Wedding cakes and desserts

Jesse Carter said:For those who’ve gone with custom built-in desks—was it actually worth the cash, and what kind of price range are we looking at? 🙂

It’s definitely worth it, mostly because you don't end up with a mountain of leftover cake like you usually do at weddings. If you put treats on every single table, you have to order way more, so there's always a ton left over. We ended up paying $20 per pound, which was pretty cheap, but you really have to hunt for deals in Springfield. In New York City, they're charging $27 per pound or even more (at least from the places I checked).

We picked up some cakes from Sweet Talk over on Main Street, grabbed two different flavors, and told the servers to ask guests which one they preferred. It turns out people were actually asking who made them, since they hadn't tasted anything that good at a wedding before. Honestly, we can't say enough good things—we’d definitely order from them again.

I gotta give a huge shoutout to that smile from Hollywood !!!! Everyone was raving about the treats and honestly, almost everything was devoured—there’s barely 3 pounds left over.

So here’s a look at our little dessert spread, the cocktails, and the cake...

Truly wonderful. 👍

I’ve noticed there’s been a lot of chatter lately regarding dessert tables... For us, finding the right treats was an absolute ordeal—we have a massive sweet tooth, and frankly, we’re pretty spoiled when it comes to homemade desserts, so it was rare to find anything that actually met our standards. 😁

In the end, we decided to go with a dedicated dessert station rather than just scattering various pastries across different tables, and I would wholeheartedly recommend that approach—mostly because people ended up eating almost everything in sight.

We went with pastries from Kašnar, and I can't recommend them enough; they truly knocked it out of the park. We opted for a package that came out to about $3 per person, and honestly, the quality we got for that price was incredible—guests were practically swarming the dessert table while it was still being set up, so we actually had to "defend" it just so we could officially "open" it as the newlyweds and get some photos taken first...

The presentation was gorgeous, and the decorations were stunning, but more importantly, it was obvious our guests loved the flavors because everything was completely wiped out... 😁

The wedding cake was also delicious and looked exactly how we had envisioned it during the planning process—all in all, a huge thumbs up for Kašnar and the whole dessert table concept. 👍

Oh—and just so I'm not just blowing smoke—as soon as we get some good shots back, I'll post them here so you can see for yourselves. 😉

So I hit up this wedding expo and decided to play taste tester for two different vendors... basically a classic case of David vs. Goliath 😂
It was a massive catering corporation versus a smaller local operation,
basically Lido against King Bakery from a small town outside the city, and honestly, you can probably guess who took the win here... 😍

There were plenty of other wedding caterers there, but my bestie and I had already reached our limit with all the... well, the endless flyers being shoved in our faces and people aggressively pitching us services we didn't even want, so after about an hour we just bailed. We didn't even get through all the dessert stands. Looks like we'll have to do some more scouting around the metro area later.

Lido didn't really wow me with anything except how pretty the cakes and mousses looked visually. They’re definitely decorated nicely, and the one I managed to snag—which wasn't easy since the lady at the booth wasn't exactly welcoming or friendly, you practically had to beg her just to give you a sample—was actually decent, some kind of coconut thing. Their cake prices are $5.00/piece without cream, or 12 with whipped cream.

King Bakery (they've got a page on Facebook) absolutely crushed it with their presentation, their kindness, and they weren't pushy at all, plus the flavor and variety were spot on. Their Ice Wind is easily the best (and they make it with meringue crusts, obviously)! And if you're a chocolate lover, their Ferrero cake isn't bad either. I think the price is around $4.00/piece.

lonegull13 said:So I hit up this wedding expo and decided to play taste tester for two different vendors... basically a classic case of David vs. Goliath 😂
It was a massive catering corporation versus a smaller local operation,
basically Lido against King Bakery from a small town outside the city, and honestly, you can probably guess who took the win here... 😍

There were plenty of other wedding caterers there, but my bestie and I had already reached our limit with all the... well, the endless flyers being shoved in our faces and people aggressively pitching us services we didn't even want, so after about an hour we just bailed. We didn't even get through all the dessert stands. Looks like we'll have to do some more scouting around the metro area later.

Lido didn't really wow me with anything except how pretty the cakes and mousses looked visually. They’re definitely decorated nicely, and the one I managed to snag—which wasn't easy since the lady at the booth wasn't exactly welcoming or friendly, you practically had to beg her just to give you a sample—was actually decent, some kind of coconut thing. Their cake prices are $5.00/piece without cream, or 12 with whipped cream.

King Bakery (they've got a page on Facebook) absolutely crushed it with their presentation, their kindness, and they weren't pushy at all, plus the flavor and variety were spot on. Their Ice Wind is easily the best (and they make it with meringue crusts, obviously)! And if you're a chocolate lover, their Ferrero cake isn't bad either. I think the price is around $4.00/piece.

I am signing my name to this sentiment entirely! In fact, I just walked in here specifically to ask if anyone else has had their pastries served at a wedding? The girls representing the bakery at the expo were phenomenal! They even gave me a whole box of sweets to take home so we could try them. And those pastries... 😍
Usually, when someone on an online forum claims something "melts in your mouth," I tend to think 🙄
but honestly, these truly do melt in your mouth. 😍
The items I got in my box were the ones sitting on the round stand to the left, and that photo is actually from the wedding expo itself.. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Bottom line: their desserts are phenomenal. My only hesitation is the price point of $30/lb. I’m thinking I might grab some treats from Lidl for the house instead (they have some varieties I find delicious that only cost $13/lb), but for the actual event venue, I'll go with these unless I can find something of equal quality that doesn't break the bank.

