A summer wedding is a fabulous time to serve up some amazing wedding day desserts that are anything but cake! If you still want to have a ceremonial cake cutting for tradition and photos, by all means, go for it. But pair that with any of these 7 fab and fun dessert ideas for your summer wedding and you’ll add whimsy, nostalgia, and fun to your day!
Ice Cream Truck
We’re totally in love with food truck options at Guestie! In fact, we wrote a whole post about fun food trucks for your wedding, which you can find right here. But if you’re not on board with food trucks for the main course at your wedding you can still have a fun tie-in with a dessert food truck. If you’re gonna go the ice cream truck route for dessert at your summer wedding, you have two options. The first is the ice cream trucks of days past!
You know, the ones you used to yell out the window to during the summer in order to get them to stop in front of your house. They carry all the nostalgic treats you could possibly imagine like push pops, drumsticks, good humor bars, and your favorite Saturday morning cartoon characters shaped on a stick with gumballs for eyes. It’s a super fun nostalgic way to treat your guests at a summer wedding and it’s family-friendly! The second is gold old-fashioned handmade (or soft-serve) ice cream in a cone! If you’re going with the second option, check with your guests for any food restrictions so that you can coordinate a menu of flavors with your vendor ahead of time!
Ice Cream Truck Wedding Vendors We love!
Slo Mama Sweets – San luis Obispo California
About Time Creamery – Ponte Verde Florida
Mean Green Ice Cream Machine – Nashville
Kona Ice Truck
You’ve probably seen these colorful shaved ice trucks at a local event or fair. There’s a super cute penguin slapped on the wall of the truck right by the ordering window and it’s one of those vendors that always has a huge line because it is wildly popular! Did you know that you can hire them for your wedding? They pull up right outside your reception and service locations all throughout the US. They’ll come with a truck full of shaved ice and an array of fun flavors for your guests to choose from so they can cool down at your summer wedding with a fun treat. You can find a local Kona Ice Truck for your wedding at this link.
Donut Wall
Donut walls show no signs of slowing down in the wedding dessert department. They easily replaced the cupcake trend that came before them and they are a great substitute for the “I don’t care for cake pops” crowd. Donut walls are a fun dessert to serve up at your wedding BUT they are also a huge photo op for your guests! Who can walk by a donut wall without pulling out their phone to take a picture?
However, planning a donut wall for your wedding is not as easy as looking up your local donut wall vendor because it kind of doesn’t work like that. Your donuts would have to come from your favorite bake shop or caterer and the wall itself would have to be rented from a rental company that specializes in weddings and events. But we will say this! If you are working with an amazing wedding planner, they’ll be able to easily facilitate getting both of these items along with the setup of a donut wall for your summer wedding!
Personalized Donut Walls from Etsy To Check Out!
This acrylic donut wall by WeddingByEli
This white-washed donut wall peg board by SanityCraftsBoutique
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Gelato Cart
This sweet Italian ice cream is always a crowd-pleaser! Serve it from a super cute Gelato Cart vendor in your area and your guests will be delighted. One thing to consider if you’re going to have a Gelato Cart vendor at your wedding is that your vendor will need to know ahead of time which flavors to have on board for your wedding. A gelato cart is “typically” a two or three-wheel push cart and they’ll want to be fully stocked in the flavors of your choice and quantity.
But here’s where you can have some fun by getting your guests involved! Through your Guestie event, you can use text alerts and your message board to ask your guests which flavor of gelato they would love to dig into at your wedding. This will help you narrow down what seems like a limitless amount of flavors while also giving your guests exactly what they ask for. Who knows, that pistachio gelato you’ve been going back and forth about might not be a total crowd-pleaser after all!
Amazing Gelato Cart Vendors We Love!
Dolce & Gelato – New York and New Jersey
Nutty Squirrel Gelato – Seattle
Fair Food
Have you ever met a person who doesn’t love fair food? Because we haven’t! How fun would it be to fill your summer wedding with whimsy and serve your guests dessert in the form of fair food? Fried Oreos, funnel cakes, popcorn, candy apples, cotton candy, you name it, anything you can get your hands on at the fair would be a great dessert option for your wedding. If you really want to up-level your wedding day experience you can make the entire day fair-themed, but hey, we know that’s not for everyone!
If you’re searching for local fair food vendors has turned up short, talk to your caterer about options for fried treats during dessert service. Another great way to serve up fair food at your wedding is to create a snack “bar” by pre-ordering some of your favorite treats from a local baker or specialty shop. Have them delivered to your venue and the wait staff will place them out when it’s time for your guests to dig in!
Fair Food Vendors On The East Coast!
Circus Eats – Miami
Popcorn Monkey – Virginia
Seasonal Fruit Pie
Summer fresh fruits incorporated into your wedding day dessert, heck yeah! Pie doesn’t get enough love in the dessert department when it comes to weddings if you ask us. Not everybody likes cake (gasp!) and freshly baked pies with summer fruits like peach or cherry is a great way to bring a slice of the season to your wedding day menu. Serving pies in place of cake is also a fab way to include a variety of flavors in your dessert service!
Depending on your guest count you’re going to need a heap of pies to keep everyone’s plate full at dessert time, so you’ll get to order a selection of flavors in various summer fruits. If you find yourself having a hard time deciding on flavors because you want to taste them all, order mini pies, or hand pies, instead. Mini pies are a great way for everyone to enjoy a selection of flavors without feeling like they missed out!
Freshly Baked Pies We Love!
Whidbey Pies – Seattle & Whidbey Island
Peach Cobbler Factory – Locations all over the US!
Fruit Tarts
Yes, it’s completely different than pie! Fruit tarts are a dessert with a thin-crust topped with fresh fruit. However, the difference between a fruit tart and a fruit pie is, well, a few things really! A fruit tart has a sweeter crust that does not encase the entire dessert as with pie. Fruit tarts have a layer of pastry cream between the crust and the fruit topping.
And lastly, the fruit on a fruit tart looks like a work of art! It’s the uppermost layer of the dessert and it’s arranged with such precision that you’ll feel like a French chef catered your wedding! The fruit will be on full display so it won’t require any picking or guessing in order to enjoy dessert service. To take this seemingly “simple” summer wedding dessert for your wedding to the next level, serve it beside a selection of chocolate-covered fruit! We love kiwis, pineapple and of course, strawberries.
Fruit Tarts You’ll Love As Much As We Do!
Tiffanys Bakery Philly – Serving the Philadelphia area
Porto’s Bakery and Cafe – Serving multiple locations across California
Frosé
This frosty summer treat is strictly for adults only, so if you’re having a family-friendly wedding you’ll have to pair it with another one of the above options. Typically made with wine, and frozen strawberries (or watermelon) along with the fruit juice of your choice, this refreshing frozen summer drink will be a huge hit among your guests at your summer wedding! Coordinate with your bar service whether you’ll serve up glasses of Frosé during cocktail hour, throughout your reception, or just during your dessert service.
You can also work with them to create a recipe specific to your tastes and the selection of farm fresh fruit available in your area. Trust us, local farm fresh fruit makes all the difference in a boozy treat like this! If your bar service has limited options for keeping frozen drinks flowing all night, another great drink we love is “Poptails”. Standard cocktails with a popsicle dunked right in the glass. Or, popsicles that have been spiked! Frozen boozy treats are one of our favorite ways to (easily!) enhance your summer wedding experience!
Delicious Frosé Recipes To Try!
This easy Frosé recipe from Good Food Baddie
An “instant” Frosé recipe from A Spicy Perspective
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