we ALL scream for Ice Cream - Candy Buffet alternative

We decided to have a candy buffet at our wedding because we both suffer from sweet teeth (can I use the phrase like that?) and I have pretty much been obsessed with candy buffets ever since I saw my first Amy Atlas spread.

We ordered our candy from The Candy Warehouse because they are located pretty near my mother's home and allow you to place your order online but pick up in person. Since candy can get to be pretty heavy, saving on shipping costs saved us a LOT of money. Also, they have a very diverse selection and provide a cool tool on their website where you can search for candies based on color schemes. This was helpful since I wanted our buffet to be strictly pinks and golds, which isn't too hard. We saved a bit more money by going through Ebates, a website that gives you cash back for purchases you make at everyday stores (like Gap, Target, eBay, The Candy Warehouse) when you first create a free account with ebates and go through their website for the purchase. I ended up getting around $30 back from our candy purchases! yay!

our candy buffet photo by Amelia Lyon Photography

We created tags that matched our "love grows" theme in Photoshop and I used my trusty Xyron machine to make them into stickers and then punched them out with a scalloped circle punch. Then we placed the stickers on gold paper bags that I purchased from Paper Mart. And voila! We had a customized candy buffet!

close-up image of our bags by our dear friend, Daniel Kwon

We chose to set out the candy buffet at the end of the night, after the cake cutting, and place the jars on the cake table because we were paying for pinspots on the cake table and I didn't want them to go to waste. Plus! I wanted it to be a sweet way to end the night, rather than a distraction during speeches and such and I didn't want to look at a messy table of empty jars all night long. :) My favorite candy choices were the pink rock sugar swizzle sticks and the pink chocolate covered sunflower seeds. They immediately disappeared!

image of chocolate covered, candied sunflower seeds, by Amelia Lyon Photography

image of rock candy swizzle sticks by Daniel Kwon

But! If I were to do it all over again and if I our wedding was in a cooler month... I would be ALL OVER this ice cream bar alternative to the candy buffet! I am the type who drops everything at the faint sound of an ice cream truck's distant soundtrack. I have distinct memories of being in grade school, running out of my house to flag down the ice cream truck driver and begging him to wait right there so that I could run back in my house to ask my mom or search under the sofa cushions for some money... or was that last week?

In any case, Amy of Eat Drink Chic has succeeded in tugging at my nostalgic heartstrings with her "Make Your Own Sundae" Buffet concept! She has some gorgeous pictures and incredible, customizable templates if you decide to do something like this for yourself (think: bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, etc.)! I love bloggers who share templates! If I ever create anything half as clever as this, I will totally share the secrets too! ;)

So, enough talk about ice cream and candy! Let me leave you with some actual EYE CANDY! *sigh*

{all photos below via Eat Drink Chic}







{the adorable ice cream buffet idea discovered through Twig and Thistle}