Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Wedding Wednesday: Sweets for the Sweets

Can you believe that we last discussed cake in August?  But I have been thinking a lot about dessert lately - this was made the other weekend, and it was mind-bendingly delicious - and it's time to catch you up.

When Jon and I were in Suffolk in September, we made an appointment with a local wedding cake lady for Sunday afternoon; unfortunately, she emailed me late the day before to tell me that she had a family emergency and needed to reschedule.  I replied right away saying that I understood and would be happy to have a further conversation when things settled down on her end.  Given that corresponding with this woman in the weeks leading up to our appointment was like pulling teeth, I wasn't too surprised to never hear from her again.

Happily, though, Jon's mother had a solution up her sleeve.  There was a cake shop in a nearby town - why didn't I call them to see if they could squeeze me in?  So I rang up Vanilla Patisserie, with only a hint of panic in my voice, and managed to arrange an appointment for Monday morning.

Michelle, the owner, was great, and we had a fantastic (and delicious) meeting.  I'll write more about it - and about the cake - later, but first I want to tell you about the decadent dessert buffet we're creating!


Actually, even before that, I'm going to share a conversation I had with our wonderful caterers about this.  Helen and Justin had sent me a few possible menus that all included dessert, and when I signed with them it was with the understanding that they'd provide (and I'd pay for) three courses.  Because I really respect their expertise and professionalism and because they've been so lovely to work with on a personal level, I wanted to check with them about hiring someone else to handle dessert - the last thing I wanted was to step on their toes.  But Helen was very happy for me to talk to someone who specializes in sweets about doing our whole buffet, and I'm enormously grateful because it means that Michelle and Jon and I are able to be really creative!

We'll have our formal (but unfussy) wedding cake, of course, but we're still set on not including a seated and plated dessert course.  Instead, we'll set up a bar of treats so that our guests can help themselves throughout the party bit of the evening.  We want to offer lots of options in terms of flavors and textures and things and we're still working out all of the finer details, but here are the kinds of sweets we're liking:


In case you were concerned, we are absolutely still hoping to provide a cheese cake - though this is very much exchange-rate dependent.  But the dessert buffet is definitely happening, so I want to hear from you, dear readers.  Did you have lots of sweets at your wedding?  What should we watch out for - any sure successes and/or disasters in the making?

linking up with something charming for Wedding Wednesdays

24 comments:

  1. Oh Betsy... I'm so jealous of your planning skills right now... Literally I've spent all day calling Alex at work pestering him about what needs to be done for our wedding and (after reading this) just called him again to ask "DO WE NEED A WEDDING CAKE?! HOW ARE WE DOING OUR CAKE?! WHAT'S FOR DESSERT?!" I don't know how to plan an English wedding... because apparently all my input is "so American". Typical!

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  2. haha! there are definitely cultural differences (see here for a few http://betsytransatlantically.blogspot.com/2012/09/guest-post-wedding-wednesdays-with.html) but who cares? it's YOUR wedding too, even if it's in England. you can incorporate whatever you want. and if you have any questions, definitely feel free to email me!

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  3. A dessert buffet sounds amazing! it's so exciting reading about someone planning their wedding - I am genuinely excited for you!
    My boyfriend's sister in law had a chocolate fondue as their wedding sweet which was pretty amazing. I've always loved the idea of a pick'n'mix table!

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  4. If you need a taste tester, let me know. Not to brag but I have a finely honed sweet tooth :)

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  5. Your wedding is going to be fantastic! It sounds like you are inserting a lot of your personalities into everything. That's what make a wedding fabulous. The personal touches.

    We were married in San Antonio and wanted to combine the US/UK touches. The venue where we were married was owned by an English couple and they were known for their sticky toffee pudding, so that was a definite crowd pleaser. We also had a traditional US wedding cake and also added on a traditional British Wedding Cake of fruitcake and fondant.

    It meant so much to Matt. Since his grandmother was unable to attend we were able to send a slice of the traditional wedding to her (via his parents). It made her feel part of the festivities. i think it was good that our guests had options. They were able to try something new and then enjoy themselves with something they liked.

    I can't wait to see more!!



    xoxo
    Selena

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  6. Hi ! I am planning on having a sponge cake instead of a fruit one blah not many English actually like it ! I We are having a traditional French cake though, mini chocolate ganache cupcakes with vanilla cream, strawberry tarts, 3 chocolate mousse, mini homemade shortbread biscuits heart shaped for the coffee cups ... all this will be presented buffet style. Unknown to the French but I like this then people can choose want they want instead of getting everything and then too much stuff getting wasted ... we will also have a candy table with traditional ENglish sweets (btw I am english and my other half is french)


    Love Chrissi xo


    www.christianaholt.blogspot.com

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  7. I'm always a little surprised when caterers insist on including dessert in wedding packages. I feel like it's more of a way for them to make money than anything? Since, you know, the majority of people have cake...


    I'm glad to hear that your caterer is being flexible though, and I always love dessert bars! Not everyone is a fan of cake, so it's great to have a few different options for your guests :)


    Thanks for linking up today Betsy!


    xoxo,
    Joelle

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  8. This sounds amazing, B! I can't wait to see how it turns out + what you pick! I might have to sneak one or two bites on the day!:) xoxo

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  9. We got married in the US, so we had a traditional US wedding cake, a traditional British fruit cake and cupcakes. We also had a grooms cake at the rehearsal dinner that I surprised Lee with which had the Newcastle United logo on it. We did not do a seated plated dessert, who needs it when you have cake? :)

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  10. Caaaaaaaaaake. Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese. *drifts off to happy place*

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  11. thanks! Jon's mom was hoping we'd do pick n' mix too... are you her plant? haha :)

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  12. oh man. the tasting may be the best part of wedding planning!

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  13. mmmmmm sticky toffee pudding! my FAVORITE British dessert :)

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  14. haha - that's what I've been finding, that many English people don't actually enjoy the English tradition of a fruit cake! but yummmmm the French element sounds delicious - I'm jealous!

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  15. um DUH you have to taste one of each at LEAST! we should build it into the contract :)

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  16. SO MUCH CAKE. why would you want anything else? hehe

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  17. this is such a fun idea! i'm already experiencing so much, 'if i could do my wedding over again,' situations, but seriously, if i could do my wedding over again, i'd have a lovely little dessert buffet. at our reception, we only had our big white wedding cake & our red velvet groom's cake. both were delicious, but i think dessert bars offer that little bit extra, which i love.

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  18. no wedding for me yet, but I love the idea of having a non-traditional dessert assortment. I've always been a huge fan of cupcakes at weddings. it all sounds good to me!

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  19. we had ice cream and it was the best everrrrrrrrrrr

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  20. well, this is doing to serve a double purpose (more on that in another WW post...) so hopefully it'll save money by being extra! but mmmmmm red velvet.

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  21. who needs a wedding to plan for / think about desserts? dream away, girl!

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  22. Thanks for posting this nice and descriptive post. Keep on posting these kinds of informative posts in future also.

    www.allansummers.com

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