Tangy lemonheads, strawberry and lemon rock candy, pink pillow mints, cherry sours, grapefruit sours, and a surprise crowd-favorite - orange slices: some of the ingredients of our super-successful "Romance in the Sun" inspired candy buffet at today's Showbride Bridal Showcase hosted at Colonial Heritage Club. Here are my horrible amateur pics - the candy is pretty enough to compensate for the total lack of photographic talent!
The color selection was inspired by a page out of Martha Stewart Magazine. I liked that it was romantic without being too obvious - the yellow and orange gave it more depth and dynamic, I think, than a plain range of pink would have. The fruity flavors (and easy ship-ability) made it summer-friendly. I believe it's one of the best modern uses of the Jordan almond (which for all of the jokes was one of the most popular items).
Bridal shows are slightly different from weddings in that you can't fully anticipate the approximate number of "guests", so we kept the containers small and we did, in fact, make the utensils a little harder to use than something like a big spoon. We also attended the buffet carefully, which I recommend even at weddings, to make sure that the first pass was controlled. Of course, we also overestimated (another good plan for weddings) so by the end of the day we were encouraging people to take home thirds and fourths! You won't miss our next candy buffet, will you?
The first 75 guests or so received little packets of business cards and candy buffet tips tied with sheer raspberry ribbon (you see them laying around the table in the above fuzzy photo. We also pre-packed little pillow mints, or after dinner mints, in tiny packages with our logo for those who wanted a quick treat. See some closeups of those below:
We custom printed the logos on label paper and punched them with a Martha Stewart craft punch - something you could easily do for your own wedding or event!
We ordered the majority of the candy from one of our favorite supplies, Ohnuts.com. They ship fast and you can view candy on their site by color. We've been really pleased with their prices and consistency in the past, so we suggest you look into their services.
We had a minor disaster on the way to the bridal show with the big center jar, which was originally filled with Strawberry Whoppers. After some breakage, we were forced to discard that candy and had to do a last-minute Starburst replacement, which you can see went really well. It does cost a lot more to buy candy retail, though, so plan ahead and purchase your candy in bulk.
The candy buffet was a huge hit at the bridal show, and is something that can easily be personalized to truly reflect your wedding style. Choose a color theme or choose candies that are favorites of yours from childhood. Your guests will certainly enjoy the "Sweet" Surprise!
Happy Planning.
Shayna Walker, Owner
Williamsburg Wedding Design
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