per slice is decent (starting at $1.65) The warehouse has some model cakes you can choose from to recreate for your wedding.
Cons: The customer service was so-so: they do not let you take tastings to-go, even if you pay for the cake, and they do not take appointments, only walk-ins, so you do not get personal attention at the tasting because they are busy with other customers. They have no price lists to take home for review, but upon questioning we found out that the starting price they advertise does not include the hefty decorating fees and extra charges for fillings, which when added in make the price per slice closer to average (around $3.00) Also, although the cake is tasty, the frosting is not- you'll notice it is called "traditional wedding cake icing", meaning it is not buttercream.

Cravings:
This is an adorable little bakery in Webster Groves. They bake everything from wedding cakes to pies and tortes. The owner met with us and, unlike other bakeries, brought us a tasting of every single cake flavor and frosting flavor- wow! Most places allow you to choose 3. The white cake was so-so, but all chocolate varieties were absolutely delicious. And, the white-chocolate mousse filling is heavenly! I actually wish I could purchase just a giant tub of the frosting to use on things I bake at home!
Pros: very yummy cake flavors and fillings- many that think "outside the box" such as cranberry-chocolate cake, citrus zest cake, hazelnut buttercream, and white chocolate mousse. Very nice and personal customer service- the owner himself sat with us throughout the tastings and made recommendations for flavor combinations. The bakery has won several culinary awards and it had postive, welcoming, neighborhood-bakery feel to it.
Cons: the cake price is slighter higher than some of the others we tried (3.50/slice as a base, $4.00/slice with the white chocolate mousse filling), but otherwise no negative remarks

The Cakery:
A bakery located in dogtown, the owner is the same person that brought us The Cupcakery in the CWE. The french vanilla cake is fabulous- again, a white cake with an "almond" flavor- and the REAL buttercream frosting is sweet and delicious. The strawberry cake and strawberry filling is also very good- the filling is thick like strawberry jam- yummm! My only dislike was the vanilla mint buttercream- it was a little heavy on the mint part, making it too similar to toothpaste. Everything else was very tasty.
Pros: Great cake flavors and fillings and REAL buttercream. Excellent customer service- we had a private appointment to do our tasting and met the owner herself, who was very helpful in explaining our decorating options, tier size options, and price lists. The cake is $3.00 per slice, including all flavors and almost any decorative option- very reasonable. Their decorative skills are extensive and they had an album with photos of previous wedding cakes they had prepared to help customers come up with ideas.We got a pamphlet with all of the info to take home, and they were kind enough to accomadate us when we came back for a second tasting- I had wanted to take home a slice to share with my mom in the final decision-making process, and I offered to pay for it- they didn't even charge me and prepared multiple slices in a to-go box with cute little sample cups of fillings! How sweet!
Cons: none that I could find!

We ended up choosing...
The Cakery! We choose them because we decided we wanted to go the traditional route, with a white cake, and their white cake was our favorite. That being said, if we had gone with chocolate cake, I would have wanted to choose Cravings, but Jake isn't a big chocolate fan, and white cake is more traditional anyway, and the Cakery's is not your average white cake- the subtle almond flavor combined with the sweet vanilla buttercream is incredible! They also had excellent customer service and a decent price point. Can't wait for everyone at the wedding to taste it!

And also, since strawberry cake was Jake's favorite, I'm thinking about doing a strawberry groom's cake! I would do a St. Louis theme, since this city is where we met and fell in love, and create a design like a map with the city layout and some icons/landmarks that were important to us (ie where we first met, first date, our first house, where we were engaged, etc) Any thoughts?