Pretty Noms!

Just a couple of adorable cakes that (as far as I know) were not originally wedding cakes.

I think my favorite is the faux sunprint cake.  Food coloring and an airbrush gun!  I love the minimalism and elegance of the design.

Edit on 8/12/11: Adding this!

Adorbs!  I DIE.

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

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. :)

Hot Chocolate Vials

I love this for a winter wedding! The vials would also be great for other types of fillings if we're thinking of other seasons. From InspiredBride.

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.