Our Wedding Candy Bar

Finally onto one of the best parts of the wedding — the candy bar! Rather than having favors at each place setting, we decided to go with a big buffet of candy so that everyone could choose what they wanted and have some fun with it. You can read my previous candy bar post here for all the details of how I put this together, determining how much candy you'll need, poll results of peoples favorite treats and resources for containers and bulk candy.

We included an empty bag at each place setting with a note that matched the design of our invites telling people to help themselves to some sweet treats at The Candy Bar.

We had extra bags on the candy table with a sign that included, "Don't be shy, take another bag!"

Overall, it was a huge success! Everyone loved it and I really enjoyed the interactive element of it. One thing I dislike most about weddings is feeling like you are stuck in this seat that you're assigned with no where to go but the bar or the dance floor. With the large deck off the back of our venue, the yard games outside, the candy bar and the cake buffet (more details later!), there were many reasons to get up, walk around and mingle, and this created the exact environment I was hoping for. Plus really, who doesn't love candy?

CRAFTING THE CANDY BAGS

I purchased 1/2 lb size glassine bags from Paper Mart. I wanted them to look more 'finished' so I trimmed the tops with scalloped scissors. Yes, it was kind of a pain, but worth it :)

By accident, I stumbled upon the little paper clips at JoAnn Fabrics on clearance in the scrapbooking aisle. Each had a different word on it like promise, love, memory, etc - they were perfect.

I used the clips to attach a card that I designed to match our invites and figured people could also use the clip to close the bag after filling it. They came out great and I loved how they looked on the tables.

CRAFTING THE TAGS AND LABELS

I was torn as to whether I should label each container with the type of candy inside or if I should just make a sign for the table listing them, since most were self explanatory. But I decided it would be fun and more aesthetically pleasing to design labels, and I really love how they came out.

I created them in Adobe Illustrator and printed them on my inkjet printer. I used ivory label stock for the labels and card stock for the tags. I cut them out by hand with scissors (which turned out to be much easier than I expected) and added two slits on the tags to run ribbon through for hanging. A small knot at the bottom held them in place.

If you would like to use this art for your own candy bar, you can download the files below:

Click here to download an EPS file of the labels. (You will need a program that can edit EPS files to use this)

Click here to download the font, Honey Script. (Which is a personal favorite of mine, regardless of the use!)

It's tough to save the files in a format that everyone can use, but hopefully I'll have some time in the next week to save a few more formats for you. Please feel free to contact me with any requests or questions in the meantime and check back soon for additional downloads. (p.s. If you share this file elsewhere, please give proper credit - thanks!)

Next up on Wedding Week, the cake buffet! Which was just about as fun as the candy bar – stay tuned!