So, like I mentioned over in that restaurant thread, we actually got all our cakes and pastries from that little small house bakery over in Dubrava. If you’re looking for those legit, homemade flavors that actually taste like someone put love into them, I can't recommend them enough. While we were there doing our tasting, people were constantly popping in to pick up their orders, and they kept mentioning how this was already their second or third time coming back because they just love everything they make.
A pound of sweets goes for $28, though I'm not really sure if they give you a better deal if you grab a bunch at once.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MALA-...127293?fref=ts

graniteridge6 said:Truly wonderful. 👍

thanks

Mark Cox16 said:I am signing my name to this sentiment entirely! In fact, I just walked in here specifically to ask if anyone else has had their pastries served at a wedding? The girls representing the bakery at the expo were phenomenal! They even gave me a whole box of sweets to take home so we could try them. And those pastries... 😍
Usually, when someone on an online forum claims something "melts in your mouth," I tend to think 🙄
but honestly, these truly do melt in your mouth. 😍
The items I got in my box were the ones sitting on the round stand to the left, and that photo is actually from the wedding expo itself.. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Bottom line: their desserts are phenomenal. My only hesitation is the price point of $30/lb. I’m thinking I might grab some treats from Lidl for the house instead (they have some varieties I find delicious that only cost $13/lb), but for the actual event venue, I'll go with these unless I can find something of equal quality that doesn't break the bank.

Yeah, the pastries are definitely on the pricier side, though they swear they use actual butter instead of that cheap margarine stuff, so maybe that's why they're charging a premium... I was mostly looking at cakes, though, because we're actually making our own sweets—my aunt is doing them and she usually does catering for weddings—so we're specifically eyeing their cakes, like that ice wind one and the Ferrero...
Here’s the breakdown from their Facebook page:
It's $10-$4.00 per slice. $3.25 fruit or parfait, and $4.00 Ferrero. The slices are roughly 2 x 3 x 2.5 inches.

$30/lb isn't actually that bad if you want decent pastries. I remember when it was $27/lb back in the day—and honestly, finding anything halfway tasty was a struggle. At a wedding we went to recently, half the spread just ended up in the trash; total waste of money. But hey, when your mother-in-law insists you need 60 pounds of dessert on the table... 🙂
you just don't argue.

I stopped by their booth at the trade show myself, and the staff there were genuinely lovely and welcoming!

If I recall correctly—and correct me if I'm wrong—that $30 covers everything. They handle the full setup and teardown, and they even provide gift boxes for the guests...

I wanted to drop a quick note to praise Musk’s bakery!

The pastries were wonderful—none of that mass-produced, industrial taste you get at the grocery store; they felt truly homemade. I paid $25 per pound, plus $33 for delivery. We ordered a cake for 100 guests, which consisted of $3.25 slices: a fruit base, a Ferrero middle layer, and a vanilla parfait top.

All I can say is that the entire cake vanished, and we had maybe two pounds of pastries left the day after the wedding. Everyone was raving about them.

We had these incredible pralines, mini mochas, and little chocolate truffles from Austin... seriously, they were out of this world! A buddy of mine who couldn't make it to the wedding actually called me up the other day just to hunt down their contact info, because word on the street was that the dessert spread was legendary. The venue manager actually set them all out on these cute little fancy plates for us before tucking them away in the fridge. My friend was still raving about that specific moment when he saw those rich, glossy chocolate ganaches being carried over to the table 🙂

Karen Johnson49 said:We had these incredible pralines, mini mochas, and little chocolate truffles from Austin... seriously, they were out of this world! A buddy of mine who couldn't make it to the wedding actually called me up the other day just to hunt down their contact info, because word on the street was that the dessert spread was legendary. The venue manager actually set them all out on these cute little fancy plates for us before tucking them away in the fridge. My friend was still raving about that specific moment when he saw those rich, glossy chocolate ganaches being carried over to the table 🙂

Did you guys set up a dedicated dessert station or just put them on the individual tables? I’m thinking about ordering from them, but I might just mix some classic pastries with the tartlets and éclairs. I suppose I'm still on the fence about the pralines.

Nathan Cox25 said:$30/lb isn't actually that bad if you want decent pastries. I remember when it was $27/lb back in the day—and honestly, finding anything halfway tasty was a struggle. At a wedding we went to recently, half the spread just ended up in the trash; total waste of money. But hey, when your mother-in-law insists you need 60 pounds of dessert on the table... 🙂
you just don't argue.

When people started trying to lecture us about the dessert situation or whatever, I just asked them straight up: Are you footing the bill for this wedding? If you aren't paying, we do it our way. If you are paying, then fine, we'll do it your way. So, we did it our way, and I guess it worked out because otherwise, we would’ve ended up with a mountain of leftovers headed straight for the trash. This way, almost everything actually got eaten.

Why would anyone throw them out? You can always split them up...
At our wedding, the dessert spread was already part of the catering menu, but we ended up ordering an extra 50 kg just to take home and pass around to friends. In the end, we were left with nothing but one single little half-kilo bag.

You could probably split them up, but honestly, most of them just end up tossed in the trash or, if you're lucky, served as a side dish at a local diner. At least, that's how it's always gone for me, which is why we didn't even bother grabbing too many cookies.🙂

It’s better to have too much than to run out. If we’re already scouting for the perfect venue with the best catering to ensure guests leave happy—hiring the top-tier band to keep the party going, booking a stellar photographer, buying new outfits, high-end invitations, and even fancy confetti—then why would it make sense to let stinginess over the dessert spread overshadow everything else? It seems silly to cut corners on sweets just to save $600 $333 when you're looking at an overall budget of, say, $20,000 $43.