Dessert Only Wedding Reception Ideas
With the rising costs of weddings every year, couples everywhere are trying to find ways to extend their budget while still planning a wedding and reception of their dreams. Many couples are starting to use other themes for their wedding receptions instead of serving a large dinner, or a cake and punch reception only, and the ideas are getting more and more creative. A dessert reception theme is starting to take off. You may have looked into it without knowing where to start or what to serve. Here are some of the most popular ideas for desserts in your dessert only reception. You can choose to implement only one of these ideas, or several for more variety so that everyone can have their favorite.
1. Make a Cookie Table
Many bakeries, caterers, and even grocery stores can make large platters of assorted cookies at an affordable cost. You can either use the platters they come in, or arrange them yourself on the table using the decorations of your choice to dress up the table. An assortment of chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, snicker doodles, double chocolate, or a special favorite of yours will be sure to grab your guests attention.
2. Rent a Chocolate Fountain
Chocolate fountains are starting to be used more and more at receptions as they can be very beautiful, smell wonderful, and make a great dessert table! They rent relatively cheaply, and then include your favorites in large bowls around the fountain for guests to dip or have drizzled with chocolate. Some favorites include pretzels, marshmallows, strawberries and other fruits, Oreo cookies, graham crackers, and much more!
3. Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Seriously, who doesn’t like an ice cream sundae? This usually works best with a caterer since they have the appliances to keep everything cold throughout your reception, but if you can find a way to do it yourself, more power to you! Start out with vanilla or chocolate ice cream and then have bowls set out of different things for your guests to add to their sundaes. Chocolate sauce, sprinkles, nuts, cherries, whipped cream, chocolate chips, and much more! Definitely a reception your guests will not soon forget!
4. Make a Candy Table
Making a candy table at your wedding reception is another idea growing in popularity. This is mainly because it can be doubly used as wedding favors. Put large bowls of your favorite kinds of candy on the table(be sure you have enough), along with little take home boxes and scoops in the candy for each guest to help themselves to their favorite and take home for later.
5. Wedding Cake
Duh. Seriously, you still want to have your wedding cake, and most everyone is going to want to try it. Have one of your dessert tables at your reception include both wedding cakes, and have someone slice up your cake so that each guest can come by and have a piece of your beautiful wedding cake.
Not everyone will be able to handle a dessert reception with sugar filled snacks only. Be sure to include some sugar free snacks and candy for anyone with diabetes. You will need something for your guests to drink, and the most popular refreshments for a dessert reception is coffee, tea, and of course, milk!
Ethiopian Wedding Traditions
Wedding traditions are not standard around the world, rather they vary enormously. Some wedding traditions appear unusual to different people of various backgrounds while they are standard to others.
In Ethiopia, just like Toronto, the parents of the groom and bride often organize Christian marriages and they involve much negotiation. There are many such talks where parties do not come to a consensus regarding various issues. By the time the marriage takes place, the bride is expected to be a virgin according to their cultures and traditions. If the bride is not a virgin by the time she gets married, this will bring much shame to the family because the bride’s virginity is considered to be of high value and pride in Christian marriage. It symbolizes purity and patience on the bride’s part. In particular, rural women have a tendency to marry at a tender age in comparison to their husbands.
Unlike Toronto weddings, the custom in Ethiopia was initially for the bridegroom to wait until he attained the age of thirty for him to marry. This was done in accordance to the biblical example of Jesus where he begun his public ministry at the age of thirty. As per the tradition, the groom’s parents take the responsibility of getting their son a bride. This is very different as compared to Toronto weddings. To ensure that there is no chance of the families being related by blood, the groom’s parents engage in an investigation before they contact the bride’s parents. Once the investigations are through and there is no relationship, the parents of the groom proceed to make contact through a mediator with the prospective bride’s parents. This mediator visits the potential bride’s home and asks her parents if their daughter will marry the other parent’s son.
Often, the bride’s parents impose conditions and the mediator takes a message to the groom’s parents to arrange a meeting at an allocation that is mutually convenient to both parties. If both parents reach a positive agreement, the man and woman are regarded engaged. The parents and all the wedding expenses taken care of by them then set a wedding date. The first time the bride and groom ever set eyes on one other is on the wedding day. This is similar to most Toronto weddings. Both sets of parents invite the guests and prepare drinks and food for them. The groom has to go take his future to be from her matrimonial home. At the wedding ceremony full of song and dancing, just like Toronto ceremonies, the groom gets a dowry from the bride’s parents normally in form, of cattle and money.
When the ceremony ends, the groom takes the bride to his parents’ house where he has three days to take the bride’s virginity. Depending on the economic capabilities of the groom’s parents’ the honeymoon can last from one week to three months’ at the groom’s parent’s house where the best man or men can accompany them. After this, they go to the brides’ parent’s house for a set time together with the best man/men. While on the honeymoon, the bride can only go out after sunset, but not at daytime.