By: The dessert bar is a great idea, you have a plethora of desserts from mini cakes to cookies or tarts to pastries. The possibilities are endless and you don’t force guests to have the eat the cake you had made for your wedding. A lot of couples have chosen dessert bars to accompany smaller cakes to give their guests more variety. So if you’re planning to put out a candy table, cookie bar, sundae station, or any other dessert bar, consider the following:
- DO NOT simply cover the dessert bar. It doesn’t matter if it is a child or an adult, someone will peek under the cover, someone else will say “yeah go ahead but don’t be obvious about it”, and for sure someone will see it and now you have an open dessert table. I’ve even seen the dessert bar completely cleared of desserts during cocktail hour.
- DO wait to bring it out. If you have the ability to keep it stashed away and only brought out once dinner is winding down, do it. Similar to how some serve coffee after dinner, waiting to expose the dessert table will keep you from having the mess of small candies on the floor. Your facility manager will be very appreciative, as will your bank account if you had to put down a deposit. Since a lot of the items are put in jars or bowls, keep them in the kitchen or a cooler until it’s time to bring them out.
- DO NOT show off the candy bar to arriving guests. At my brother-in-law’s wedding, it was right there on the way in, close to the bathrooms. As people were arriving from the ceremony and getting into the air conditioned room, the guests were tempted. Especially the little ones who’d done such a great job at the ceremony. There were a few people, young and old, who indulged early, but it was fairly well contained. They’d put a cover over the table to keep people’s hands off it, but a few made it in there. That was about five years ago, and the most organized dessert table we’ve ever seen.
- DO consider the temperature in the room. Are you putting out chocolates? Then don’t put them outside in the middle of summer, better yet get a chocolate fountain such as the ones from our friends at Capitol Chocolate Fountains. The last thing you want to have is a big pile of sugary goo all over the place.
- DO hire an attendant. One of the benefits of getting a chocolate fountain is you also have the option of hiring an attendant to keep an eye on the supply, clean up any messes, assist guests who may need extra help, and set-up and break down the fountain. You can also hire an attendant to make sure the dessert bar is also taken care of. Capitol Chocolate Fountains also offers candy buffets and will help you plan accordingly.
- DO NOT think guests will be on their best behavior. The majority of the time, it isn’t the kids who raid the desserts early. Nope, it’s not even the parents who are trying their best to keep their kids at bay and distract them with toys. It’s usually the guests who are there without kids they either left at home, or they have yet to have kids. One of our brides made it clear she did not want anyone visiting the dessert table until dinner was over. I did not announce for people to leave the table alone, until people started swarming the table. After a couple of announcements, next thing you know the table is a disaster area. Even the caterer and facility were doing their best to keep people away from the table, but one of the guests removed the cover and there it went.
Featured photo by Lisa Boggs Photography from Examiner.com.
