Dessert tables have become one of the hottest trends for any celebration and of course a wedding is a great way to dazzle your guest with a beautifully arranged table of "yummines"
We get a lot of requests for dessert table items such as tartlets, french macarons, mini cakes, etc and with that come the questions of how to display it? what pieces to use? where could i find those? what should I offer? how many? and more...
There are many resources in the "Cyber" world these days and some of my favorite are the super talented table designer Amy Atlas a pioneer on the subject, and Melody from My sweet and Sauce who recently wrote a piece on dessert tables for Ruffled Blog with some great ideas, to name a couple.
If something i have learned from following the work of great designers and what I learned working in the pastry field from many years is to be a bit methodical, follow patterns, themes, color schemes and have a good flow.
- Follow a theme:
* What are you celebrating? we are going to stick with weddings since we are more involved with them
* What is the theme of your wedding? Look at the rest of the design elements used around the wedding, center pieces, flowers, the venue itself, linens, etc; and incorporate them on your dessert table. If you think about it this is a vital piece of your overall design, it stands alone for everyone to see and you want to make sure it doesn't look like the dark spot remembered for all the wrong reasons.


* Where do i find the display pieces? Now that you have a theme you can begin to think what pieces would look best. I have found great pieces for tables on thrift stores, good will, Ross, TJ Maxx, for very inexpensive that I would keep using for entertaining at home. It takes a little work and research which makes the finds that much more especial and sustainable, instead of paying for rental which you don't get to keep. For rustic style weddings I go to wood shops, garden stores and even home improvement centers... i didn't say it will be as easy as 1,2,3 but it will save you money and will give you gratification.



* What to offer? This is a very subjective question after all each person's taste is different,what i can tell you is order items that represent you and items that will please your crowd. The choices are endless from mini cakes, cupcakes, tartlets, cookies, caramel apples, to candies. What i always tell my clients is to include the theme here as well, for example going back to the rustic wedding I love caramel apples, s'mores cookies, earthy colored macarons, apple tartlets or mini pies...etc
Of course you can add some more elegant desserts like these mousse shot glasses and the theme goes to Rustic-Chic

* How many? Now this question is all dependent on whether you are having a wedding cake as part of your table, or having both, or if your wedding is a mid afternoon celebration and all you would like to have is dessert - I was invited to a party like it once, small short reception with only dessert and cake, they had a good amount of both (if there was some other course) the only issue was that was all being offered and as time went by the guest got really hungry and it wasn't enough.
What I tell our clients is to make a list of all you are offering your guest and then decide on the dessert table.

Some tips are:
- The more items you have on the dessert table the more curiosity you will create and therefore the more you should order. I always suggest no more then 5 items if you have a wedding cake as part of the count and budget 2-3 per person, example: you have 130 guests coming to the wedding and your cake will feed about 80 plus about 150 dessert pieces. I wouldn't consider candy as a dessert serving, I think of it as an added bonus.

- If you don't have a cake to serve your guest then budget about 5-7 pieces per person, of course this also varies based on the size of each dessert
- Have a variety of small and a bit bigger servings this gives options to your guest for those that might just want a couple of small pieces to end the dinner


Budget:
This is a big one if you have a restricted budget and can't compromise then gather help! We all have a cousin, aunt, grandma, mom or friend who loves to bake or has a signature cookie or dessert, ask if they will be willing to make a batch for you; I know it seems like a hassle but I am telling you this because some clients I have worked with have brought that to my attention which made me think what a great idea. You can give them credit by having signs next to the goodies with their name "Sallie's famous cheesecake bites" your guest will see it as a very special touch and will be a topic of conversation without having to mention your budget.

Dessert tables are fun and the process of putting them together is just as fun as enjoying the final display, Enjoy!

I have been thinking about writing this post for a while now after seeing this post.
We love what we do and wouldn't change it, but it is sometimes uncomfortable to have to explain why we can't lower our price when asked: why is that cake $X dollars?
Today I would like you to take a tour with me through our behind the scenes expense reality.

Overhead:
Food related business, this includes your pastry chef/cake designer, have the highest overhead of all of the businesses involved in a wedding, yet these are the first places most people want to find a way to "cut down their cost" and or try to get a deal by asking for a discount.
Overhead includes rent, utilities like water, energy, gas, trash, recycle, phone and internet services, insurance and let's not forget all of the regulations placed by the health department and their fees.
In this category we can also include equipment purchase and maintenance. It is very expensive to open up a commercial kitchen and have the right equipment that the health department approves and it is an investment that has to be recovered by the business, specially if your baker has taking a loan to make it happen not only he/she has to worry about the investment but also about the interest needed to be payed on the loan.

Food cost:
This changes based on the quality of the ingredients used by your baker but it normally equates to 25% - 30% of the total price of the sales, sometimes we go over based on ingredients that go up in price when we have already committed to a price with a client and we hold our word regardless of running on a little higher then we should

Labor cost
Boy this one is pretty big! Labor cost can take 30%-35% of the total sales. This doesn't mean we are getting payed all of this money, what this means is all the expenses that come with having employees register with the state plus their actual salary.

On top of the above expenses we have the constant changing nature of the wedding business which means constantly getting new tools to fulfill the new designs, books and classes to make sure we are on top of the game and can offer our clients the best service and skills for their money.

Other expenses:
Gas, office supplies, packaging needs and support pieces for each one of the cake, cleaning supplies, accountant's fees, attorney's fee, bank fees for the business account, credit card charges for all of those credit card payments and a few more...
Of course some bakers charge more then others based on their experience, education and skill level and to put this into perspective is like going to the general medicine doctor or going to a specialist.

I hope this post helps you understand the way our business works and why we price our goods the way we do... as I mentioned before we love what we do and we want you to love what we can do for you!

 More lovely pictures from super talented photographers, this time we have Kim from Kim Nodurft photography
Both weddings planed and executed by Joyce from La Vie Le Gage Events