I vote dessert bar!! My fiance and I are thinking about doing a small cake for the two of us to cut, but a cupcake cake and other desserts for the guests. We are going to have different flavored cupcakes, dessert cups, cookies, etc. It'll be cheaper because we (or family members) will be making them and I like the idea of offering guests variety!
I am either going to do a small 2 tiered cake and a sheet cake or the 2 tiered cake and cupcakes. That way we have the pretty cake to cut, and the topper for next year, and plenty of cake for everyone. It will be much cheaper. We have a great bakery at home and they make the best cakes. I'm not a big fan of fondant anyway. I remember my friend's grandfather trying to eat the fondant from her cake last year. It was too funny!
The advantage of a dessert bar is that instead of spending money on a cake that focuses more on decorations than on taste, you can spend based just on taste. Some things from Sam's club taste great, like their Cheesecake factory cakes, but I wouldn't just buy a random assortment of stuff that may or may not be dry and tasteless to fill up a dessert bar.
My vote is for cake. It's something many people look forward to at a wedding. Our wedding was last weekend and people are still talking about the cake and how delicious it was! We also had fondant ::GASP!:: FYI-- Fondant covered cakes almost always include a layer of buttercream and can be super delicious if done by a good baker. The fondant on our cake helped the cake stay super moist.
Sam's Club baked goods just don't seem nearly as special/unique as a good wedding cake....
They do dessert bar and no cake at all Israeli weddings. If I were allowed to marry Shlomi in-country, I think that the lack of wedding cake alone might make me reconsider our entire relationship. >.>
The best cake I've ever had was sheet cake from Sam's Club. The bride and groom had a display cake out, which they cut, but the cheap cake was plated in the kitchen and brought out. No one knew it wasn't the "fancy" cake. I was a bridesmaid, so the bride told me, but that's only because I asked where she got her delicious cake from. Just a suggestion!
Re: Cake or Dessert Bar?
Sam's Club baked goods just don't seem nearly as special/unique as a good wedding cake....