Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sweet Talkin' Sugar Coated... Candy Buffets!!

So you've done some research and you've caught the candy bug. Or you've always been a candy freak and it's just fitting that you have an abundance of candy at your wedding... Heck, if it was up to you the main course would be jelly bellies, and dessert would be a serving of hot tamales complemented with big feet! Whatever the case may be, candy buffets are the latest alternative to the traditional dessert table. You could even decide to use them as your wedding favour, and personalize little chinese takeout boxes with a tag or label with your wedding day vitals on it! The trick is pulling it off successfully: What king of candies do you pick? How much candy do you buy? What do you put your candies in? Who's going to set it all up? Yikes!

Obviously, pulling off a successful candy buffet is more than just buying candy and glass jars. Some would say it requires a "touch of magic." You can either hire someone to do it, (designedbyyourstruly.com offers Candy Buffet setup as one of their services) or you can opt to do it yourself. If you feel up for the challenge, here are some tips from the pros to help you with your candy buffet.

1. Don't measure by your guest count, measure by eye. One of the biggest downfalls of a candy buffet is not buying enough candy. Many brides will think, "I need 4 oz of candy per guest, i have 150 guests coming, so i need about 25 pounds of candy..." If you measure out 25 pounds of candy, you'll have a bare, sparse candy buffet. Start off by deciding how big of a feature your buffet will be in the grand scheme of things. Is it the wedding favour your guests will take away with them? Is it replacing your dessert table? Is it in addition to the dessert table? This will help you decide how many varieties of candy you should buy, which is probably a better starting point.

2. When setting up your buffet, try adding different levels by placing boxes underneath the tablecloth to create a platform. This way you don't have a completely flat looking table with everything sitting at the same height. Give your buffet some dimension!

3. Who says all of your jars have to contain candy? Bring down your cost by using high-volume/low-cost items in some of your containers. Coloured popcorn is a great alternative, and can fill a large jar at a significantly lower price-point than, say, jelly bellies. What about flowers? You could even use your bridesmaids bouquets on your buffet table, and incorporate your flowers into your setup. Be creative!

4. Decorate your jars with matching ribbons, with tags identifying flavours and types of candy... You may think that the sour raspberry gummies are pretty obvious, but Aunt Mildred just might not like sour candies!

Check out these pictures of candy buffets for inspiration.



Bridal Brunch Dessert Table as seen on Amy Atlas Events


That's it for this week, folks. Don't forget to check out our site at designedbyyourstruly.com, and as always, feel free to leave us some feeback!! Are you planning on having a candy buffet at your wedding? How are you designing your buffet to reflect YOUR personality?



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