Ever since our wedding planning started, I wanted to do a candy buffet. I wanted to make sure our guests were comfortable and felt appreciated when they left the wedding. I started to collect different jars slowly. I didn’t buy all the jars at once. I just shopped around at Hobby Lobby, Home Goods, Target, etc…
I didn’t want to have just candy, so I did some research on cupcakes and came across this site: bakerella.com. She had some cake pops that looked really fun, so I started making them. I normally don’t eat desserts that much, but my husband is a HUGE fan so I thought it’d be fun to make a big spread of desserts and candy. Read more…
Mrs. Labrador Retriever, Athens/SavannahAge and Occupation: 24, Student/Sports ReporterFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Physical Therapy Assistant Student/Future Dr. of PT
Engagement Date: December 31, 2008Wedding Date: November 2009Venue: Whitfield Square/Savannah StationAbout Me: I'm working on my second degree from UGA (Go Dawgs!). I'm a self-proclaimed attention-w****. If it involves a camera, I'm in front of it! You'll never meet a girlier tomboy than me. I can go toe to toe with any guy on the subject of college football, and lift more than any girl in my gym, all without chipping a nail. I hope to someday be the only person you want delivering your sports news. My FI and I are the loving parents of three Labrador Retrievers (one of each color) and are planning a "Southern Romantic Charm" wedding in the beautiful, historic city of Savannah. I'm not extreme in anything except moderation... and wedding planning.
But a diet high in sugar doesn’t exactly have a place in pre-wedding body preparation. So I’ve decided to put a light at the end of the wedding fitness tunnel in the form of a candy buffet at our reception! I get to have this night to splurge, so I’m not going to feel guilty about it at all.
One of Mr. Lab’s classmates heard about my candy buffet plan and offered to lend me the jars she used at her wedding! That’s a big check off my “purchases” list. She showed me a picture of the jars and they’re absolutely gorgeous! Thanks Daphne! Here they are at her wedding:
Now I have to decide whether to do a monochromatic theme or variety of colors with the candy.
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
I’ve already posted about the black and white candies I’ve found as possibilities for our candy buffet. I ended up at around $135.50 for 33 pounds of candy and 12 suckers (not factoring in shipping costs). I was also able to find many different flavors, from licorice to blackberry to dark chocolate. But of course, what would our candy buffet be like without great pops of green?
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
Oh, candy buffet - how often I think about you! Stressing about the containers and decor on the table is one thing, but what about the sweet stuff? Since we’re sticking with black, white, and green on the table, there will probably be a decent amount of black candy. Which, of course, tends to be licorice-flavored… not a favorite of many people, including this bride.
To top it all off, candy, of course, is expensive! Candy Warehouse has a wide variety of bulk candy that you can sort through by color, and their shipping rates seem to be pretty reasonable. I’ve also found a few things on Metro Candy & Nut, who advertises 10% off your first order. Their selection isn’t the best, but I’m always a sucker for a deal.
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
I’ve been trying to think of different things I can add to our candy buffet for the wedding that will have a “wow factor” without being crazy expensive. Mr. S and I used to share big black and white cookies from a local ’yuppy’ grocery store in our old neighborhood. It was always a great treat and an easy way for one of us to surprise the other. We’d share the cookie, each biting directly down the middle to get the best of both worlds.Back in November I played around with making mini black and whites.
Mrs. Stiletto, ChicagoAge and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/FundraisingFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and PhotographerEngagement Date: March 2, 2008Wedding Date: September 2009Venue: The 19th Century ClubAbout Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
We’ve been planning to do a candy buffet as our favor since we got engaged. I’ve been approaching it with mixed feelings these days. For starters, candy is expensive. I’m really, truly trying to push that thought from my mind until I have to worry about it this summer. But beyond the cost, I’ve found that it’s hard to do a candy buffet and make it look great! If you don’t give a lot of thought to texture, colors, containers, and varying the heights, your buffet may fall flat.
Fortunately, Flickr has a Candy Buffet Photo Pool, so you can search through example after example with ease. To make the execution of this favor even more accessible, I’ve decided to break it off piece by piece. Let’s start with signage, take away containers, and texture.
Candy Buffet Take Away Containers
I’ve seen different boxes and bags for guests to fill up with candy. Chinese-style takeout boxes are popular, but I have no desire to have a stack of these just asking to be knocked over! The most functional (and affordable) option I’ve seen are bags that coffee is normally stored in, complete with the twist tie top.
