Chocolate Mint Truffles Wedding Favors

Pete loves mint and chocolate. Most people do. So that's why these chocolate mint truffles are a perfect wedding favor.

You can make a bunch of them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. I don't want to say they'll save forever, but we have had half a batch of these in the fridge for weeks now and they're still good.

Or so Pete says.

I gave up chocolate for Lent, so I haven't been able to touch them for a month. That's really why they have lasted for so long.

Chocolate Mint Truffles Wedding Favors

You'll have to make these in batches, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Pick up cute mini cupcake wrappers. When your venue (or coordinator) are setting up your favors, have them place one truffle per wrapper.

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1.5 cups mint chips
• 2 tablespoons butter

What You'll Do:

Pour the heavy cream in a saucepan and heat it until it just starts to boil.

Remove it from the heat.

Stir in the mint chips and butter until the mixture is combined.

Cool in the fridge for a few hours until the mixture is solid.

If you check after two hours and it hasn't solidified, remove it from the fridge and put it back on the stove. Head it with a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Stir and put it back in the fridge for an hour.

Shape the mint mixture into tiny balls. One teaspoon per truffle is a pretty good size. Put them on a silicone baking mat-lined cookie sheet. This just makes them super easy to remove when you're ready.

Put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes so they hold the shape.

Melt the milk chocolate.

Dip the truffles in the chocolate and put them back on the cookie sheet.

Cool them in the fridge.

When you're ready, serve them in mini cupcake wrappers.

I used green wrappers because the truffles are mint, but you can have them match your wedding colors.

How To Plan A Potluck Wedding

One of the things we have never touched on before here at A Bride On A Budget is how to plan a potluck wedding. It's something that I've always been a little iffy about. If you're throwing a wedding, I can't imagine inviting guests and asking them to bring food.

We host a huge football party every year, and we don't even ask guests to bring food to that. And we don't ask anyone to anything to our annual New Year's Eve party -- except their A Game for making it til midnight. And even that is negotiable. I honestly tell people they can just come, grab a plate of food, and leave. That's how we host parties.

That doesn't mean a potluck wedding reception is a bad idea. It just means it isn't for me.

A wedding potluck can be a great idea, though, if you're on a budget or if you're really working under a tight planning deadline. Our neighbors actually had one a couple years ago and everyone had a great time. Plus, it was really easy on them because they didn't have to worry about cooking everything and hosting. They also got married out of state and wanted to celebrate when they came back, so planning a lavish wedding reception just wasn't practical.

So, to help you decide if this is for you or not, I put together a list to answer the question of how to plan a potluck wedding, to help decide if it's right for you, and a bunch of potluck wedding tips.

How To Plan A Potluck Wedding

What Is A Potluck Wedding?
For argument's sake, a potluck wedding reception is one where the bride and groom provide the main portion of the meal and guests are asked to bring an appetizer, side dish, or snack instead of a gift.

Focus on that.

The dish is the gift. You can't ask guests to bring a dish and also give you a gift. That's awful and tacky.

How Do You Tell People It's A Potluck Wedding?
Your invitation must state that you're having a potluck wedding reception. Something like, "Please join us for a potluck wedding reception following the ceremony" needs to be on the invitation.

Spell. It. Out. Your potluck wedding reception invitations need to really let people know what they're invited to.

What Could Go Wrong?
A lot of things could go wrong at a potluck wedding.

What Could Go Right?
Also, a lot of things.

The Cons Of A Potluck Wedding

The big pro of a potluck wedding is you don't have to cook everything. If you were planning a backyard reception, you would either be cooking everything or having it catered. The catering bill can get expensive. But cooking for all your guests can be way too much during wedding week. Not to mention, you'd have to find a place for all your dishes once they're prepared.

If you have a wedding pot luck where everyone brings a dish, you really only have to worry about the paper products and whatever dish you are planning to prepare.

There are a lot of cons, though, like ...

You don't have control over the menu.
I was such a planner when it came to our wedding. I planned out every single little detail. So not being able to plan what our wedding menu was would cause me anxiety.

If you're asking everyone to bring a dish, though, you can't tell them exactly what to bring. I mean, Andy and April did that on Parks and Rec when they had their wedding potluck, but this is not TV. It's real life. And you have to allow people to bring whatever they like best. That doesn't mean it will be what you like best.

