What’s the latest sweet treat in the wedding world?
We recently looked at 2013 Trends in Wedding Food and discussed the prevalence of local, quality, and farmed ingredients; informal or interactive stations; surprising and out of the box ideas; tiny treats, and creativity in the details. Now we turn our attention to the latest in sumptuous desserts for weddings and other events….
Creative cakes: In some ways, cakes seem to be following the cupcake fad: fun flavors, decadent icing, and interesting combinations. Slender, tall, and smooth cakes dominate, and many couples still opt for each layer to be a different flavor. Beyond that, wedding cakes vary as much as the couples they celebrate. The clean and modern look with one embellishment (sugar flowers, a bow, or monogram) seems to be the most popular, but just as many feature eye-popping colors, full appliqués that mimic textures like lace, metallics, chevron, ruffles, hand painted details, fresh flowers, ombre, or other fun embellishments.
Cake alternatives: Cupcakes, cake pops, pies, pie pops, s’mores, macarons towers, donuts, brownies, and cookies have all slowly encroached on the wedding cake’s territory… Sometimes all at once! An increasingly popular wedding dessert ideas is dessert tables. Why choose one yummy snack when you can feature many in a beautiful array that amazes your guests and lets them choose? Also, in case there are any allergies or food preferences, this creates a lot of options for any and every guest. All in all, these extravagant displays are more fun than one solitary cake and can really add the finishing touch to a lovely reception.
Like kids in a candy shop: Ahhh, the candy buffet. Nothing seems to excite a group of wedding guests as much as this wedding trend. One of our recent events featured a fabulous spread, and it was a major hit! This is also a great decor opportunity – display the candy in small jars, test tubes, vial, boxes, or anything else. One tip to keep in mind, thanks to Sugarlicious Denver, is to choose small receptacles. Large containers cost more to fill and provide less variety. Overall, some couples opt for a wide selection of sugary snacks, others choose a theme to tie their candy selections together, such as vintage treats, local gourmet choices, all-chocolate, gummy candies, one color selection, etc.
Collaboration and personality: Spurred on by inspiration from the internet (especially from Pinterest), weddings increasingly include a distinct wedding dessert that reflect the personality of the bride and groom and spirit of the event. Wedding cakes are one way to show who the couple is, such as this artist / scientist cake we saw earlier this summer. Don’t be afraid to be quirky! Many modern couples would rather have a cake that tells a story rather than one that looks ready for a magazine. Lots of input in this area always helps. Grooms are taking on a larger role in choosing the wedding dessert, and families are also getting involved in the planning, sometimes adding in traditions such as family recipes.
Desserts are the sweet endings to your event… So have fun! You can even mix and match. We’ve seen cakes with a dessert table or candy buffet on the side. We love all the creativity going into recent events and can’t wait to see what the next big wedding dessert trend is, or how any of the above ideas get implemented.
Special thanks to Sugarlicious Denver for providing some ideas for this post.
