So…my article last week on whether or not people eat cake at weddings has produced an overwhelming response to the effect that cake (or at least dessert) is important to our readers. In fact, it ran about the way I expected: a couple of people who will pass if the quality isn’t up to snuff, one or two people mentioned allergies that make cake eating in public a bit dicey to say the least, someone didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, several who weren’t picky about whether cake was there so long as dessert was offered…and the rest all wanted their cake and to eat it out loud and proud.

You, in short, are a crowd after my own heart.

But now I’m kind of curious about something, and I’d like to ask you another question:

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Weddings can be so wasteful. Much of the waste is a product of the desire to have things be just right. When ten wedding guests haven’t RSVP’ed and it’s two weeks before the big day, it’s often easier to order extra food and extra wedding favors that may or may not get eaten and taken. If you’re a DIY bride, having more supplies than you need can prevent future disasters. And most wedding gowns are worn only once.

I was incredibly lucky when it came to my own wedding leftovers because I have a grandmother who has a finger in just about every local church and charity. My wedding gown? It was given to the family house of worship so a future bride could wear it. The extra DIY supplies and favors? That same church has an active community theatre, so problem solved. And the massive quantities of leftover food went to a local halfway house that accepts perishables. By the time my wedding day was over, almost everything had been distributed or delivered to the appropriate recipients thanks to gram.

Not every bride has such a thoughtful relative to turn to, however. We’ve discussed wedding gown donation in the past, and it’s pretty easy to unload DIY supplies (think Craiglist or Freecycle), but what about food? The sad fact of the matter is that tons of uneaten yummies from wedding receptions goes into landfills each year because many — if not most — charities do not accept donations of perishable foodstuffs. If you don’t have enough local relatives to ensure that everything goes home with someone who owns a deep freeze, it’s almost guaranteed that perfectly good canapes, entrees, and desserts are going to land in the trash.

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For many years, cakes have ruled wedding receptions. One of the first questions people ask about weddings is what the cake either looked or tasted like.

Over the course of the past few years, though, the cake has started losing its place at the party. Oh, it’s not like they’re going away anytime soon. I expect them to continue to be the most popular dessert at weddings for a very long time to come. It’s just that now more people are more open to variations on the theme.

One popular variation that’s sprung up of late is the dessert bar. With this option, the couple may or may not have a traditional cake, but they will offer multiple options in sweet ways to end a meal.

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In the past week, I’ve seen a new trend talked up on two different wedding reality shows. On both Rich Bride, Poor Bride and Whose Wedding is it, Anyway? couples have been advised to get and have chosen to hire living tables.

What’s a living (or strolling) table? Well, it’s a person who dresses up in a costume and stands inside a hole in a table on casters decorated to match the costume. The table is then set with a selection of hors d’oeuvres, or desserts that guests can help themselves to as the table wanders through your reception or party.

Here’s what it looks like:

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Oh, Amy Atlas… I couldn’t have afforded an event planner to handle my wedding, much less one highly sought-after in New York City like yourself, but when it comes to dessert, I can certainly aspire to be you. Atlas, you see, specializes in creating perfect dessert tables for high-end events, and perfect they are.

Here, custom yellow and black chocolates, licorice mints, and lemon cupcakes complement a graphic tiered cake. This table of sweets was designed for a company party, but would look utterly smashing at a modern wedding with a yellow and black theme.

Beware dieters! The close-up shots of the various sweets are gorgeous enough to make a girl salivate for something sugary, and there are more colorful candy pics from Amy Altas’ portfolio after the cut!

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A few months back, I noticed that everyone I know seems to be obsessed with bacon. In the recent holiday gift issue of New York Magazine — which I began receiving for free about two years ago for some bizarre reason — plenty of their holiday poll respondents mentioned bacon as the perfect holiday prezzie. I don’t get it. Even before I stopped eating meat, I’d always choose sausage over bacon. To each their own, I suppose.

If you are a true bacon aficionado and looking for a perfect (perfectly dreadful?) wedding favor that highlights your interests, how about giving your wedding guests maple bacon lollipops to take home after the reception?

Okay, I just shuddered thinking about it. I’d much rather have one of Lollyphile‘s wasabi ginger pops, though I’ll pass on the absinthe flavor. Of course, there is no one wedding favor that will please all of your guests. I do wonder, however, whether bacon sweets like the aforementioned lollies, bacon jelly beans, and bacon cookies will delight even half your wedding guests.

One of the thornier issues that comes up when planning a wedding is the menu. No matter what you do, someone is going to be unhappy with what you choose to serve. This only becomes more true if you are planning not to serve either or both of two popular items: alcohol and meat.

For some reason, there are a great many people who cannot wrap their heads around the concept that meat is not necessary in every meal or that it’s possible to have a good time without an alcoholic drink. The fact is it’s perfectly possible to have not only a delicious but a completely satisfying meal sans meat and it’s more than possible to have a blast without a glass of bubbly.

Chances are, though, that at least one or two people on your guest list would be skeptical of my claims in this regard.

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