23 Delicious Ways to Serve Donuts at Your Wedding

By Sarah Schreiber
June 03, 2016
Bryan Miller Photography

These fun reception desserts are a creative alternative to classic wedding cake.

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Bryan Miller Photography

There's no doubt about it: Donuts are one wedding trend that's here to stay. Over the years, we've seen couples serve the traditional breakfast treat as in addition to or instead of a classic wedding cake, as a coffee service garnish, and as sweet and whimsical wedding favors. In fact, whether yeast or cake, fried or filled, frosted or unfrosted, there are so many ways to make and display the diminutive dessert. And we don't foresee these ideas going stale anytime soon (pun intended). Plus, the convenient shape calls to mind another ring that's a mainstay at weddings.

If you're entertaining the idea of serving up donuts on your big day, look to the following dessert displays for inspiration. We were blown away by how real couples took this yummy trend and made it their own. From donut trucks and towering walls filled with an assortment of their favorite doughy treats, to clever signs and edible escort cards, there are so many incredible ways to feature these treats on your big day. In fact, some donut stations were so eye-catching that they served as the focal point for the entire reception. Of course, these tiny bites don't have to detract from your wedding cake, if you're still planning on having one. Ahead, you'll find that many couples used donuts as their wedding cake's supporting players.

If all of this isn't enough to convince you, go ahead and read on. We guarantee you and your guests will go nuts for these donut wedding ideas. At the end of your party, your attendees won't sure what they loved more—the donuts, themselves, or the incredibly inventive way that you displayed them.

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Donut Backdrop

Rebecca Yale Photography
Dessert Table Ideas from Real Weddings

Putting donuts on display doesn't mean forgoing a show-stopping wedding cake. Frame your confection with a shelf- and table-full of the treats—they make the sweetest backdrops.

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Wall Station

The Grovers

Set up a shelved wall full of the desserts and demarcate each flavor with calligraphed banners. Add in a few greenery sprigs to help the display feel more like an installation.

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Back to Basics

Ether and Smith

Of course, there's nothing wrong with serving these sweets in a more traditional way. Use cake stands to stack 'em high—à la M Cakes Sweets—and then watch them disappear.

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Cake Alternative

Woodnote Photography
Single-Serving Wedding Cakes That Are Absolutely Adorable

Love donuts more than cake? Go with it! Like the heart, the stomach wants what it wants. Make like this couple and flip donuts sideways on a tiered stand (you'll fit more treats this way!) for an impressive wedding cake alternative.

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Triangles

Sandy & Odysseas
20 Geometric Wedding Ideas That Are Anything But Square

We've never seen a dessert table quite like this. Santorini Glam Weddings' triangular donut installation is the definition of geometric goals.

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Take a Treat

Sandy & Odysseas

…and then take your seat! Take notes from this couple and welcome your guests with a ceremony sign (this one featured donuts by Pavlov's Lab!) that packs quite the sugar rush.

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Centerpiece

Kristi Murphy

Who says donuts belong strictly on the dessert table? Like Kristi Murphy, weave your favorite dessert into your tablescape by repurposing the yummy snacks as centerpieces.

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A Good Pun

Alea Lovely
Nontraditional Wedding Dessert Ideas

Donuts are a whimsical snack, so why not feature them on a sky-high, pun-adorned display? Michelle Edgemont's sign's play on Led Zepelin's "A Whole Lotta Love" makes for a wedding-appropriate joke—and a seriously Instagrammable dessert station.

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Hooked

Jaye Kogut

It's a fact known to most of your guests: you're hooked on donuts. Illustrate your dessert addiction with a hooked stand (clever!) and be sure to alternate flavors for even more visual intrigue.

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Favors

Rebecca Yale Photography

Instead of cake slices, send guests home with boxes of your favorite iced treats. Fair warning—your attendees might polish them off before they leave the venue.

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Place Cards

Brittany Renee
Bridal Shower Dessert Ideas

Imagine being guided to your seat only to discover a mini confection already waiting for you. That's the definition of hospitality—especially if the donuts that mark your guests' spots are as pretty as these by Yours Truly Cupcake.

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Double the Donuts

Marianne Taylor

We're not sure which of these two Kalm Kitchen donut displays we like more—the hot pink pronged frame or the flower-ringed gold stands.

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Floral Treats

The Love Studio

Planner Sara Baig knows that the best kind of floral décor involves arrangements that seamlessly blend dessert with the prettiest blooms.

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Rustic

Corina V. Photography

Throwing an autumn fête in a lofty barn? Present donuts (these multi-flavored confections were created by Paulette's Chicken & Donuts!) on a rustic tree-stump stand for an on-theme dessert station.

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Monochrome

Steve Cowell Photography
50 Great Wedding Cakes

Not all donuts are rainbow-sprinkled and covered in strawberry glaze. If your wedding's color palette is on the moodier side, let your donut wall follow suit.

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Donut Truck

Jen Fariello Photography
5 Tips for Having a Food Truck at Your Wedding

Food trucks are just as trendy as donut stations. Go ahead an combine the two.

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Escort Cards

J. Anne Photography

Make like this duo (their sugary donuts were homemade by Donut Mania!) and guide guests to their reception tables with a numbered sweet.

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Ombré

Carlie Statsky Photography
Small Wedding Cakes with a Big Presence

If you're planning on displaying on-color-palette donuts, get creative with the display. We love how this Blush Type sign's goodies switched from rainbow, to hot pink, to mauve, then back to rainbow before being finished out with a neutral glazed option. If you ask us, that's the tastiest the ombré trend will ever be.

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Upon Arrival

Isabelle Selby Photography

Do nut—er, do not—make your guests wait until the reception for food. Take a cue from this couple, who knew their guests liked to eat and offered cider donuts for everyone to pick up en route to the ceremony area.

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Hors D'oeuvres

Delbarr Moradi

After the ceremony, offer mini donuts (like these from The Boon Fly Café) as finger food to tide attendants over till dinner. Best. Hosts. Ever.
 

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Table Touches

The McCartneys Photography

Have a donut waiting at each place setting so guests can dig right in. Who needs a salad course?

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Skewered

Jen Fariello Photography

Upgrade a coffee bar by offering donuts skewered onto drink stirrers—and liquor, syrups, cream, and sugar to stir in, of course.

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Powdery "Cake"

Landon Jacob
Unique Wedding Cake Toppers

Pile powdered donuts high on a cake stand and finish with a cake topper for a fun and easy take on the traditional wedding cake. 

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By Sarah Schreiber