Updates!

Hi everyone!

We are getting ready to head into wedding season at CandyShopBuffets!  We have two candy buffets coming up and we will be posting pictures as soon as we can after.  These brides are amazing and both have unique styles.  One is a clean lines/modern look, the other bride has opted for a romantic, lacy look!  Both are going to be beautiful and I am enjoying the opportunity to work on these for them!

Also, our first promotional bridal shower buffet was this past weekend, so we will have pictures of the party soon as well!  Congrats Tasha on your upcoming marriage!

CandyShopBuffets also has a photo shoot for its candy buffets coming up in a week!  We will also post these pictures and keep you updated on when these pictures and our website candyshopbuffet.com will be up and running!

So many new things happening this spring!  Keep your family and friends in the loop and let them know about our company and how we can "sweeten their day"!!

DIY or wedding planners?

It was not until recently that I have started having pity on wedding planners.  As a former bride, well I guess I still am in the “bridal phase” being less than a year married, I often wondered at why anyone would ever choose to have a wedding planner do their wedding.  I figured it must cost a lot, and they probably take a huge mark up!  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I have been researching wedding trends, most importantly candy buffet trends for the past year now and most of these women (and men) that plan weddings for a living do not make much more off the top than it would cost you to do it yourself.  One wedding planner in the Cincinnati area, who wishes to remain nameless, told me when I spoke with her 2 days ago that “Brides cannot do it cheaper, which is why they come to us”.  A couple years ago I would have scoffed at that statement, and told her I could totally DIM (Do it myself :) ) for way cheaper.  Now I know better.  Let me explain.

1.       Wedding planners get things at “wholesale price”.  Well, really those of us in the wedding industry know that we get items discounted but not as dirt cheap as you would think.  Since we buy in bulk, we are able to save money here and there, however since all weddings are unique it sometimes is difficult to get things at a discount.

2.       Wedding planners search for deals and typically pass them along to their consumers.  These deals take a lot of time and effort to find, and a lot of gas money driving around town negotiating prices for you (the bride).  This expense is usually not calculated into the price they quote you.

3.       The details take time and money!  How many of you have seen fancy little ribbons tied to baggies, or personalized stamp cards attached to each name tag?  If you did it yourself,  you know how many countless hours you can spend making those.  How much is your time worth? 

4.        Wedding planners typically do not charge excessively more than the product would cost you.

Many brides do not realize that sometimes doing it themselves can be more costly, in total time and money spent, than having a wedding planner do it.

Homemade Cakes!

This cake is perfect for an outdoor or spring wedding.  If you are going for DIY then this is it!  According to project wedding, this cake is only about $20 worth of materials....not bad huh?  You can make this cake, and then pick flowers that fit your event!  ( I would suggest researching which flowers will wilt and which won't, or maybe choose plastic flowers?)

 

For more info, go to Project Wedding!

This next one is also fun, because it is a sort of "pie bar". If you are a pie baker extraordinaire this is completely for you!  Or if you don't have time, places like your local bakery and Perkins carry pie's for a decent price!

 

Project Wedding!

Cake Day!

As all of you know, I am practically obsessed with sweet stuff!  I love candy, cakes, cupcakes, and well, basically any kind of dessert!  In honor of that and our 1,000 page views...I officially declare today Cake day! ( *big grin*)

 

Taken from Project Wedding's Blog!

Page Views!

Hi all of you followers!  Today marks an exciting day for this blog :) We have hit 1,000 page views in less than a month!  How crazy and awesome is that?  Thank you to all of you; those who have been here from the beginning and those who just came across this page.  I really appreciate all of you taking time out of your day to look at my blog and business and see what we're up to!

Another update, I just finished a bridal shower for my cousin yesterday and it turned out beautiful!  I traveled up to Wisconsin to be there for her and decided almost last minute to put a candy buffet together for it.  I wasn't able to stay for the shower-- as the weather was horrible, but everyone had a good time!  Congratulations to Megan and the countdown begins, only 3 weeks til her wedding!  P.S.- Pictures to follow.

I have also just completed preparing my first promotional bridal shower buffet for Tasha and it looks super cute!  Her colors are black and white with red accents, so it was a nifty one to put together.   I will be updating you all with how it turns out, and will post pics as soon as I get them!

Thanks again to all of you for reading and all the support that comes along with that!
Dani G.

Wedding Planning!

I know I haven't exactly been posting a lot lately, so sorry for any of you who have been trying to look for new posts! But, I did want to share a few things with you all today!

First, today in Chicago they are holding the CS Brides, Evening of Bridal Luxury!  If you live in Milwaukee or the Chicago area, purchase tickets and get down there, it supposed to be amazing!
More info can be found at CSBrides.

Also, there is a new Google wedding planning tool that is out! If you haven't checked it out yet, you might find it helpful for all the choas that typically surrounds events ! Google It!

February Promotion!

CandyShopBuffets has a great new promotion set up Now- end of March!  We are offering 3 candy buffets at candy cost to the first three weddings/events that contact me.  This offer would include the candy, the favor bags, a personalized sticker for each bag, and decorations for the table.  CandyShopBuffets is a DIY company, so the service we offer is coordinating colors and price points to ship to you a high quality edible product complete with instructions and the little "extra's" for easy set -up.  This saves you time and money!

