Wedding Blog
I absolutely adore cake, and I would eat it for every meal if I could (shh! Don’t tell the South Beach Diet people!), but we won’t be having one at our wedding. Sigh.
When we first started looking at wedding cakes, I got so excited thinking about all of the possibilities out there. Chocolate raspberry? Yes! Carrot Cake? Mmm hmm! A different flavor for every tier? Okay! We even found a baker we liked, so we sent her a picture of our dream cake, along with our budget, and she responded that it was all definitely doable. So, we had a cake tasting and we were thrilled! The cakes were delicious!
Here’s the dream cake photo we showed the baker. Photo from The Knot.
Yum. Cake goooood. Nom nom nom.
Unfortunately, we were floored (floored!) when we were given a quote of $7-$8 per person. That was waaaaay outside of our budget. We will have about 250 guests, so it comes out to quite a chunk of change. We just couldn’t justify spending so much money on dessert. We really hate wasting someone’s time, so we always talk about price upfront. I still don’t know what happened to cause the misunderstanding.
After that, we didn’t even bother to look up other vendors. We searched for alternatives, but nothing was standing out. We were bummed because we didn’t want to eliminate dessert or the traditional cake cutting/smashing all-together. Then, BAM! It hit us! Cupcakes! Well, cupcakes with a twist. When it comes time to cut the cake, Mr. Dumpling and I will have something like this just for the two of us:
Photo from Susan Lawrence
For the cupcakes, we decided that instead of a cupcake tree, we would have them passed around on silver platters to our guests by our wait staff. We found some really inexpensive ones at Target.
But, here’s where it gets sorta neat: with each cupcake, we will serve a “shot” of milk (soy milk for me)! We found these personalized shot glasses at Oriental Trading. At $11.99 for 50 and with free personalization, we couldn’t pass them up!
We found a great local bakery that can make just about any flavor of cupcake and is very reasonably priced. We were thinking about having a mix of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate with German chocolate filling, lemon with vanilla filling, and plain Jane strawberry.
Oh, I almost forgot—we won’t need to pay for serving plates or extra forks from the rental company either, because cupcakes can be eaten without them! Yay for saving money!
Is anyone else “cutting” the cake? I hope I don’t throw off some of our older guests. What do you think? Good idea or bad idea?
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Share this post: Let Them Eat (Cup)Cakes and Do Shots!
I am doing cupcakes too for the exact reasons you are! Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Hi Miss Dumpling! I also live in Las Vegas and was recently married at Lake Las Vegas. We had cupcakes from the Cupcakery (they were fantastic to work with and the cupcakes were fabulous!). We received nothing but rave reviews. I love your silver trays - they’ll lend a touch of elegance to a fun dessert. Good luck!
$7-8 a slice?! Wow. Thanks for posting this, I had no idea cake might cost that much! I’ll be sure to ask about prices up front when cake time rolls around. (mmmm, cake time …)
our grooms cake is going to be cupcakes!!!
Grat idea! Look at the good side you had the chance to eat a delicius cake for free?! right?
Those cakes are delicious, but the price is a bit high. However, I love the cupcake and milk idea (i’m korean, thus, i’m lactose - so soy for me too !!!) Great idea!!!!!!
I like the idea of serving them on platters. Makes it feel very regal!
Absolutely love the shot of milk idea. Might need to offer that, even with our regular cake. Chocolate cake w/out milk just seems so wrong.
I love the shot of milk idea - one other idea for bees struggling with dessert costs: Buy a cake you really like from your baker, sized enough to feed half your guests. Then purchase (or bake your own!) sheet cake in the same or different flavor. Not everyone will eat cake anyway and it saves a ton of money!
Yay for alternative cake options! We’re having a “bundtlet bar” from Nothing Bundt Cakes for our Lake Las Vegas wedding this fall and I can’t wait! I might have to “borrow” your milk shot idea! Thanks for the inspiration!
We’re totally doing cupcakes - and your platter and milk idea is great!
Holy crap I LOVE the milk shot idea! We’re considering cupcakes too, just for the price reduction, but the milk shot idea makes cupcakes very chic!
i’ve been telling the bf that we’re having cupcakes. i’m excited. i love cupcakes. and i’m loving the shot of milk to go with it. hmm…i wonder if we can squeeze that in?
We’re having a cupcake wedding. Best of all, its being done by my beautiful, talented sister!
cupcakes here too! white and chocolate with buttercream. we are having a small traditional wedding cake (only 1 layer) that is carrot. my cupcakes are only $0.70 each and they are more cake and frosting than a slice of cake. plus the bakery makes the most amazing cupcakes. i swear if i didn’t have 36 days until the wedding, i’d eat an entire dozen myself!