You may not have space for everything.
If you're having this wedding potluck at your parents' home, you need to hope that their refrigerator can hold everything that the guests bring. Because you can't leave everything on the counter while other guests are arriving.

Some foods can stay out, but many can't sit out for hours. That will get everyone sick. So unless you have access to an extra fridge, you might really want to reconsider.

Timing.
Guests may be cooking and come late to your reception. That actually happened at our last big game party. Two of our friends missed the first quarter because something the wife was baking took longer than she anticipated.

It's one thing for someone to come late. It's another thing for the bruschetta to arrive after the lasagna has already been pulled out of the oven.

But think about it. If you are having a ceremony followed by the reception, when does that give people time to cook anything that needs to be warm? Their options are bring it cold and hope there's space in the oven, miss the ceremony, or bring something lukewarm. None of those are really great ideas.

The Pros Of A Potluck Wedding

The cost.
A potluck wedding is a lot cheaper -- for you, anyway -- that a traditional catered wedding. You'll save by not having to pay a catering hall's set price per person. Instead, your budget is set by the meal you make and the paper products you buy.

You have leftovers.
Of course, no one is going to come to your wedding with a dish and then take it home with them. Okay, side note. Remember that potluck wedding I mentioned our neighbors having? Well, of course, I had no intention of bringing home the dish I made. Neither did my mother. But our other neighbor, who showed up empty-handed, took home both our leftovers.

For the most part, though, no one takes home what they brought, which means you'll have meals for the next few days if there are any leftovers.

It's more casual.
When you have a wedding potluck, much of the food is set out at the beginning and just left out. That allows your guests to graze all reception long. You don't have a stop in the dancing to make sure everyone is seated for the sitdown meal.

Potluck Wedding Tips

Keep the wedding small.
This type of wedding reception works best when you only have a handful of guests. It's a lot easier to cook and store food for 40 rather than 400.

Know your guests (and their cooking abilities).
I have a few go to recipes that always go over well. So does my mom. So if you're inviting the two of us to your potluck wedding reception, I can guarantee you will have two dishes that everyone will enjoy.

But if you come from a long line of relatives who live in the Land Of The Bland, this might not be the way you want to go. You will end up giving Aunt Edna anxiety because now she has to bring a dish and your young cousins will just end up bringing something they grabbed in the prepared foods section of the closest grocery store.

If your guests can't cook, you might want to think of something else.

Hire a server or two.
Does your maid of honor have a young brother who might want to earn some cash? Hire him and a couple of his friends to be servers. Let them be the ones to do clean up, make sure there are enough plates and utensils, and have them constantly on garbage duty.

The last thing you want is to turn your friends into vendors ... which is my new favorite word: friendors. Your friends are coming to your wedding to spend your special day with you. They're not coming to dish your macaroni salad.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you plan a potluck wedding?

Homemade Meringue Cookies Wedding Favors

If you love this Homemade Meringue Cookies Wedding Favors recipe, be sure to Yum it here: Yum

I've said this before, and I'll say it another thousand times: Edible favors are the best. People don't need a wine glass with your wedding date on it as much as they need a sweet treat for the car ride home. Plus, if you can make that sweet treat, they're not that expensive. Like these Homemade Meringue Cookies Wedding Favors.

I used three eggs and was able to make 90 meringues. That was a single batch. Three is a good amount for a favor, so that's about 30 favors for only three eggs. A dozen eggs would make 120 favors, so for the cost of a dozen eggs and some sugar, you'll have plenty of favors.

Homemade Meringue Cookies Wedding Favors

Now, small aside since everyone seems to be on a diet: These are actually really diet friendly. They're a great gluten-free dessert. Plus, they're a low carb dessert. And, you can have 5 for only 2 Weight Watchers Freestyle Points. Honestly, I have two and my sweet craving is satisfied.

What You'll Need:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla (not extract)
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 drops food coloring
•  Sprinkles

What You'll Do:

Preheat the oven to 250.

Separate your eggs. Put the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and leave the yolks for another time.

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla on high for two minutes until the whites start to get foamy.

Add in the sugar and beat on high for 10 minutes until super stiff peaks form.

The stiffer the better.