This promotion would include you or someone you know taking 5-10 pictures of the event with the candy buffet, and returning them to CandyShopBuffets via email or mail for advertising purposes. 

We just booked our first promotional bridal shower buffet today! So there are now 2 candy buffets left, to grab.  If you are interested please contact me through my contact page and happy planning!

Themed Candy Buffet by Glamour Avenue Parties

Themed Candy Buffet by Glamour Avenue Parties, originally uploaded by Courtney Price: Glamour Avenue Parties.

This one is a favorite of mine. I featured her a while back, but the textures, height, shapes, and colors of this one all really work well together! It is super cute and a fun way to present your candy for your event!

This photo is not a representation of my work. It was taken from Glamour Avenue Parties
via Flickr.

Awesome Visual!

candy buffet, originally uploaded by sparkly31.

This person has marshmallows, licorice ropes, chocolate balls, candy sticks and more! This is a set up for a larger event, with lots of textures, flavors, and colors to compliment each other! Nice work!

Disclaimer: This photo or the contents are not my work, taken from sparkly31.

Candy Twist

A tip I found very useful for the candy buffets I design and the candy buffet my mom and I did at my wedding was to add a little "twist" to the candy.  Another words, mix it up a little!  A lot of people tend to like chocolate, but to have just brown chocolate for your candy would be boring visually and would not do much to stimulate your taste buds either!  Likewise, the same amount of people would pick candy that comes out of the candy dispensers in the mall, just because it reminds them of their childhood.  However, these candies all typically have the same textures and the same basic flavors.


So, again I say...put a little twist in it!  If chocolate is your favorite- remember you will pay a huge premium for chocolate- try centering the buffet around two choices that are the loves of your life :)  If you tend to go for runts, nerds, pez, etc...try mixing it up with different textures.

Here's a couple of candy types for candy buffets.  Be sure to include at least 3 varieties in yours!

1. Wrapped candy ( aka blowpops, tootsie rolls, taffy, mints, individual packed chocolates)
    This will let the guests grab some without having to have scoops in each dish.

2.  Hard candy or Soft candy 
     Things like fruit slices and individually wrapped twisty mints are a cool looking compliment
     to each other. 

3. Different flavors
    If you have one type of mints, you most likely will not need another, regardless of if it is a
    hard mint, soft mint, or wrapped mint.  Unless that is the goal of your candy buffet, to have a
    flavor theme running through it, I would not suggest having more than one flavor of
    candy presented.

4.  Shapes
     One of the coolest things in candy buffets is finding candy that fits your personality!  So
     pick different shapes for guests to look at.  You do not want to buy all round candy, which is very
     easy to end up doing!  You could buy round french mints, and then have cylindrical candy sticks.
     You could also buy individual wrapped chocolate squares instead of the regular ball shaped
     chocolate.

5.  Sizes
     The last thing is size!  It is so much fun when you see candy buffets with long candies,
     short candies, skinny or wide candies!  Picking lollipops, rock candy, and flat candies that you
     can display in various ways makes the event fun and unique!

Remember, when you display your candy, not everything has to be in a bowl, dish, apothecary jar, or vase.  Sometimes, if it is wrapped or hard candy, you can lay the candy on the tablecloth to fill up space and add new dimension to the display!

Featured Florist!

This next florist is definitely near and dear to my heart!  I entered Lockers Floral in West Allis, WI not really knowing what to expect or how to explain what I wanted.  Kimberly took the time to meet with me, to ask questions, and sketch up bouquet designs.  I was unsure of how a lot of things at my wedding were going to turn out, but when I saw those bouquets in the dressing room my jaw almost hit the floor!  They were gorgeous.  The reason I am sharing this with you is because I thought she did an outstanding job of offering quality, beauty and a reasonable price all wrapped up into one.  Take a look at some of the work she did for my wedding, and also check out their website for more info!

This was my bouquet!  I loved it so much I seriously did not want to let it go at the end of the night.  She did an excellent job!

 

Bridesmaid bouquets! Modern and very elegant :)

 Lockers Floral

Great Floral Ideas!

This first florist is for those of you who like exotic locations or plan to be married on a beach somewhere!  These photo's are taken from Kauai Wedding Florists   and can beautifully compliment your special day.  The thing that I like the most about these particular bouquets is that they are fresh and simple looking while having loads of color.  The exotic nature of these flowers may mean they are out of the question for your wedding day, but I would suggest in lieu of a remote island destination to simply check with your florist to see if you can get those flowers and if so, for how much?!

This one is my FAVORITE!! It has the prettiest hues of blues and pinks!

Bridal Shower/ Sweet 16

This is another really cool one! It can be used for a
"Sweet 16" or a "Bridal shower". This one will be listed
within the next day on Ebay! For those girls who love high-heels,
this is a sweet visual treat!

Favor Bags for guests!

Bridal Shower

This is the one we put on Ebay. It's simple and
fun for those that want to have a little "sweet" in
their event, without all the cost!
Ebay Listing