Think Outside The Wedding Cake
Posted by Denise on Jan 21, 2008. Filed under Cakes, Receptions, Wedding Ideas
Comments (17), Permalink
I have to confess I am personally not a huge fan of cake, so I love that more brides are moving away from serving a traditional wedding cake and offering more creative wedding desserts. I’ve attended a few “cakeless” weddings in the past year, and I really enjoyed how personal and unique these dessert presentations can be.
The candy and chocolate buffet at my friend’s reception at The Monte Verde Inn in Gold Country was a huge success. All of the candies were in my friend’s pink and espresso wedding colors, and they were displayed in clear glass containers to add an extra splash of color. She even provided little monogrammed pouches for all the guests to stash their candy. The buffet looked amazing, and it was a big hit with the guests. There are so many variations you can do with this. Some people have done a cookie buffet, an ice cream sundae buffet or just a mixed pastry buffet.
To make your own candy buffet, go to one of these fun websites to get what you need:
Candy Favorites
Candy Warehouse
Groovy Candies
Hometown Favorites
My MMS
Another idea that I loved was at a wedding I worked on with Maxine Andrew of Instead of You Coordination & Design. The bride and groom were both from huge Italian families and wanted to share some Italian culture with their guests, so they ordered cannolis from their favorite bakery for their wedding. It was their favorite dessert and a perfect way to share something special with their guests.
The very best part about this idea was how it was presented: The guests were partying on the dance floor, and suddenly the music stopped, the lights went out and a drum roll started. Then, a spotlight turned on and followed a waitress holding a silver dessert tray. As a traditional Italian song came on, the waitress danced around the guests, weaving her way through the crowd to the bride and groom. She stopped, took a bow and served the couple their cannolis. After the bride and groom fed each other, the lights came back on and waiters entered the reception hall from all sides of the room with trays of cannolis and pass them around to all of the guests. The entire presentation took my breath away. I was lucky enough to have witnessed the entire thing from the balcony of The Bently Reserve, where I was cuing the lighting crew. It was so dramatic and the guests were enchanted.
I really think that some of the best parts of weddings are the individual touches that make them unique. Desserts are one idea, but personalizing a cocktail or sharing your favorite meal with your guests is another way to share something you love with your guests and make your wedding day even more special.
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Comments
While not exactly “cakeless”, the trend towards wedding cupcake tiers is gaining momentum. We often include a small cake on the top of the cupcake tier and decorate it with sugar flowers, monogrammed initials or swarovski crystals.
This one is my personal favorite:
http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/wedding-cupcake-stand-2007-07-07.htm
Anne, that is the most gorgeous cupcake display! Love those butterflies!
I came across another great company that could help you in the pursuit of an alternative dessert option. I attended the Bridal Network fair, http://www.sfweddingfair.com/ at the Four Seasons on January 13th and was introduced to this amazing chocolate fountain company. The company is called The Chocolate Mess, http://www.thechocolatemess.com/. The reason I love this company is they are all about presentation and quality of product. They strictly use Guittard chocolates carefully prepared to run smoothly and they do not add any additional oils to the chocolate. They also provide attentive monitoring of the fountain throughout your event. I dipped rice crispy treats, strawberries and marshmallows into the chocolate. It was so delicious I just couldn’t stop. This would be such a fun interactive display to have for your guests at your wedding, bridal shower or any type of party to are planning. Check them out! They have a pretty large service area in Northern California. You can reach them at 510/459-7427 or email them at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Another idea for dessert that I really like is a tower of crème brule. You can stack all the white ramekins in a tower shaped like a wedding cake and add flowers for décor.
I just went to a summer wedding that had a ice cream sundae bar instead of a cake. It was a big hit!
The last couple weddings I have worked on this year had candy buffets and they were a huge hit. If you are to busy to make the candy buffet yourself you can hire a company to do it for you. Here is a great one in Northern California, http://www.martellsweetstop.net.
I recently was married July 5th 2008. I had a beautiful wedding and a candy buffet that was provided by Martell Sweet Stop. Her ideas, creativity and dedication to my Candy Buffet was more than exspected. Thank you Jeri for making all of our guest inner child come out and party. If you need someone who can give you all the services and at a cheap price visit her website at http://www.martellsweetstop.net shes GREAT.
I have attended a wedding last summer and their cake was fake. It is made of cardboard, and just put icing on eat. It is not good because they missed have the slicing of the cake.
I recently got married and had Cold Stone Creamery in Lockport cater our wedding reception. This is the store we always go to since it is in the town we live in but when I was picking out my flavors and toppings another bride was booking her engagement party and she lives in NorthBrook and they said it was no problem to cater an event that was alittle bit aways
I choose the option of having the ice cream sundae bar atation and everyone loved it! I was going to do the option of the portabkle frozen stoen that they would mix the ice cream and candy on just like in the store but the sundae bar was a little bit cheaper.
We had our whole wedding catered for way cheaper than our cake or a chocolate fountain would have cost. This Cold Stone in Lockport is really pretty reasonable and did a beautiful job. My theme was fall with leaves and broze colors and they set their table up to match my theme for free!
At Christmas thats all my family could talk about was the sundae bar. I would go to this Cold Stone off 159th even if I moved away because they treated us so good. I couldnt decide on my flavors or she let em try all of them again and again and gave me really good suggestions.
We also had a Cold Stone Candy station setup with cold stone containers on the way out for people to et on the way home
They also do total Ice Cream cakes!
Thanks for these ideas,.. I’ll surely will use it in my wedding.. and it would be soon.. thanks again..
A cakeless wedding, huh? I have heard of cupcake weddings, they sell stands and everything for them. You could put cute little toppers on each one, like a little military guy or a flip flop, who knows. That would be fun. I think that would be better than a totally cakeless wedding.
Celebration cakes have a charm that delights the hearts of one and all.
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These are some pretty cool ideas. Thanks for sharing. I know what you mean about the presentation. At Italian weddings, it’s important to get that right.
We are also seeing cookie bars at weddings. Also, groom’s cakes are popular. Typically home made with a sports theme. The bridal cake can be smaller and less expensive if other goodies are present!
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I love the cannoli idea! What a clever way to include heritage, without feeling like you have to serve a pasta and pizza for dinner.The fact that the Cannoli presentation still utilized the RITUAL of the wedding cake was so clever: That way neither the guests nor the couple felt cheated out of a special moment.