Category Archives: Reception Food

How to Plan a Dessert Wedding Reception

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A wedding reception is the time when everyone gets to relax. Having the reception ready to go is a big job but with a little preparation the transition from wedding ceremony to wedding reception can be fun and enjoyable.

We wanted our dessert reception to have an atmosphere of calm and be inviting; where everyone would be blessed by different choices of desserts, refreshing punch and great conversations. How do you want people to remember your reception?  Let’s get a plan in place so we can get the process started.

Supplies and resources:

-          2 punch bowls, serving ladle

-          Coffee Pumps or Coffee maker

-          Silverware, Napkins, Plates, hot cups for coffee, and punch cups

-          Linens for your dessert table

-          An eye catching center piece/other decor

-          Platters, Serving Bowls, Candy containers, etc.  Coolers for ice and other things that need to stay cold.

-          List of desserts to be served/Dessert Recipes

-          Number of guests  to be served

-          Bottled water, juice box’s for kids, mocha coffee drinks in a jar, etc.

Putting it all together:

-          Decide who will serve things and be your kitchen helpers. Make sure you have enough help so everyone has a good time. This includes people to help set up and take down. Be sure and have someone in charge of keeping the drink tubs full of ice, bottled water etc.

-          At this reception we will be serving 200 people (adjust your menu as you see fit). We will have 5 different dessert choices (about 50 servings of each choice), with a big fruit platter (or 2 small ones), a big vegetable tray (or two small ones).

-          Gather your recipes and make a grocery list of the things you will need. Be sure and make a copy of the recipe for those who are making desserts. If people have volunteered to help be sure you have purchased all the supplies for them. This is just a common courtesy and I’m sure your volunteers will appreciate this step. Some people will want to do it all as a gift to you, but please ask. We do not want to take advantage of our help.

-          Make sure you have storage containers if you need them. You don’t want to be scrambling last minute for something big enough or small enough to put things in so they won’t get smashed or broken, etc.

-          Choose your linens and center piece for your dessert table. There are all kinds of ideas in the bride magazines or on the internet if you don’t already have an idea. Your decorations coordinator will probably have an Idea to keep with your wedding theme.

-          Set up your time line. When is everything supposed to be in the kitchen area of your reception location? Make sure everyone knows the time.

A few closing thoughts:

Some things you can make ahead and store in the freezer or refrigerator.  Others will need to be made… gasp, the day of the wedding. You can make the dips ahead for the vegetables and fruit and then put them in pretty containers later. Having your fruit and vegetables cut up ahead of time would be wise. Make sure you have a plan.  

Big platters of fruit and vegetables will be ok if you don’t have to worry about bugs. If there are a lot of bugs the smaller trays will go quicker and then your food is not sitting out as long.

Be sure to keep things at the right temperature. I didn’t keep my bottled pop cold enough so our punch was flat.

The reason behind the two punch bowls is that one is ready to go in the prep area when the one being used is finished and then you just switch them out.  You might want to do this with some of your dessert trays too. Think ahead, we want to keep things moving and have a flow to it.

We also had friends who wanted to bring desserts. I should have had a better count as to how much they were bringing. I wouldn’t have had to purchase as much fruit as I did.

I purchased way too many plates and napkins. I thought since it was a dessert reception people would be going back again and would want a fresh plate, that just didn’t happen. Our wedding was at 7:00 pm and everyone had already had dinner. Most of the guests went through the line once and then stuck to the bottled water, coffee, punch and cold mocha coffee drinks. It was very warm on that July night so the drinks were going fast.

Well there you have it, a great plan for that dessert wedding reception.

Teri :~)

Coffee Cup Faux-pas

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Why am I showing you my cupboard full of coffee cups? Well, here’s the story.

I was out greeting guest as they came into the yard for our daughters wedding this last summer when my friend Leanne, who was in charge of the kitchen, tapped me on the shoulder.

“Where did you put the hot cups for coffee” she asked? I’m sure a look of stark horror came over my face, I had forgotten to purchases coffee cups!  Silence…”It’s ok,” she said, “we just won’t have coffee.” Um…no, that’s not good.

Just the day before our wedding someone had said they were at a wedding and there was no coffee. They were suprised and a bit upset. Who doesn’t have coffee at a wedding?!

So I made the only decision I could… get the ones out of my cupboard. Of course there wasn’t enough of the pretty ones that all matched, so we used them all. Yes, even the ones that had  hearts and flowers all over them, the baseball cups, a Winnie the pooh cup that my sister had given me and that was barely enough.  I think they were rewashing them to keep up with demand.

 What would you have done? Was it better to keep the look  in tact or make do? I think that not serving coffee would have been noticed more than those unmatched cups were. So there you have it, my coffee cup faux-pas.

Have you experianced a coffee cup faux-pas? I would love to hear your story.

Teri :~)

What Will You Serve at a Dessert Only Wedding?

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 A dessert only wedding could be a bit of a challenge. What if you have people who are diabetic or really just don’t care for sweets, um…? I realize that percentage will be few, but still.  It’s a celebration and we defiantly don’t want anyone to feel left out.

In order to make sure there was something for everyone at our Dessert Only Wedding we also included a vegetable tray and a fruit tray.   This really went over well.  Lots of people went for the vegetables and dip.  We were so glad that we chose to add vegetables and fruit to our menu.

Back to our question though…  What will you serve at a Dessert Only Wedding? Whatever you want of course!  It should be things you like and things that you know your guest will enjoy.   There really isn’t much you couldn’t serve as long as it was displayed correctly.

If you have ice cream on a hot day you better have some way to keep it cold until time to serve. Things that are sticky you might want to individually wrap.  Some candy comes individually wrapped like candy kisses.  We also had dipping spoons for things like M&M’s. 

We had popcorn balls (we made these small and cute), cupcakes (frosted with rope frosting and in wedding colors), rice crispy treats, yummy white cream cheese cookies (with big sugar flakes on them), plain cheese cake from Costco; toppings were homemade huckleberry sauce (big hit), chocolate, strawberry’s, use your imagination. The cheese cake went really fast. This is so easy too. It comes pre-cut and all you do is put the topping on.  We had cheesecake slices with several different toppings for our guest to choose from.

We also had a family member make very yummy homemade chocolate pies with the graham cracker crust. The only problem was they were made that day and had not firmed up enough by the reception time. Most of them couldn’t be served because they just fell apart. After they had been in the refrigerator awhile they were fine. Some things will not turn out as planned, it’s ok.

A Dessert Only Wedding is a good choice. We had a 7:00 pm wedding and we noticed people ate a lot less. We actually had way too much dessert. The people who stayed to help clean up didn’t mind.  They got to take home lots of goodies.

In the end it comes down to what you have time to make, how will you keep it hot/cold until needed, and how will you display it. Don’t be afraid to do what you want.  What’s that old saying? Where there is a will there is a way!  Go for it my friend.

Teri :~)