Dessert tables are expected to continue to be a big deal in weddings. Variety is the spice of life, and a wonderful way to end a reception meal.

A further wrinkle on this trend that’s on the rise for parties that last late into the night is a second spread of snacks offered to guests on their way out. Doughnuts, cookies, sliders, coffee and cocoa… this is the chance to offer up a tasty final gift to your guests.


Alternatives to flowers are another trend on the rise. Paper, brooches, fabric, feathers… if it can substitute for flowers, someone’s using it. This is a great trend if you’re dealing with allergies or want to DIY your bouquets and centerpieces over time. But real flowers are hardly going anywhere.

More brides have been doing DIY projects for their weddings, and that isn’t changing anytime soon. Whether it’s to save money, add uniquely personal touches, or honor a family tradition, using your own hands to put at least a couple pieces of your wedding together can be tremendously satisfying.

Green is clearly the way to go in the coming year. From invitations of recycled paper to living plant centerpieces, to packets of wildflower seeds as favors, brides and grooms everywhere are getting eco-friendly and loving it.

More weddings than ever are happening in the great outdoors. Whether it’s a garden, a beach, the woods, couples are choosing the sky as the ceiling they prefer. As someone who had an outdoor wedding and loved it, I say go for it… just make sure you have a backup plan in case of inclement weather.

Of course trends are fun, but never follow one if it feels wrong to you. You should do what matters to you.

Of course, since their motto is ‘tarts unordinary’ one might expect them to have some slightly more… adventurous offerings. One would be correct in that assumption.


This is the wasabi. It combines wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and blood orange layered with vanilla frangipane and topped with a tempura mint leaf. Adventurous, yes, but it also sounds delicious.

They also do a selection of yummy sounding cookies. I particularly want to try the salted caramel shortbread.

What’s the downside to all of this? Well, there’s the fact that Fruute only delivers to addresses in Los Angeles. But if that’s where you are and you need some sweet things for your engagement party, bridesmaid’s luncheon/tea, or wedding reception, the tarts run from $2.50 – $3.00 a piece, are made from organic ingredients, and are delivered in green packaging.

As for me… well, I don’t live in LA or anywhere in the immediate area, so I can’t order them. I can, however, take inspiration from some of the flavors, shapes, and concepts when playing in my own kitchen.

There are some that while I don’t feel as strongly, I can at least see their point. Crab cakes for two hundred is so tricky that the quality almost necessarily suffers when it comes time to serve. And goodness knows that the average steamed vegetable medley served by many a caterer at many a wedding is a sad little blop of uninspired randomness. It needn’t be, but it usually is.

At the other end of the scale, there’s the slider and the crudite platter with dip. Are these the most brilliant of culinary efforts? No, they are not. Are they overdone? Frankly, most of the weddings I’ve been to haven’t featured either. Your mileage may vary, but I have yet to attend a wedding where sliders and fries are passed out shortly before the last dog is hung, and I’d kind of like to be there for one of these midnight treats before the trend quite goes away. And a platter or two of raw veggies and dip may not be the most adventurous dish, but it’s generally been popular at the weddings I’ve been to that had them. Somebody’s eating them. Those people are leaving the party fed and happy. I think that’s more important than whether the dish is precisely what every foodie longs to see.

And for the record? I am so a foodie it isn’t even funny. Dinner at Casa Twistie has been known to feature some pretty darn adventurous stuff. I DVR cooking shows all day long and I regularly watch movies to see the cool scenes of elegant banquets while ignoring the performances of famous actors… or at least considering them less important than the food. My cookbook collection is legendary. I have a recipe for pretty near every dish that’s ever been imagined, and I know which book(s) to find it in. It’s just that making sure there’s something non-threatening for the less-than-adventurous eater strikes me as more important than making certain every dish is the latest and greatest culinary experience.

So.

Martini glasses full of mashed potatoes and dummy cakes get my vote for foods to nix at weddings for all eternity. Bring on the mashed potatoes, absolutely, just don’t put them in a stemmed glass, please. They’re much more at home on a corner of the plate or in a bowl than barware.