Add two drops of food coloring and mix in, very carefully. You want to spread the coloring around gently.

Put some of the mixture into a prepared piping bag (I used a 1M tip).

If you don't have a piping bag, you can cut the tip off a storage bag and use that. Without the tip though, you'll end up with round blobs instead of star-shaped meringues.

Pipe on to a silicone baking mat on top of a cookie sheet. I got 90 meringues out of the entire recipe.

If you don't have a silicone baking mat (but you should, they're amazing!), you can line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

At the very last second, I decided to sprinkle some of them with sugar sprinkles and it just made them a million times prettier. So definitely do that.

Bake them for 40 minutes. Turn off the oven after 40 minutes and let them sit for an hour.

After they've sat, you can remove them from the cookie sheets and put them in an airtight container. When you're ready, put four in a small treat bag and affix a thank you tag.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make these Homemade Meringue Cookies Wedding Favors?

Homemade Peanut Butter Squares Wedding Favors

If you love this Homemade Peanut Butter Squares Wedding Favors recipe, be sure to Yum it here: Yum

I'm a huge supporter of wedding favors. I really think you need to give them. And not a donation en lieu of favors. Actual favors. Because sometimes, you don't send your thank you cards out for three to six months (and honestly, I went to a wedding three years ago and the couple still hasn't sent out cards, so I'm giving up on ever getting that one).

So you should at least give something on your wedding day with a thank you. A few chocolates in a bag with a thank you sticker, maybe, or these homemade peanut butter squares wedding favors.

I generally wouldn't suggest making your own wedding favors, if you can help it. They can be very time consuming, and you just don't always have time during wedding week.

These peanut butter squares are insanely easy though. You can totally make them during wedding week. That's not the problem. The problem is making sure you don't eat them all before your wedding.

Homemade Peanut Butter Squares Wedding Favors

Affiliate links are included in this post and A Bride On A Budget may make a small commission if you use them.

Homemade Peanut Butter Squares Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 3/4 cups chunky peanut butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

How To Make Homemade Peanut Butter Squares:

Melt 1 cup of the chocolate chips in the microwave.

Pour the melted chips into a foil-lined 8x8-inch pan. Spread them using an icing knife. Try and make the layer as even as possible.

Put the pan in the freezer for about five minutes. While that's cooling, measure the peanut butter. Put it in the microwave for between 30 seconds and one minute, just to make it a little softer.

Mix in the powdered sugar.

Take the pan out from the freezer and pour in the peanut butter mixture. Again, using an icing knife, spread it out and try to make this layer as even as possible as well.

Put the pan in the freezer for a few minutes (five is good, less is okay).

Melt the second cup of chocolate chips. Pour it on top of the peanut butter and spread that out evenly as well (yes, using an icing knife).

Put the pan in the freezer until it hardens completely. When it does, cut it into squares. I like to make 1-inch squares, so you can get 64 squares per tray. If you get a small treat bag that will fit four per bag, this makes 16 favors.

Save the squares in an airtight container in the fridge and continue making treats until you have enough for each of your guests.

When you're ready, put the squares in a bag, add a small thank you sticker, and that's the perfect wedding favor.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make these homemade peanut butter squares wedding favors?

Want more homemade chocolate wedding favors?

Homemade S'mores Fudge Wedding Favors

Homemade Nestle Crunch Bar Wedding Favors

Wedding Diet Friendly Blackberry Yogurt Popsicles (Only 2 ingredients!)

This time four years ago, I was really trying to figure out just how to indulge my sweet tooth and not put on any more weight. It was two weeks out from our wedding and I had just put my dress on for the first time in a year. It was in the process of getting altered -- which meant hemming the bottom. Nothing was coming in from the sides and nothing was getting let out. Which means I had to be very particular about what I was eating. And which also means I wish I had made these wedding diet friendly Blackberry Popsicles then.

Except I couldn't because I didn't create a recipe for them.

I mean, if you can call it a recipe. It's seriously just two things put into a popsicle mold.

And it tastes like magic.

If magic tastes like a delicious ice pop that is magically healthy for you.

Wedding-Diet Friendly Blackberry Yogurt Popsicles

This recipe is to make four popsicles. You may have to adjust the recipe based on the size of your popsicle molds and how many you are making.