I am in the process of trying to figure this one out myself, however I am considering an ice cream bar (as discussed on my blog). Although the cup cake idea is very fun as well!
We’ll either be doing cupcakes or baking the cake ourselves to save money. It’s true, not every guest likes cake, and it seems like a waste of money that I’d rather spend on other things.
I really want to do something similar, with cupcakes for the guests and a cake for just myself and FI but my mom is still pushing a traditional wedding cake…I guess we’ll have to see!
ohhh, i can’t wait to eat my carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting and chase it down with a shot of milk!!! i wish i had thought of that!
what a fabulous idea, miss dumpling! it’s so original!! love it!
We had a cupcake table, with a little pedastal for our 2 cupcakes. I had imagined we would go up and get out cupcakes, cueing our guests that it was cake time, but people just helped themselves after dinner which was fine with us, we were so busy talking & having fun!! I made them myself, saving a TON of money
cupcakes for us too, cause it was WAY cheaper, about 25% of the cost of a cake. we looved them and everyone raved about them. 
I love the shots of milk! too cute. =) Double check and don’t assume that they will not charge you the plates/silverware fee for the cupcakes… i went to my venue with the idea of cupcakes because they were cheaper than a cake + cake cutting fees, but they insisted on hitting me with the plate service fee b/c a lot of guests end up requesting for plates, napkins, etc because eating with your hands is kind of messy. I was so dissapointed/mad!! But in the end i still wanted cupcakes anyway b/c they are cute. =)
I love the shots of milk! We’re doing cupcakes too for the same reason — not only is the cake expensive, but the hotel would charge us $2 pp for the cake cutting fee. Blech.
I just went to a wedding with cupcakes, and came back with a few cautionary points. We’re doing cupcakes too, so I’ll be doing the following to make it go well.
1 - Have a tasting, make sure they’re not too sweet. The cupcakes at the wedding I went to had mounds and mounds of icing, and it was super sweet, and I could hardly get through them.
2 - Prepare some sort of take-away box. They had a dinner buffet with a dessert tray (same as we’ll be doing), and very few people had any room for cupcakes. There were a lot leftover, but no one had any way to take them home.
3 - test a cupcake in advance and see if it’s still tasty after sitting out. Since you’re having yours served, it’ll probably be okay, but these ones were out for the whole wedding, and they were pretty unpleasantly stale.
Cupcakes are a fabulous idea. In fact, I like that idea better than the traditional wedding cake. Each guest getting a fully decorated little cake - just gorgeous.
I am so excited about your cupcakes! You are so creative!
We are also planning on doing cupcakes for our guests and a small 2 tier cake for Us and our wedding party. It is partly because of cost, and partly because of taste. I want a pretty cake, which will probably mean fondant, but cream cheese frosting is the best!
In addition, my sister will be making the cake and cupcakes (don’t worry she’s made a wedding cake before–her own) and I thought it would be easier on her to be only making a smaller cake with fondant and the cupcakes will have a simple layer of cream cheese frosting which will–hopefully–be faster.
We are doing centerpiece cakes…the cost is about $4/person, which is actually more than a “normal” cake would have cost. However since the cakes are our only centerpiece, we’re saving money there (and no wasted flowers or candles).
I was also at a wedding a few years ago where the bride’s father was a sales rep for Kemps Ice Cream, and everyone got a pint of Peppermint Bon-Bon. It’s my favorite flavor, so I was SUPER excited about it!!
ooo thanks for the shot glass find! We were hoping to do shot glasses of milk and cookies at our “western pennsylvania” cookie table, but i was having a hard time finding the glasses cheap enough! I think your guests will love this twist on the cake.
That inspiration cake is gorgeous! I too adore cake but have found it is so expensive. Cupcakes are such a wonderful alternative, and who doesn’t love cupcakes?
I love this idea - although I am unable to find the shot glasses you referenced on oriental trading. I am only able to find the light up ones. Can you help - or provide the item number please?
THANKS SO MUCH!!!
i love this cake http://www.theweddinglens.com/real_photos/brown-wedding-cake/60868
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Mrs. Dumpling, Las Vegas
Age and Occupation: 27, Finance
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Real Estate
Engagement Date: March, 2008
Wedding Date: March, 2009
Blogging Since: August 26, 2008
Venue: Catholic church ceremony & golf course reception
About Me: I grew up in the Deep South, and while most people say I have a thick southern accent, I tend to think it only comes out when I need to use it. Living in Las Vegas has definitely been an adventure and Mr. Dumpling and I are loving every minute of it! We are planning a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a reception with lots of DIY! We might even get Elvis to show up! I'm a HUGE Beatles fan, love The Office and can't wait to become a Mrs.!
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