Red & White Dessert Table

As you can see, our dessert table turned out great! All of the food was red and white (or really close, like pineapple) and we had 3 kinds of cupcakes- gluten-free lemon chiffon (for family members with celiacs), red velvet with cherries, and chocolate- all covered with gluten-free buttercream frosting. I bought the red and white cupcake liners from an awesome shop on etsy called LayerCakeShop. They have animal print liners right now! We also offered fruit with a marshmallow fruit dip and 2 different kinds of white cheeses.

The containers were mostly bought at thrift and vintage stores, with the majority purchased at the Waukesha Antique Mall and Fox Riverwalk Antique Mall. I got 4 vases and some candy-striped mini loaf papers for table favors at the dollar store. I also used candy-striped wrapping paper as a runner over white plastic table cloths (an idea taken from Martha Stewart Weddings).

I created labels in Printshop using Fontdinerdotcom Sparkly font and printed out on regular paper. I used the leftover card stock from our invites and cut the same size as the labels. I then cut red organza ribbon pieces about 4-5 inches and "sealed" the ends using a lighter so they wouldn't fray. I sandwiched the ribbon between the paper label and card stock and glued together with rubber cement (makes it easy to reposition if needed). One of my bridesmaids, Annie, helped me by taping the labels to the matching container and repacking them so anyone helping the day of the wedding knew exactly what to put the food in, in case I couldn't help (which of course ended up happening!).


The trays that the cupcakes are on are 4 vintage tin T.V. trays that my husband I found at a rummage sale for $5. I hot-glued cake pillars I bought at Michael's to each corner and put a heavy book on them to help set the glue in place. A few pillars did come off in transport to the bowling alley, but I hot-glued them back on and they were fine for the wedding. A piece of candy-striped material behind the cupcakes helped to cover up the microwave and coffee maker behind them.


I bought vintage cake toppers on e-bay for a few bucks each and we put them in various places on the table, as well as one on the extra cake my mother made for us to freeze. She used 2 heart shaped pans we bought at Michael's for $7 (which was less with the 40% coupons you can print from the internet). I also got the candy scoops there for $6 for a box of 2.

Lastly, we went with stamped cookies, another idea I ganked from Martha Stewart. It looks great, just leave yourself 2 days because the icing needs to set overnight.

In the end, its hard to tell that this is a regular corner in a bowling alley. During the ceremony we put a room divider in front of the food to make it less obvious and more special when we "unveiled" it after the ceremony. This was my favorite part of the wedding and cost about $240 to pull off.

photos courtesy of Vicki Crain