I used this popsicle mold, so my recipe is based off that.

Also, you can use fresh fruit for this, but I used frozen because fresh berries are so expensive this time of year.

What You'll Need:

• 2 cups vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1 cup frozen blackberries

What You'll Do:

Chop up the blackberries very fine. Honestly,  the smaller you can chop these, the better.

Put the yogurt and blackberries into a bowl and stir them until combined.

Visually, you want the blackberries to bleed enough to tint the Greek yogurt. It's a lot prettier to eat a pink popsicle than a white one.

Fill the popsicle mold with the mixture.

Put the tops on and freeze the blackberry yogurt popsicles overnight.

You can't just pull these out of the freezer and eat them. Instead, you actually have to put the entire mold in lukewarm water for about 20 seconds until the popsicle slides out of the mold.

You can refreeze the rest.

These easy yogurt popsicles can be changed up easily by changing the fruit and/or yogurt flavor. That way, you can enjoy these all through wedding planning without getting tired of them.

I always make these as vanilla yogurt popsicles, with vanilla Greek yogurt. You can use other flavors if you want. You can also use regular yogurt, not Greek, but Greek yogurt has a thicker consistency, so your popsicles might hold together a little bit better with Greek yogurt.

Small note: If you're following Weight Watchers as part of your wedding diet, use non-fat Greek yogurt instead of vanilla, and this is 0 Weight Watchers Freestyle Points per blackberry yogurt popsicle!

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make these Blackberry Yogurt Popsicles?

Chocolate Dipped Banana Bites Wedding Favors

There are a few wedding traditions that I really stand by. One is having wedding favors. A lot of experts will tell you to cut those first if you are worried about your budget, but I absolutely disagree. Your guests are (often) traveling to your wedding, (perhaps) staying overnight, and (always) giving you a generous gift. The least you can do is give them a small treat or trinket at the end of the night. You can even make them, like these Chocolate Dipped Banana Bites Wedding Favors.

I made these recently for a night out, and they were a big hit. They're super simple, something you can make in an assembly line ahead of time, and they're budget-friendly. They hit the spot, too, when you want one more bite of something sweet -- which is the exact feeling I have as I leave every wedding.

It's not that I don't get enough to eat at weddings. I usually do. But I'm a big fan of that last parting bite.

I blame it on a wedding I went to with a Venetian hour. You walked in (at about 11:30 at night!) and were handed a Styrofoam to go box. You were able to fill it with freshly baked cookies, chocolate dipped bananas, candy, and funnel cakes. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced at a wedding. After that, I swore I was going to have a dessert-only wedding.

I didn't.

And you won't either.

But you can pass out these tasty chocolate dipped banana bites wedding favors on the way out, and your guests will leave happy, surprised, and satisfied.

Chocolate Dipped Banana Bites Wedding Favors

You can make about 8 bites per banana. And you want to give at least two per guest, so you're looking at about one banana per four guests. Keep that math in mind when you're sorting out the number you need to make.

Also keep in mind that you might taste test a few of these as you're making them. That's my only problem with DIY edible wedding favors. Too many of them get taste tested while I'm making them.

What You'll Need:

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup rainbow nonpareils 
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

What You'll Do:

Slice the bananas into eight or so pieces. Try really hard to make your cuts are straight. That may mean you have to turn the banana. Too many angles will mean they won't stand up straight and will look homemade.

And that's okay, honestly. A lot of the wedding favor ideas I suggest are homemade. But you don't want them to look homemade. That's the trick.

So, cut your bananas and then put them in a freezer-safe container.

Freeze them for at least an hour. Longer makes them a little easier to handle, shorter is just as fine.

While you're waiting for them to freeze, finely chop your sliced almonds. Put them in a small container. Put the nonpareils into a separate small container.

When they're frozen ...

Melt your chocolate chips, then set up an assembly line of chocolate, toppings, toothpicks, and frozen banana bites. Also, set out a cookie sheet that's topped with a silicone baking mat. You're not going to bake these, but the baking mat makes for super easy clean up.

Stab the banana with a toothpick, dip the banana into the chocolate, then into either the sprinkles or the almonds.

Put them, topping side down, onto the baking mat.

When you're done, put the entire tray into the freezer.

