French Lick's 'Surprise' Services Are Both Sweet and Fragrant

OK, we’ve got a secret to share.

It may not be the juiciest secret you’ve ever heard. But it’s worth keeping on your radar if you’re taking part in a group experience here, such as business functions, family reunions and birthday or bachelorette parties.

That five-tiered wedding cake and the grand table centerpiece that you see above? Made right here at French Lick Resort. We’re more than just two huge hotels — we’ve got our own full-service floral department and bakery within these walls, too.

 One of Chef Dalyn's wedding cake creations
joined pastry with floral, with real flowers
flowing from the cake halved down the center. 

“My clients are absolutely surprised to find out that we have those in-house services,” said Sara Clark, one of French Lick Resort’s sales managers. “Sometimes they will ask if I can recommend a local bakery or flower shop before I get the opportunity to tell them we have these services here and that I can handle their arrangements for them. Once the planning process has started we handle everything including balloons, centerpieces, floral arrangements, specialty cakes and more.”

Dalyn Roney is the chef who’s responsible for whipping up all the sweet treats at French Lick Springs Hotel, and she fills requests ranging from modest to massive.

One group wanted to assemble an “I’m glad you’re here” welcome package for its people attending, so Dalyn’s team made some gourmet Christmas cookies to put in each room. Another request came from the family of a woman celebrating her 70^th birthday at French Lick Resort. Her cake of choice was a banana cake, so the family brought the recipe and had the bakery prepare it for them.

“It’s limitless,” Dalyn said. “The more guests communicate in advance, the more we can make it happen.”

 One of the mini replica wedding cakes that Dalyn has created
for a guest's anniversary (next to a 10-ounce water bottle for
scale).

A couple times, Dalyn has gotten wind of couples coming here to celebrate 50^th anniversaries and asked them send a photo of their original wedding cake so she could make them a small replica wedding cake. She applies some of those same special touches for the brides and grooms of today who plan their destination weddings at French Lick Resort.

“I love personalizing those cakes,” Dalyn said. “Oftentimes a wedding dress, for example, that they pick out might have a special embellishment that’s embroidered on the hem of the dress. I’ll put that particular scroll pattern in the cake on one of the layers. Even if they bring me a cake off Pinterest — which last year it seemed every single bride picked almost the exact same cake — I’ll personalize it so that no one else is going to have their same cake.”

This was the cake that was popular with several different brides who got married at French Lick Resort last year, though Dalyn makes the effort to personalize similar-looking cakes to make each one unique.

Speaking of weddings, resort floral manager Kim Holland was the mother of a bride herself a couple years ago. Kim handled the flowers for her daughter’s wedding, and even though it’s the exact thing she does on the job every day, it wasn’t necessarily easy to accomplish since there are so many moving parts to organizing a big event.

“When people come to a destination place where we can provide all those services for you, it’s well worth it,” Kim said. “It takes that pressure and stress off a lot.”

Resort floral manager Kim Holland leads the team in charge of keeping the resort fresh and green, whether it's decorations for group experiences or centerpieces on restaurant tables.

Some of the botanic handiwork that Kim creates comes as a revelation even to the folks she works alongside. Some of her fellow co-workers at the resort will come to her if they’re needing a small arrangement for a wife’s birthday or anniversary — though not everyone is aware that’s an option.

“A lot of associates come to me and say, ‘I didn’t know I could get flowers here,’ or ‘I didn’t know that you did flowers for other events,’ because we’ll do outside floral too for guests.” (excluding weddings outside the resort)

The floral reminders are everywhere across the resort property, from the exterior landscaping to the restaurant tables to the arrangements that rest on tables in the French Lick Springs Hotel lobby. And every now and then, the secret about Kim and her floral presence trickles out when guests see her changing out or watering the lobby flowers and inquire about them.

(Yes, those are real.)

“They just think they’re big silk arrangements and have no idea there’s a floral department here,” Kim said with a laugh. “It’s kind of cool.”