Soda Bar! And other edible/drinkable delights...

The mister and I are not big drinkers (though he can certainly hold his liquor better than I could), so I was delighted to see this:

A soda bar?  Adorable!

These jars are lovely!  Plus it gives us a lot of flexibility on what we'd like to serve, alcoholic or not. :)

Other treats I've run into: HEART-SHAPED MACAROONS. OH.  EM.  GEE. (Click on the image for the recipe.)

Finally, I love how beautiful and refreshing cherries would be to serve as a snack for guests!  This bride had set these up as a post-ceremony snack for guests and had decorated the bags using a Martha Stewart edge punch and a "With Love" stamp she bought from eBay.

Edit: Just saw an idea for a DIY cupcake bar!  I'm not crazy about the execution, but it's another option to consider and could be fun. :)

Dessert Table

I read somewhere that a standard wedding cake can go anywhere from $2-$8 a person and that couples typically allocate about $500 for the cake alone.  I'm not much into wedding cakes myself (at least based on the ones I've tried).

Without a doubt, I know I'd want to have a small, single-tier cake (maybe double-tier at the largest) for my wedding as part of a great dessert table with all the great desserts the groom and I have enjoyed over the years.  Benefits of a dessert table:

• It accommodates to many different tastes for the guests.  Some people will want the traditional cake dessert, but maybe some will be too full from dinner and will opt for fruit or candy.  Or cookies.  Or jello.  Or pies (hell, I could probably do a pie table alone and still be able to satisfy guests' tastes).
• It can be really affordable, depending on the desserts you decide to go with.  I imagine more candies and cookies will keep the price lower.  A 8" guava cake from Aki's Bakery would probably feed about 12 people (depending how you slice it), and that's $30 ($2.50pp).  Gourmet macaroons costs about $2 a cookie (ouch!), but the costs might be lower if you order in bulk; Trader Joe's supposedly has some frozen macaroons that are actually pretty decent and are $5 for a dozen.  Pies go for about $8-$12 a pie, with each pie feeding maybe 8-12 people ($1-$1.50pp!).  DIY-desserts are the cheapest (boxed brownies on sale for $1 can yield 2 dozen brownies (less than 5 cents a serving!). 
• The dessert table doubles as decor!  If taken the time to set it up nicely, a dessert table could look really stunning.

Okay, so this last one is just mostly about the cake.  I'm not too keen on the actual design of this, but I do love the strawberries!  Feeding each other strawberries instead of cake would be more fun. :)

A list of desserts that could be included (pending budgetary allowances of course):

• Candies: chocolates, gummies, and sour candies
• Fruits (in-season is best)
• Chocolate-dipped
• Tart form
• Parfait form (parfait bar?  Awesome!)
• Pies (chocolate pie, strawberry pie, apple pies with an a la mode option, custard pie)
• Cupcakes (banana cupcakes, s'mores cupcakes??)
• S'mores
• Small ice cream sundae bar (good for a summertime wedding); alternatively, maybe a halo-halo bar!
• Hot chocolate (good for a wintertime wedding)
• Guava cake, banana cake (cupcake forms are also acceptable)
• Doughnuts (could rent a mini-doughnut maker machine and give them out in pairs like "wedding ring" favors)
• Pudding?  Banana pudding, rice pudding
• Brownies
• Cookies (those Japanese cookies that the mister loves so much, classic chocolate chip, baklava)
• Cheesecake

And there's probably a ton more I haven't thought of yet.  I'm sure there could be a game made out of this like an Iron-Chef style contest among tables to see who could make the tastiest dessert. :P

More cake toppers! And other fabulous accessories!

Oh my GOD, I am loving the cake toppers on Etsy.

This one above is from Garden4Arts.  They make these cake toppers in several animal varieties with different accessories, similarly styled to the one above.  Priced at about $60 each + S/H.

Here's a similar set from kikuike.  These are just as adorable, maybe a little more elegant, and the sticker price on this one is $100 + S/H, which looks like the least expensive set Kikuike has on her Etsy site.