Take them out about 20 minutes before your wedding ends and you want to serve them. They need to thaw out a little before you eat them, although not too long or they get a little mushy.

When you serve them, flip them so the topping is now on top. They look a lot cuter that way.

If you're making these, you could also consider dipping the entire banana bite into the chocolate instead of just dipping them like I did. I really like the dipped look. Plus, it eliminates the confusion someone might have when they're expecting a marshmallow and end up with a banana.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make these Chocolate Dipped Banana Bites Wedding Favors?

Want more homemade edible wedding favors?

Homemade Banana Doughnuts Wedding Favors

Homemade S'mores Fudge Wedding Favors

DIY Wedding Popcorn Bar

I love cooking. I really enjoy coming up with delicious ideas and creating them in the kitchen. It's something that I've grown to really enjoy and want to share with people. Not too long ago, though, I was terrible at it. I could make popcorn and cereal (because I don't put milk in cereal) and guacamole, and I was good at anything that came out of a box. So when Pete would tell people his favorite thing I cook is popcorn, I would laugh. We should have had a DIY Wedding Popcorn Bar because he loves it so much, but we didn't.

Even though I can actually cook now (and cook well, thank goodness), Pete will still tell you that my popcorn is the best. In fact, he invited my parents over for movie night recently and said "And Lisa is making her world's famous popcorn."

I make it in the pressure cooker, on the stove, with some salt and butter. Sometimes I turn it into bacon caramel popcorn (for blog posts only). If the latter appeals to you more, you'll love the idea of a Wedding Popcorn Bar at your wedding.

We put together this post with the help of Gifts.com (they provided us the photos, popcorn recipes, and inspiration).

DIY Wedding Popcorn Bar

You won't need too many popcorn bar supplies for this. Your venue may actually have a bunch of things that you can borrow for it. That's always my suggestion. See what you can use that your venue already has, then purchase the rest.

What You'll Need:

• Popcorn *See recipes below
• Containers (for holding the popcorn)
• Plastic scoops (for serving)
• Popcorn containers
• Toppings
• Popcorn Bar banner

What You'll Do:

Make the popcorn. You'll want to pop it fresh (because that's so much better than microwaveable popcorn or purchasing bulk popcorn, and makes it world's famous if your significant other really loves you).

Then, turn that popcorn into something special with a variety of popcorn flavors.

Easy Popcorn Recipes:

For every recipe, we suggest popping one cup of popcorn kernels in two tablespoons of oil to make 20 cups. Coat with four tablespoons of melted butter and two pinches of salt. Then, toss with the recipes below.

Rosemary & Parmesan Popcorn Recipe: 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary, 1 to 2 tablespoons grated parmesan, and a pinch of garlic powder.

White Chocolate & Sprinkles Popcorn Recipe: 1/2 cup white chocolate chips melted with 1/2 teaspoon of shortening and 2 tablespoons sprinkles.

Cinnamon & Sugar Popcorn Recipe: 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Coconut & Curry Popcorn Recipe: 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil, 1 tablespoon toasted coconut flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon curry powder.

Wasabi & Cayenne Pepper Popcorn Recipe: 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 1 teaspoon wasabi powder, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Matcha & Chocolate Popcorn Recipe: 1 melted chocolate bar, 2 tablespoons matcha powder, and 1 tablespoon coconut oil.

Bacon & Caramel Popcorn Recipe: Get the full recipe here.

Popcorn Bar Setup: 

Figure out where in the venue this will fit. We had a lounge area across from our ballroom and that's where we had our candy bar set up.

When you figure out where you are setting up, start with a long table. Put each of your different popcorn combinations in a huge glass bowl. Stick with glass because they are food safe. I love the look of galvanized buckets (we used them for our wedding candy buffet), but you can only put wrapped food in those.

Create labels to mark each of the different combinations. Chalkboard labels with clothespins are perfect for this.

You'll also want to pick up glass salt shaker bottles and label them with your popcorn bar seasonings: chocolate powder, salt, sprinkles, cinnamon, etc.

Then, at the start of your table, set up your popcorn bar containers.

You can even leave a permanent ink market at the start of the table in case your guests want to write their name or decorate their containers.

Finally, put your popcorn bar banner behind the set up.

