One of the natural perks of being a wedding planner is that we are basically professional dessert tasters! Cakes, pies, donuts, ice cream sandwiches, truffles, cookies – you name it, we’ve tried it.
Often we are so busy on wedding day that we completely miss dinner…
But you know what we never miss? THE DESSERT.
(and the late night snacks, but that’s a whole other blog post!)
Everyone has their own acquired taste and style when it comes to dessert and we love it when couples choose something special to them and to their guests. Check out some examples below of yummy treats and gorgeous dessert tables!
(Left – Element Photo Co. // Center: Ameris Photography // Right: Ameris Photography)
Let them eat cake!
As Julia Child once said, “A party without a cake is just a meeting”. We are lucky enough that our workdays include cake. Lots and lots of cake! And we love it when they get all dressed up to match the wedding decor.
(Top Left – Cake: Allison Shelrud Cakes / Photography: Emily Beeks Creative || Top Centre – Photography: Sabrina Patrice || Top Right/Bottom Left – Cake: Ruth + Dean / Photography: Molly Jane || Bottom Centre – Cake: Ruth + Dean / Photography: Kim Jay || Bottom Right: Cake: Ruth + Dean / Photography: Myrtle & Moss Photography)
Colour, colour, and more colour! That was the theme of Craig and Will’s wedding. Bold, bright colours were everywhere in the room including the delicious cake from Ruth + Dean!
(Cake: Ruth + Dean / Photography: Jesse Holland Photography)
Amira and Martin’s wedding was all about florals – fresh and dried! And the cake was no exception! Covered in dainty flowers, it blended into the decor perfectly. It was almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
(Cake: Ruth + Dean // Photography: Fragment of Light)
When one of your favourite bakers decides to hire you as their wedding planner, you know it’s going to be filled with amazing cakes!
Alli (a.k.a Allison Shelrud Cakes) created THREE (!!!) amazing and incredibly unique wedding cakes for her and her husband Sam’s wedding dessert bar! Seriously it was epic. Sam is a big Marvel fan so, of course, she made a special Groom’s cake just for him. It was a whole comic book made out of edible paper!
(Cake: Allison Shelrud / Photography: Julia Loglisci Photography)
Donut mind if I do!
We are lucky to live in a city that has multiple amazing donut shops!
Empire Donuts and Yonni’s Donuts are both equally delicious and beloved. Since Pinterest made it socially acceptable to hang donuts on walls and we’ve been rigging up fun ways to display them ever since.
( Donuts: Empire Donuts / Photography: Meghan Hemstra || Donuts: Yonnis Donuts /
Photography: Emily Beeks Creative || Donuts: Yonni’s / Photography: Ameris)
Amee and Matt even had a custom donut wall made especially for their wedding. It would have made Homer Simpson proud.
(Donuts: Empire Donuts / Photography: Kim Jay)
A little bit of everything: dessert bars!
Wedding decisions are hard – but fear not, dessert decisions don’t have to be hard when you just pick all your favourite sweet treats: cookies, brownies, cupcakes, cake pops, macarons, marshmallows – our favourite dessert is a sweet treat display that has it all so you don’t have to choose!
(Cake: Schur to Please / Photography: Swept Away)
Danae and Jackson had a dessert table made of dreams complete with a donut wall and towers of gooey donuts from Empire! We loved so many details from this stunning summer wedding at Maple Bay Manor but the dessert table definitely takes top honours. Danae’s grandmother and family members baked hundreds of treats for this display, including that gorgeous cake!
(Donuts: Empire Donuts / Photography: Maiko Media)
Naiomi and Bruce had not one, but two cakes beautifully made by the pastry team at the Fairmont Empress. There was even an ice cream sundae bar! Each member of the family shared their favourite sundae combination. To provide a healthy balance, there were even chocolate covered strawberries!
(Cake: Fairmont Empress / Photography: Pebble and Pine)
Something Slightly Different
It took a hot minute to convince Mark and Tyler to go with a scone station for their dessert display… it went something like this:
Mark: We want something unique.
Emma: What about a mini scone station? They have scones with rainbow sprinkles.
Mark: YES. THOSE.
Emma: The scones can have mini flags so everyone knows what is what.
Tyler: YES. MINI FLAGS.
(haha we love you guys!)
(Scones: Sidney Scones || Photography: Tonya Maree)
Kaela and Jeppe wanted to embrace Jeppe’s Danish heritage so they decided to have a traditional Danish Kransekage cake. It looked SO unique and tasted amazing! For those guests who didn’t want to branch out – there was also tons of different pies from Kaela and Jeppe’s favourite pie spot in Vancouver!
(Photography: Shari + Mike)
S’mores bars have been one of our favourite event additions right from the start! It’s hard to believe the photos below are from a baby shower Emma did in 2015! Gooey marshmallows roasted over a flame will literally never go out of style. Our 6ft s’mores roasting station has been lugged around all over Vancouver Island and has made appearances at many weddings as well as corporate galas, company Christmas parties, brand launches, and even a political mixer.
We love a good s’mores station because it gathers guests around and is a great conversation starter. The more fixings the better to allow guests to get creative! Local tip: the best marshmallows around are made at Tout de Sweet, located right here in Victoria. Jeanette’s marshmallows are incredible – the toasted coconut flavour is out of this world!
(Lesley Bidlake Photography)
Mini ice cream cones, cookies, candy bars, pie stations, and more! Don’t feel like just because it’s a wedding that you have to have a cake. You can have whatever you want!
(Top Row Left/Right – Photography: Sabrina Patrice || Top Row Right/Middle Left – Photography: Eternal Reflections || Centre Row Centre – Photography: Lilly Ann || Centre Row Right – Photography: Fragment of Light || Bottow Row – Photography: Jessika Hunter for the Whistler Wedding Collective)
Deliciousness to go!
At the end of the night when everyone is ready to go home, what’s the best take away to remember the night? A custom cookie of course!
Mairead and Anthony loved Pokemon so we incorporated their love of Pikachu and friends into cookie form. For Dione and Alex’s wedding, Alex’s aunts made custom cookie favours for their guests to take home and Lie Shia and Mike had the most amazing custom cookies that honoured Lie Shia’s Chinese heritage. We love seeing guests so home happy and full of sugar!
(Pokeman Cookies: Mya’s Sweets / Photography: Centric Photography || #Allennation Cookies: Family recipe / Myrtle & Moss Photography || Custom cookies: Shop The Whisk / Photography: Lilly Ann Photography)