What foods would you eliminate from weddings? What famous wedding food trends have entirely managed to pass you by? What’s something you’ve always thought should be served at weddings, but isn’t? Did something unusual you served make a big splash with your guests? Have you come up with something you expect your guests to talk about for a long time to come? Do you think my choices for foods to nix are utter codswallop? Talk to me about menus, folks.

But after all of this effort, you really don’t want to spend your wedding night getting plastered. Well, maybe you do, but if that’s the case, just move along, nothing to see here. If, on the other hand, you have concerns about overdoing the festivities and don’t like that idea, just follow me after the cut for some sage advice on how to have a great time but still keep your head at your wedding.

My first piece of advice is this: be sure to eat on your wedding day. Seriously, this is probably the number one reason brides and grooms wind up overdoing the bubbly and spending more of the night fighting to get at the porcelain god than enjoying their first night of marital bliss.

Many brides and grooms are terribly nervous, come the big day. Whether it’s concern about something going wrong, cold feet, or simple stage fright, it’s easy to let those nerves make you think you can’t keep anything solid down. And then all too often, members of the bridal party are right there telling you nothing relieves the jitters and settles the tummy better than a glass of bubbly.

If you’re concerned that nerves might make you less than hungry, deputize someone to feed you on your wedding day. Talk to them beforehand about what sorts of food you think you might be able to handle in a crisis.

Remember, an empty stomach only makes the alcohol hit your system faster, and that means it takes a lot less for you to hit the floor.

Find another way to relax other than drinking. Drinking does relax people. It’s a depressant. That’s what depressants do. And in moderation, it’s good, clean fun that the whole adult family can enjoy. But it’s a depressant with consequences… you know, like most depressants. So if you can find a way of avoiding the stress or reducing it in a way that doesn’t involve alcohol, you won’t find yourself reaching quite as eagerly for the bottle and have a better chance of staying in control. So look for something like a breathing exercise, or something thing useful you can be doing with your hands. Go for a run before you have to get ready, or mentally calculate what the Titanic would have weighed had it been made of balsa wood. It doesn’t really matter what you’re doing, so long as it is something that relaxes you.

Be certain there are drinks at your reception that don’t include alcohol. This is just good advice, anyway. After all, chances are there’s someone on your guest list who either doesn’t drink or does so quite abstemiously. And if people have the option to drink less booze, well, that can save on the catering bill as well as making it that much less likely that anyone will overindulge. So do mix your drinks. Have a glass of champagne, and then make the next one fruit juice or water.

Remember, alcohol can contribute to dehydration… which makes you thirstier, which makes you drink more and makes the alcohol hit harder. Mixing it up with non-alcoholic drinks keeps you hydrated, which reduces your need for more drinks.

Have a receiving line. This is not only excellent etiquette, it’s also a helpful way of making sure you get to sit down and eat your reception meal rather than spending the dinner hour going from table to table and hunting down stragglers you missed. Remember, it’s just as important to eat at the reception as it is before the ceremony.

Look, everybody overindulges in something sometime. It’s not the end of the world if you do get tipsy at your own wedding. If it happens, try not to dwell. Let it go and go on with your life.

But if one ounce of this prevention keeps you from needing bail money on your wedding night… that’s a heck of a lot better than a cure!

Enjoy responsibly.

Just imagine being able to choose whatever flavor of cake you want without regard to anyone else’s preferences because there will be plenty of things for those who don’t like or can’t eat the cake to choose from.

Besides, it’s another fun piece of decor to the room, most of which is provided by the colors, textures, and general delectability of the food on the table top.

But when putting together a dessert table, there are still practical considerations to think about. It’s not just a free for all, and organization matters.


You’ll have to consider, first and foremost, what you can provide and if you’ll be able to get or make enough to go around.