Set this up at the end of the night so that your guests can grab a container of popcorn on the way out of your wedding. Everyone loves a late night snack. It's just a lot of fun. And who isn't hungry after dancing all night long?

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you put together this DIY wedding popcorn bar for your guests?

DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar

I'm a big fan of action stations at weddings. They give guests something to do. And that's important because your cocktail hour can get a little boring. You and your bridal party are off taking photos while the rest of your guests are quickly running out of small talk and crudités. An action station gives them both something to do and something to talk about. This DIY wedding bruschetta bar is perfect for your big day.

DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar

The really fun thing about bruschetta is you can top it with pretty much anything. Your limit is your imagination. You can create spreads, top it with meat, or (my favorite) a nice piece of cheese.

Now, I'm writing this with the notion that you are creating this for your own wedding, shower, or rehearsal dinner. We had three types of bruschetta at our wedding, and our venue handled it. This post, though, is if you are planning on handling it.

And a big thanks to Gifts.com for help with the post. The site provided the photos to us and helped with the pairing ideas. You can check out the site's blog for other how to posts or the site itself for gift ideas (I have a few that I just put on my Things I Need list).

What You'll Need:

• Italian or French bread
• Bruschetta spreads:
• Tapenade
• Hummus
• Pesto
• Tomato salsa
• Bruschetta meat pairings
• Bruschetta cheese pairings
• Additional toppings (beans, olives, almonds, fruit, etc.)

What You'll Do:

Slice your bread into 1/4 inch slices and toast it. Bruschetta is known for its crispy toast, so you want to crisp yours up.

Create your spreads. Make whatever you like best, but if you need examples, I have recipes for my four favorites. Put each in a separate bowl and label it so your guests know what each spread is.

Bruschetta spreads recipes:
Tapenade:
In a food processor, combine 1 cup olives (pitted), 1 tablespoon capers, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

You can choose any kinds of olives you want. Make it half green and half black, make a batch of each, whatever you like.

Hummus:
In a food processor, combine 1 can chickpeas or garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed), 4 cloves garlic, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. This is your base. After this, you can stir in anything your guests might like: hot sauce, chopped olives, red pepper flakes, etc.

Personally, we roast our garlic first to give the hummus a little bit of a smoky flavor. It does add a little more time to your hummus, so it might be something you want to do for yourself but not for your wedding.

Pesto:
My favorite pesto is Pete's kale and walnut pesto. I think it's a lot better than pesto made with basil and pine nuts, plus it's a lot more cost effective because kale is a lot cheaper than pesto.

To make it, put 2 cups kale, 1 clove garlic, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus salt and pepper to taste, in a food processor until combined. With this one, we toast the walnuts first but you can skip it.

Tomato salsa:
This is the most common bruschetta topping. And it's the easiest. Okay, they're all pretty simple, but this one doesn't even need a fancy food processor. Just some knife skills.

Finely chop 6 Roma tomatoes, 1 small red onion, shallots, and your favorite herbs (I suggest fresh parsley). Stir in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a splash of lemon. Combine them.

Bruschetta meat pairings:
Gifts.com suggests coppa, pancetta, prosciutto, salami, and smoked salmon.

You'll want to set these out on platters or serving boards and be sure to label them. People may not be exactly sure what each meat and what it pairs with. Create cute flags with the name of the meat, affix them to toothpicks, and stick them into the meats.

Bruschetta cheese pairings:
Gifts.com suggests brie, burrata, feta, goat cheese, Gorgonzola, mascarpone, mozzarella, Parmesan, and ricotta.

Personally, I would buy a large chalkboard slab and write the names of the cheese on it.  You can also make our DIY chalkboard serving tray.

What you'll want to do is give your guests suggestions on what spreads, meats, and cheeses to pair together. Sure, they can do whatever they want, but suggestions are helpful.

My favorite suggestions: pesto, mozzarella, and panchetta; tapenade, salami, and Parmesan; and tomato salsa and prosciutto.

To set up your DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar, start with a long table. Put small cocktail plates and napkins on one end of a table. In the middle, put your spreads, meats, and cheeses, plus serving spoons. Everything will be served buffet style, which is a good way for your guests to get up and move around.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you add to this DIY Wedding Bruschetta Bar?