Our Wedding: Our DIY Dessert Buffet

With the speeches completed, it was time for my favorite part of dinner, DESSERT! (If you couldn’t already tell by the recipes featured on this blog.)
But before I launch into the classic bride and groom cutting the cake shots, I have to talk to you about our dessert buffet table.
It has to be one of the details that I am the proudest of and it’s because I made it all with my own two hands.  Oh yes, you heard me right.  I made everything that you see in that picture minus the tablecloth and cake. 
Table itself featured very classic (read simple) desserts that I was able to whip up the week before our wedding (granted I took the whole week off so it wasn’t that burdensome).  

 The display featured our beautiful wedding cake on a milk glass cake stand flanked by two glass cake stands filled with cupcakes.  



Our wedding cake was created by the genius that is Karen Rodkey Cakes.  It was a white on white scroll work cake featuring our monogram on the center layer (It’s the same monogram that was featured on our ceremony programs, menus, invitations and welcome bags).  

Each layer had its own unique scroll work (except the top and bottom layers which matched to bring the whole cake together).  Inside, the cake contained three different layers: chocolate with chocolate ganache, almond pound with vanilla buttercream and vanilla pound with vanilla buttercream (you can read more about Karen's delicious cake flavors and our take on them here). The cake stand came from Williams-Sonoma and was a wedding gift (yay repurposing!). 
On either side of the cake, we placed two glass cake stands (from craigslist) that contained mountains of delicious vanilla cupcakes featuring pink and white buttercream icing.  

The pink cupcakes had pink and white cupcakes flags that said “Love is Sweet.” (I made these in a similar fashion to the drink flags.  You just want to make them smaller and not as wide and use toothpicks instead of straws.)   

The white cupcakes had pink white chocolate hearts with white chocolate stripes. I made these using a simple heart chocolate form from Michaels and pink tinted white chocolate. 

Behind the cupcakes and cake, we placed four milk glass vases (two on either side to repeat the symmetry).  The vases contained our bridesmaids’ bouquets which provided a nice white color break from all the pink.  I found the some vases at Goodwill and purchased some on Etsy (they are super easy to find online but can be really expensive so make sure to check your thrift stores first). 
In front of the cakes and cupcakes, we placed 4 small glass vases (once again two on either side for symmetry).  The vases contained strawberry flavored whoopers (you can find large containers of these at walmart).  Each vase also contained a huge sugar cookie on a stick that had been covered in a pink sugar glaze.
In front of the vases, we placed seven milk glass snack trays (purchased on craigslist) that contained 6 different bake goods.  

The outermost trays had strawberry puff cookies that had been coated in powdered sugar.  (Wondering what puff cookies are? I used a box of strawberry cake mix, one egg and a large container of cool whip.  You mix it all together then form the mixture into small balls.  The balls are then rolled in powdered sugar and cooked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.)  

The next set of trays contained blondies (I might have eaten an entire batch by myself when I was testing recipes) that had been covered in a white sugar glaze and then striped with pink sugar glaze.  

The third set of trays had my infamously delicious cakeballs on a stick.  The cakeballs were covered in pink white chocolate and then dusted with white sprinkles.  

The middle tray featured my most favorite baked good of all, pink velvet whoopie pies with a buttercream filling.  It took me forever to find a vanilla whoopie pie recipe but I’m glad I persisted because whoopie pies are seriously the cutest. 

 Besides making everything that sat on the table, we also made the backdrop behind the dessert buffet table.  We duct taped foam board together and then wrapped it in a solid pink wrapping paper from Paper Source.  

I then made a banner out of burlap, twine and pink paint that was pinned into the foamboard.  The banner read “Love Sweet Love.”  The hardest part of this was not painting the banner, it was sewing the letters to the twine.  I kept forgetting to sew things in reverse order.  Like I literally sewed “E-V-O-L” twice, which was crazy frustrating.  The good thing was that I used clear thread and burlap is very forgiving.  I also made some pink tissue paper balls that were gathered at the very top corners of the backdrop (these things take like 5 seconds to make). 
Now that I’ve thoroughly highlighted every single piece of this sucker I guess it’s time to show our cake cutting pictures.
They aren’t anything new or exciting.  We just cut the cake.

And fed each other nicely.




This of course only happened because we got into a huge fight about Mr. A not shoving cake in my face.  Apparently he found it pretentious that I told him not to and I told him to shove it because I paid way too much money for hair and makeup for him to ruin it. Guess who won?

  I still can’t believe I imagined it and put it together with my own two hands.  Pretty amazing what you can do with a lot of time and a little creativity. 
Did you make any food for your wedding?
Up Next:Mr. A Dances With His Mom 
Missed our previously recaps? Check them out here
Or do you just want a quick recap of everything? Check out our wedding video trailer.