Hometown Homage

Most people like to brag about their hometown and its unique delicacies or traditions that make it stand out from the rest. Here in Philly (no one from here actually calls it "Philadelphia" :-)), we've got Rocky, the Art Museum, the Iggles (that's "Eagles" to you non-Philadelphians), soft pretzels, the Declaration of Independence, the Mummers Parade (a strange but absolutely fabulous New Year's day tradition), the Liberty Bell, Tastykakes, da Phightin' Phils (the baseball wielding Phillies), and, of course, the mouth-watering Philly cheese steak (I like to call it "heart attack on a roll").

While our wedding isn't actually in the city of Philadelphia, I have lived in the area my entire life, and it's just, well, home. The city is also where Mr. Cupcake and I met, it's where we fell in love, and it's where we got engaged.... so it's only natural that we would try to incorporate some aspects of Philly culture into our wedding, particularly with a little tasty late-night treat for our guests.

Friends of ours served yummy soft pretzels as a late-night snack at their wedding, but I'm picky about my soft pretzels and I insist that they be served warm, straight out of the brown paper bag they come in. This would be a little difficult to coordinate at the wedding, as the pretzels would need to be bought fresh that day, and then reheated immediately before serving, and they'd just get cool too quickly.

Mmm, they sure do look yummy, though, don't they?

Mr. Cupcake and I decided that the perfect treat to serve to our guests late in the evening would also be the easiest to coordinate: TASTYKAKES! Let's face it, people: nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake (hardy har har, I couldn't resist). For those of you who are not lucky enough to know what a Tastykake is, it's basically the greatest brand ever of scrumptious, snack-sized desserts, and they're made right here in the City of Brotherly Love. There's a huge variety of choices, including the delectable Koffee Kake:

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The scrumptious Butterscotch Krimpet:

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And, my personal fave, the melt-in-your-mouth Peanut Butter Kandy Kake:

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Tastykake products usually have a shelf life of 1-2 weeks, so we will be able to stock up a few days before the wedding without having to worry about making anyone buy them the day of, and we certainly don't have to worry about heating them up. They are pre-packaged in individual servings, so our work will be done. And, our guest's bellies will be happy!

We can't possibly serve the Tastykake's all by their lonesome, so we'll have some milk to accommodate the sweet goodness. At first I thought shot glasses of milk would be perfectly adorable, like this:

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But since we wouldn't be sitting the Tastykakes on top of the shot glasses (because that would just look kind of ridiculous and not nearly as cute as the cookies), we don't have to have the milk served in shot glasses, and my mom had the great idea of putting out a tray of individual milk cartons, just like you'd get in grade school:

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Kitschy, cute, and — depending on how easy it is to find these in a store — super simple to just keep cold and serve to our guests as-is. Perfect to wash down the Tastykake treats!

Are you adding a little hometown flavor to your wedding with a late-night snack? Or are you infusing your city's culture in some other way?