Mrs. Spring Roll, TampaAge and Occupation: 23, Certified Pharmacy TechnicianFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Concert PhotographerEngagement Date: May 1, 2008Wedding Date: March 2009Blogging Since: September 16, 2008Venue: Beach Social HallAbout Me: I'm the stereotypical girl who enjoys sewing, baking, and decorating. I am blessed to share my life with Mr. Spring Roll and our two shih tzu's, Isabella and Gabriella. Hello Kitty, musicals, Target, and Chick-fil-a are a few of my favorite things. I have a fear of fish and Freddy Krueger. Planning our wedding has become a huge part of my life, and I love every minute of it!
As previously mentioned, Mr. Spring Roll and I will have a candy buffet at our wedding. I love candy (with the exception of those gross peanut butter taffies in the notorious orange and black wrappers). While the majority of the candy will be simple, we want to throw in a few customized items. Here are a few of my favorite customized candy ideas:
Mrs. Pineapple, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 24, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Student Affairs AdministrationEngagement Date: August 4, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: April 14, 2008Venue: The Rivers ClubAbout Me: Being a transplant from sunny south Florida I am learning to live with all four seasons while playing with our cat collective, line dancing, and doing a ton of DIY projects for our wedding (seriously, like a thousand)!
When I was a very little girl, my parents used to take all of our Easter candy and put it above the freezer so they could ration how much we ate at a time. Well, there was no fooling me. I would sit in front of the freezer with my arms outstretched making sure no one could get to my candy stash.
I never out grew my obsession for sweet treats, and growing up sometimes my mom and I would sneak off to the mall and hit the candy store instead of the food court for lunch. (In case you are wondering, no she didn’t win “Mother of the Year” that year. I am pretty sure with all this wedding help 2008 is going to be her year though.)
Last week Mom Pineapple and I were at the local greasy spoon eating french fries and ice cream for dinner. It was a couple days after my Sweetest Day post, and we were talking about the funny holiday and about Mom and Dad Pineapple being married on Flag Day. I said “if ever there was a excuse to have a candy buffet, Sweetest Day would be it.” Mom Pineapple put down her spoonful of turtle sundae and said “Wait. What is a candy buffet?” Her eyes got huge as I described a table full of colorful candy and what has to be one of the biggest bridal trends in recent years. Read more…
Mrs. Shortcake, VancouverAge and Occupation: 24, Marketing Manager/Children's Lit WriterFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Master's Student/Personal TrainerEngagement Date: August 7, 2007Wedding Date: October 2008Blogging Since: Venue: Ceremony in a historic church, tented lawn reception at a golf and country clubAbout Me: 1950's housewife sent to the future, reborn as crafting-obsessed, jill of all trades. I enjoy decorating, writing, baking sweet things, singing show tunes/dancing in public, wearing pearls, and knitting sweaters for my furbaby, Harvey, to chew upon. I heart pink, and believe that sparkles are the new black.
Perhaps I’ve been spoiling you guys with too many details of our big day, or perhaps you haven’t had your fill of Shortcake quite yet… in either case, I’ve decided to keep some aspects of our wedding semi-secret. However, as anyone close to me will attest, I am SOOOOOO bad at keeping (my own) surprises - so maybe I’ll just share some eensy weensy little snippets of our favors. Can you guess what the tag and label theme is?
Mrs. Bee, New YorkAge and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee PublisherFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, InternetEngagement Date: May 7, 2004Wedding Date: March 5, 2005Venue: Westside Loft, New YorkAbout Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
New York based event designer Amy Atlas specializes in creating some of the most beautiful dessert tables I’ve ever seen. Check out more eye candy and close-ups of the shots below on her website!
Mrs. Petunia, Ft. LauderdaleAge and Occupation: 31, College ProfessorFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Engineering Student/Part-time BaristaEngagement Date: December 8, 2006Wedding Date: March 2, 2008Venue: Riverside HotelBlogging Since: August 6, 2007About Me: Our original idea of running off to get married quickly turned into an event with 100+ guests once other people got involved and I, too, got swept away in the lovely madness that is wedding planning. Mr. Petunia and I are obsessed with all things World of Warcraft, Monopoly, and Nintendo, so we’re planning on including some fun “game-y” details into our wedding.