If, like me, you’re a dab hand at baking or candy making, that’s fantastic. But if you’re making enough desserts to feed a couple hundred people, you’re going to need a plan, a budget, and a lot of freezer space. If you don’t bake, or you’d rather not bake for a hundred and fifty hungry guests, or your venue doesn’t allow self-catering… well, you’re going to have to find a vendor you can afford and discuss the matter with that person. They’ll take care of the rest.

But taking it back to the DIY crowd, really consider before you begin how much time you have to devote to the project, and where you’re going to store supplies and finished items until the wedding.

Next you have to consider the practicalities of food that’s going to be left out on a table for several hours. After all, delicious homemade ice cream would be amazingly good at a summer wedding, but only if you have a way to keep it properly frozen. Whipped cream is yummy in the extreme, but it needs to be kept cold, too. You don’t want your dessert table to melt into sludge or become a health hazard shortly after the first dance!

In general, it’s best to stick with things that can be left out safely for several hours. Avoid too many delicate, dairy-based items and don’t dip everything in chocolate if the room will be fairly warm.

Also, think about how things will look together. Do you want a monochromatic look, like this rather spectacular white on white creation by Amy Atlas?

Or a slightly broader range of colors, like this table created by Make Merry?

Think about what sort of serving pieces you’ll need. Do you want them to match? Or would a mix of unmatched pieces be a better fit for your wedding style? And what else will go on the table? At absolute minimum, you’ll probably need a tablecloth to set off the look. Most likely, you’ll need a bit more decoration than that, too. Flowers and/or greenery, photographs in pretty frames, pretty pieces of china… you’re only limited by your imagination and budget.

Make sure you vary the heights of the desserts. You can do this both by the actual sweets chosen (have a three-tier cake, a platter of cookies mounded up as high as they’ll go, or cones full of candy set in a stand alongside flatter items like pies, tarts, or brownies) and by the use of carefully chosen china or forms that raise up some of the platters to another level.

But on a more practical level, you might consider having a small card identifying each sweet and any likely sources of allergic reaction. If you’ve got something gluten-free or vegan or sweetened with agave nectar instead of sugar, certain of your guests may find that information useful. And I’ve been known to vacillate in front of tarts full of jam I can’t immediately identify, lest I find myself with a mouthful of something I really hate. Calligraph the cards or have them done by someone with really pretty handwriting. Just make sure it’s legible, too.

Be certain there are plates, napkins, and any necessary utensils right on hand. That way guests won’t hang back waiting to figure out how to eat the goodies.

Most of all, have fun with it. After all, this is dessert! The entire purpose of it is to be tasty and fun.

By Todd Pellowe Weddings

By Choco Studio

By True Love Photo

By Luster Studios

By Cheyenne Shultz Photography

By Erin Langford Photography

By Ryan Brenizer

Love it? Hate it? Think it’s slightly ridiculous but overall okay because, hey, no one’s getting hurt? (That’s my take.)

I'll take one of those... and, ooh, one of those!

I don’t have to be invited to a wedding to be interested in the wedding reception menu. There are so many ways to feed your wedding guests, which means that a reception meal might be anything from champagne and cake (with a fruit salad) to, like one wedding I attended while in college, a full sit down dinner in addition to hours of buffet station and passed appetizers that were basically dinner. I’m talking multiple carving stations, pasta stations, bacon-wrapped everything… it was actually kind of surreal.

You may not be serving the kind of American outsized tasting menu consisting of full meals, one right after the other, but I am still curious! What are you serving at your wedding reception – or did you serve once upon a time – and why?

Papa John’s UK division is actually selling Prince William and Kate Middleton wedding pizzas featuring a portrait of the happy couple in cheese, mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, and other assorted toppings, according to The Sun.

I don’t know about you, but that just isn’t the most appetizing thing I’ve ever seen… and not just because I detest mushrooms, either!

On the Amy Atlas Events blog, Amy herself shares a few tips and tricks that will help the DIYers out there create an incredible dessert buffet. Speaking as someone who recently discovered that she likes designing the look and feel of events, I’d wager that something like a candy buffet or dessert buffet would be a relatively simple project. Much less stressful than, say, baking a wedding cake or sewing a wedding dress.

