One bride had cake, but instead of a wedding cake, she asked about fifteen friends to bring a cake each. She set the cakes up on several tables and put a tent card in front of each one telling what kind of cake it was. A hostess at each table served the guests. She got a great variety of cakes and most were beautiful. Her friends all wanted to bless her and went all out to make something special for her wedding cake.
Another bride did something similar, but she had a dessert buffet and asked friends to bring any kind of dessert they wanted. That way she had something for the people who don't care for cake. Instead of wedding cake, you could have the wedding couple's favorite desserts, sort of "his and her" desserts. Cookies, cupcakes, and petit fours are great wedding cake alternatives. They can be as elegantly decorated as a wedding cake and may be served at guest tables or serving tables. Sometimes they are even stacked up to mimic the look of a traditional wedding cake.
It doesn't really matter what you serve at your wedding reception. If you're not going to go with a traditional wedding cake, though, it is nice if you can serve something that has a personal touch. It's hard to cut the cake, though, if the "cake" is sugar cookies. One thing you can do is have a small cake just for this ceremony, or you can get creative and still give your guests something to cheer about. What about feeding each other chocolate-dipped strawberries? He could dip one in white chocolate and feed it to her, and she could dip one in dark chocolate and feed it to him. You could even make it a more solemn ceremony and feed each other communion by breaking off a piece of bread, dipping it in the wine, and feeding it to the other.