To be frank, the connection between our candy table and our Monopoly theme went over some of our guests’ heads (I blame myself entirely for not coming up with a more clever sign for the table). Nevertheless, the candy itself wasn’t overlooked, and in my book, that made it a hit regardless.
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, CanadaAge and Occupation: 25, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing StudentEngagement Date: December 2004Wedding Date: June 21, 2008Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
While reading through The Knot magazine edition awhile back, I came across an article and thought I would share. There has been a huge craze for candy buffets, but have you considered an alternative? I introduce to you a flavored popcorn buffet… a.k.a. the new candy buffet.
Mrs. Gardenia, La HabraAge and Occupation: 30, IT Security AdministrationFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, AccountantEngagement Date: February 6, 2006Wedding Date: January 5, 2008Venue: Black Gold Golf ClubAbout Me: After 9 years of dating, I’m finally getting hitched and planning a multi-cultural wedding in Orange County, California. I think making brownies is my secret passion in life - I will make my mark in this world through them (a la Betty Crocker). Aside from baking, I also enjoy scrapbooking, being a dessert connoisseur (current fave: French macaroons), photography and I’m also a self confessed spa virgin turned addict.
When the candy buffet craze spread, I was among the many brides that wanted to do one as well. But then we decided to go against the grain a bit (not really!!) and do a cookie buffet instead to give our guests that extra something to take home for a snack.
One of my close work friends has a friend that’s starting up her own baking business, so we were invited to her scrumptious cookie tasting affair a couple months ago. I bought 6, 1-gallon glass jars from Ikea a while back to hold all of our cookies, and we were thinking of using 5 different types of cookies. The idea is that we would double up on the most popular cookie, which is most likely chocolate chip. I purchased these awesome white bags from Papermart for our cookie buffet that we need to spruce up with a tag or something to tie it into our whole wedding.
We conceptualized many designs and thought that we should do something really simple, yet affordable and aesthetically pleasing. During a very boring day at work, I started daydreaming about how I could make simple tags for those cookie/candy buffet bags with the different tag punches my sister and I saw at a recent trip to Joann’s.
I got home from work, shared my idea with my sister, and a trip to Michael’s was planned and executed. With cash on hand and a 40% off coupon, we bought a tag punch, card stock paper, embossing clear gloss, stamp (”With Love”), blue embossing powder and spools of green ribbon.
Miss Lily, New York/TucsonAge and Occupation in 06: 30, Public Health ResearcherFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Art/Web StuffEngagement Date: February 11, 2006Wedding Date: April, 2007Venue: Tuscon, ArizonaAbout Me: Here are some things I love?�‚�? painting, drawing, knitting and all other crafty things (including glueing popsicle sticks together); burritos (must be from Arizona); indie/70s rock; whiskey; dogs (if only my tiny apt could support one!); bad TV; and reading. I'm also crazy indecisive so fingers crossed wedding planning doesn't kill me.
After sugaring up yesterday with mounds of Halloween candy, I remembered that I never blogged about our awesome candy buffet.
People have asked me, “Did anyone actually EAT the candy at your wedding?” The answer is YES. There was actually none left. And I bought A LOT of candy. Guess my family and friends are sugar hounds too!
Mrs. Pumpkin, Saskatchewan, CanadaBlogger Since: April 10, 2007Age and Occupation: 28, LawyerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, FarmerEngagement Date: July 14, 2006Wedding Date: June, 2007About Me: I love movies, music and I am addicted to TV. When I have some spare time I also love scrapbooking and making personalized greeting cards and above all playing Hide & Seek or Duck, Duck, Goose with my two adorable nieces!
In my recent post about the Candy Buffet at our wedding there were some comments asking about what quantities I had purchased and for how many guests. I had been putting off posting the answers because I was hoping that our professional pics would have some better shots of the candy buffet set-up so that you could see better what I was talking about. Unfortunately (but fortunately for her!) our photographer has been very busy and we haven’t received our professional shots back yet. Here’s a nonpro pic:
I didn’t want to wait much longer in case some of you who were wondering need to start ordering your candy soon so here is the information:
We had 155 people at the wedding, including the wedding party, but I really didn’t try to have enough of every one thing for everyone. I was really only concerned with filling the jars that I had once, and I was fine if certain things ran out.
However, as anyone close to me will attest, I am SOOOOOO bad at keeping (my own) surprises - so maybe I’ll just share some eensy weensy little snippets of our favors. Can you guess what the tag and label theme is? 
