Tying the Knot: Our Candy Bar

Here it is, friends. The candy bar recap. As you recall from this post I wasn't too sure if I wanted to do the whole candy bar deal at t-minus 20 days until the wedding. At t-minus about 10 days til the wedding I bit the bullet and ordered the candy. Am I glad I did it? Not sure.

Before I go any further I should note:
1. I don't have any pro photos of the candy bar since it was set up later into the reception, after Nicole left.
2. I borrowed all the jars/bowls from my great friend Kristen and was therefore able to reduce the cost of the candy bar by at least $100. If you want the really sweet looking apothecary jars, you can buy them here for a pretty great price (plus shipping). I only used 1 apothecary jar. The rest were just cool looking vases/jars/bowls. Moral of the story: you don't have to spend $200 in apothecary jars to have a sweet looking candy bar.

I went with an all-white candy bar. In part because plum/purple and/or raspberry candy was impossible to find and also because I looooove the look of an all white candy bar. That being said, the candy bar in the picture below is not mine, but a pretty picture (by clary pfeiffer) for this post.

Below is the make-up of our candy bar:

from bulk foods we bought:
72 white swizzle sticks
white nonpareil chocolate drops 5 pounds
hershey's kisses 5 pounds
white jordan almonds 5 pounds

from candy direct we bought:
white (pineapple) gummi bears 5 pounds

I searched high and low on-line and in stores for affordable white chocolate covered pretzels. I ended up buying some in bulk from meijer and the rest were Flipz pretzels bought from random places.

Results/advice:

• Skip the jordan almonds. They weren't what I thought they were and NO one ate them.
• The white chocolate covered pretzels (and the nonpareils) were a hit. Note: yogurt covered pretzels and white chocolate covered pretzels are not the same thing.
• With Bulk Foods you can get free shipping on all orders over $75. The website is hard to navigate, so just be patient.
• I didn't want a HUGE candy buffet. With the 5 variations of candy, ordering 5 pounds of each was plenty. If you are going to have a wider variation of candy, you might want to consider ordering fewer pounds of each kind.
• Guests did appreciate the candy bar. I got a lot of compliments on it. You have to remember that even though you may hear about candy bars all the time through blogs and wedding magazines, the majority of people at your wedding will probably have never seen one before and it will be "new" to them.
• Make sure you know what you are getting into with a candy bar. I cannot stress enough that they are NOT cheap. Most will probably run you over $150 for just the candy alone. Add in the vases/jars and the paper and ribbon if you decide to label each jar with its contents and you could be looking at $350 easily.