*my drug of choice

The two episodes I watched last night were particularly interesting to me, in that they included some really brilliant and some really, really questionable ideas. Take a look after the cut to see what I’m talking about.

Good idea #1: The milk and cookie bar. One of the couples last night featured a bride of nineteen summers and her groom who was only eighteen. I’m not getting into whether it’s a good or a bad idea to marry that young. It’s legal and everyone around them seemed down with the idea. The thing is, they were both too young to drink alcohol. Most of their friends were too young to drink. They were also holding their reception in the church hall, where alcohol may not have been permitted no matter what the age of the couple involved. So these wacky kids on a half a shoestring budget got creative and put together a milk and cookies bar.

Friends and family baked chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, and at least half a dozen other kinds of cookies. These were put in glass jars and stacked on platters with prettily lettered labels to identify them for everyone. Then there were big glass bottles of milk nestled in ice in large metal pails. And then there were the flavorings. Guests could have chocolate or strawberry flavored powder or they could take it straight. The bride and groom even toasted with milk.

If you’re having a dry reception and want to remember those innocent milk and cookies days, or if you’re having a lot of kids at your wedding and want an attractive way of keeping them away from the champagne, this is a fun, festive, relatively inexpensive way of handling the situation.

Bad Idea #1: Don’t have your groom do a striptease at the reception… not even if he used to be a star dancer for Chippendale’s. No, really, this happened. I know it was his fourth wedding, and I know that even at 53 the dude’s still got a smokin’ body (really, I would have felt pretty certain of that even if he hadn’t started tearing his clothes off and grinding his package two inches from the bride’s face), but this is one of the very few things that get a flat-out No Freaking Way In Hades! from me. Save the private dancer routine for the bridal suite, folks.

Good Idea #2: Combine colorful touches from your backgrounds… and don’t be afraid to use ideas from both sides if your backgrounds are different. One of last night’s brides was of an Indian heritage and her groom was Latino. It was an event combining saris and sombreros. She was decked out in full Hindu glory. In the Indian tradition, the groom usually arrives at the ceremony at the head of a parade of family and friends and mounted on a white pony. This gentleman headed the parade on his beloved motorcycle. The reception featured tortillas and goat curry on the menu. There was a mariachi band and men doing rope tricks. All in all, it was a party I wanted to be enjoying up close and personal.

Bad Idea #2: One bride had food stations at her reception. Unfortunately, she had just two and she placed them right next to one another so that getting food wound up requiring getting in one huge line. Food stations are a great idea if you’re doing buffet-style service, but do make sure they’re spread out so the lines aren’t too long.

Good idea #3: One bride provided a double-decker bus tour between the ceremony and reception. If your ceremony venue and reception venue are a significant distance apart, consider providing some form of fun transportation if it will fit into your budget. This one also took care of the dreaded question of what to do with guests while the bride and groom are being photographed from every conceivable angle.

Good Idea #4: If you’ve got kids, include them in the proceedings. Two of the brides last night had children – one had three daughters from a previous marriage while the other had a toddler son with her groom – and both brides included their kids. The one with the three daughters made the oldest her MOH and the younger two her flower girls. The one with the little boy made him her ring bearer. The little ring bearer did go running in the wrong direction at one point, but once shown where Daddy was standing raced his little legs off down the aisle until his dad could scoop him up in his arms and hold him through the ceremony. It doesn’t get more personal than this, folks.

And a Cautionary Tale. One bride had a lovely outdoor ceremony on a waterfront, followed immediately by an outdoor cocktail hour at dusk. Unfortunately, it seems that nobody had checked out the insect situation. The champagne was set up directly behind a nest of fire ants, and as the sun set the gnats came out in droves. That single detail is no doubt why she wound up in fourth place out of four.

I love an outdoor wedding, heck I had one myself! But do be sure to investigate what kinds of bugs gather where you’re having your big event and proceed thoughtfully.