From StyleMePretty, these photo accessories caught my eye from a Nashville backyard wedding.  It's a more DIY-version of the popular photo booths you see now in weddings; I like that quite a lot.  I tried to find similar accessories on Etsy, but so far all I can find are these, which are fun but not as cool-looking as their polished counterparts above.

Last but not least, I love this idea of puzzle-style escort cards from 100 Layer Cake. 

See the original post for a better view.  Basically, guests pick up their escort cards and find the corresponding phrase at their seat.

All super-fun ideas! :)

Adorable Cake (AND CUPCAKE) Toppers!

Lollipop Workshop has the most adorable cake toppers!



Along with these expensive-but-worth-every-penny cake topper, I also love these more-affordable cupcake decals from HelloFrosting:



Saw both of these from InspiredBride.net. :)

Favors

I used to make a ton of fortune-tellers (also known as "cootie catchers") when I was working with kids in elementary schools, so when I saw it done as a wedding favor, I was excited! They're simple to make and fun to play with, and I like how elegantly done this one was.  I think these can be done inexpensively as well.  The Etsy vendor who made this one had an inexpensive price list (relatively cheap, for Etsy favors).  Could also be used as a fun place card.

Place Cards

Chalkboard tags? Love it! Spotted on LazyBride who saw it from an Etsy vendor. So cute for seating cards!

Another very cute place card idea from Etsy:

Wedding Songs Playlist

An ever-evolving playlist.  Some of them are good for the joyful, exuberant mood of the wedding, and most of them are more mellow and romantic.

Musiq - Don't Change
Ben Folds - The Luckiest
Sondre Lerche - Modern Nature
Ricky Nelson (or the Michael Buble version) - That's All
Nat King Cole - L.O.V.E. (or multilingual version)
The Platters - Only You (And You Alone)
Etta James (or the Beyonce version) - At Last
Ryan Shaw - I Am Your Man
Michael Buble - You Don't Know Me
Michael Buble - You And I
Colbie Caillat - Fallin' For You
Journey - Faithfully
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Still in Love with You
Sam Hart - Mario Kart Love Song
Landon Pigg & Lucy Schwartz - Darling I Do

Added 4/15/2012:
Heather Headley - If It Wasn't For Your Love
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Zelda's Lullaby
Steven Curtis Chapman - Cinderella (father-daughter song)
Heartland - I Loved Her First (father-daughter song)
Paul Simon - Father & Daughter

Added 4/23/2012:
Louis Armstrong - La Vie En Rose (or the Sophie Milman cover of the French version)

Reception Table Detail #1

A "He Said She Said" quiz?  Fun and cute!

Flower alternatives

I once saw a unique bouquet that was comprised of Christmas ornaments.  Neat!  I've never been a "flowers" kind of girl (I never know what I'd do with them after receiving them), so I'm on the lookout for alternatives to the traditional floral bouquet and wedding floral decor.

And aside from flowers generally not being my style, I might save some money from floral arrangements doing it this way. :)

While I can't find a photo of the aforementioned bouquet now, here are some that follow along the same lines:

Oh wait, here was the bouquet!

12/12/09: Edited to add this gorgeous beaded bouquet!

12/13/09: Edited to add another gorgeous beaded bouquet!

Exit details

From Jessica Schroeder's What I Wore Down the Aisle who got it from Oh! Darling:

Sparklers! What a neat idea!

Also love the idea of bubbles in lieu of rice throwing!

Cake balls!

I love the idea of using cake balls instead of the traditional wedding cake or the currently more popular wedding cupcakes!

These blue-themed ones look really professional, too. I wonder how the cost-comparison looks compared to pro cupcakes. DIY cake balls probably wouldn't look this good without a baker friend.

I love how the colors on these cake balls pop!

Red velvet cake balls?  YUM!  And, again, the colors!  These look more DIY but also budget-friendly.