Dessert Table Design 101
Planning a wedding or hosting an event and want a show-stopping dessert table that’s equal parts delicious and beautiful?
There’s a lot more that goes into tablescaping desserts than meets the eye. It’s for that very reason we think this task is best suited for the couple/host who falls into one of these three camps:
Has the time and wants to be in charge of setting up their own dessert table.
Has the time to plan, purchase, and hand off the set up to a day of coordinator, wedding planner, friend, or other appointee.
Doesn’t have the time, but wants to hire it out and would like to know what’s involved in the process to better understand vendor pricing.
This task probably isn’t right if you:
Are feeling overwhelmed and don’t need yet another set of tasks to complete (or decisions to make) before your wedding/event.
Could care less about what your dessert table looks like. (No shade, your priorities lie elsewhere.)
You’re not doing a dessert table.
One last disclaimer, this post isn’t about baking or purchasing the dessert itself. It’s everything that happens afterwards–the actual task of putting out the dessert and displaying it in an appealing way.
Okay, ready? Let’s get started!
#1 Serving Vessels (i.e. trays, stands, platters, etc.)
What are you putting your desserts on? This is by far the most important and absolutely necessary thing you have to have.
Are you going to use decorative platters? Cake stands? Tiered servers? Cutting boards? Much of this depends on what you’re serving since some vessels work well for certain desserts, while others don’t.
For example, if you’re serving cups or jars with mini desserts, tiered serving trays can make it difficult for people to easily grab the cup/jar without knocking over other desserts (especially if you’re serving alcohol at your event.)
Another example, if you’re serving donuts in a warm climate, stacking them on top of one another will inevitably lead to them sticking together. That’s going to force guests to touch more donuts than the one they’re eating. Gross, right?
Not only do you have to choose the right types of serving vessels, but you need the right quantity of display items to put out the bulk of your desserts and minimize refilling.
Key considerations:
What are you serving?
How much are you serving?
How are guests going to interact with the vessels and desserts?
#2 Food Labels
We’ve all been to a wedding with a dessert buffet (or even cake that gets delivered to your table), and you have no idea what the heck anything is or what’s in it.
So at minimum, set a little label in front of each category naming the dessert. If the name doesn’t clearly indicate if it has nuts or other major allergens, include a symbol or descriptor like (contains nuts) below the name.
Key considerations:
How many desserts do you need to create labels for?
Are their ingredients instantly recognizable or do you need to add descriptors?
Where to place the labels on the table so they’re not missed or covered up by the desserts themselves or other display items.
#3 Overall Menu
Related to food labels, sometimes it’s nice to have a full dessert menu listed so guests can look at one sign to know what their options are.
This works particularly well when you have one category of desserts like cookies. You can list all the flavors on a single sign. If there are only a few flavors, you can even include a short description of the dessert like on a restaurant menu or include a short explanation about why you picked that flavor/dessert.
If there’s no space for a tabletop menu next to the desserts, you can opt for a sandwich board sign, an easel sign, or menus on each of the dinner tables.
Key Considerations:
Is there space for a tabletop menu? If not, do you want to go with an alternative?
How many items are on the menu? (Too many and it can get unwieldy)
#4 Serviceware
With what are your guests going to pick up and then consume your dessert? Do you need mini spatulas, tongs, picks, or pie cutters?
Do you need plates, napkins, and utensils? Some desserts are portable and don’t require any of these things (like our mini cookies). We recommend at least having disposable napkins since cloth napkins often get collected by the catering staff following dinner and into dancing.
Key considerations:
The desserts themselves–what do guests need to sanitarily pick up each dessert (if anything)?
Does the caterer have supplies you can use? If so, make sure they know to set them out.
Will guests have serviceware at their individual place settings or do you want them to grab them near the dessert?
When it comes to pulling off a beautiful and functional dessert table, these four foundational elements—serving vessels, food labels, overall menu, and serviceware—are the building blocks.
Nail these, and you’ve already won half the battle. Whether you’re doing it all yourself or handing it off to someone else, having a clear plan for these essentials will ensure your dessert table actually works for your event (and doesn’t turn into a sticky, chaotic free-for-all).
Of course, function is just one side of the story. If you're also aiming to create a dessert table that wows on Instagram and fits seamlessly into your event design, stay tuned for Part Two, where we’ll dive into how to make everything visually stunning—from color palettes and backdrops to layout and signage. You’ve got the bones—next, we’ll help you dress them up.
