I’ve been thinking a lot recently about wedding favours and whether or not to have them (are they pointless?) One trend has caught my eye - it’s doing big business stateside – the Candy Buffet, or as we’d call it in the Emerald Isle, Pick n Mix.
It’s a fun alternative to traditional wedding favours, and adds a bit of colour and nostalgia to your reception.
The rough idea is as follows: Get a load of sweets and goodies, put them out in pretty containers with scoops, give your guests some bags to put them in and watch all chaos ensue (Ok, I made up the bit about the chaos).
Here are my top tips for a Candy Buffet to die(t) for…
1. Buy enough sweets – This is the golden rule, you don’t want someone to be the guest who arrived too late for the goodies! Go with the age-old advice – more is more.
2. Match your candy to your theme – this is one of the most exciting parts of the concept. If your colour scheme is all white, go for white chocolate covered toffee, bon bons, marshmallows etc. If your theme is a more obscure colour, choose sweets with wrappers that match. A Christmas wedding can have candy canes and little santa sweets. Go with your imagination on this one.
3. Choose pretty containers - Clear ones are best to show off the sweets, and varying heights will showcase them even more. Just be sure your scoops fit into them.
4. Label the sweets - Ok, it’s not rocket science but to save questions on the day, put a name tag on the container. If you have guests with special diets, you can ensure you have at least one variety of sweet that is suitable, but if it is an expensive variety you can’t afford to buy in bulk, make them their own personalised bag so they don’t feel left out.
5. Don’t forget the bags – Your guests will need something to take the sweets away in and eBay is probably your best friend here. Many manufacturers in the East sell everything from cellophane bags to miniature sweet boxes, and when you’re buying in bulk the prices come down.
- Top picture by Lisa Lefkowitz Photography, found via Style Me Pretty.
- All other pictures by Next Exit Photography, found via Style Me Pretty.
- All images reproduced by kind permission by the photographers. Check out their websites, they rock!
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I love this idea. It hadn’t quite caught on over here when I was getting married and when I heard about it the following year I was kicking myself because I definitely would have had one at our wedding.
You’ll just have to set one up at home some evening and relive what never was
You got it in one! I love them even add a few cakes or cookies. Really easy too! Are you doing one?
We’re definitely thinking about it, but as we’ve 200 guests we are wondering how much sweets and treats we’d need. Great idea about the cookies!