24 Wedding Cupcakes That Will Wow Your Guests

Consider serving these mini confections in addition to your wedding cake.

vanilla cupcakes with white frosting and green leaves
Photo: Whitney Heard

In terms of wedding desserts, couples have a number of different (and delicious!) options. Cake pops, donuts, and macarons have all been popular in recent years, but there's one dessert table mainstay that will never go out of style: wedding cupcakes. If you're looking for a fun alternative—or addition—to a traditional wedding cake, keep these bite-sized treats in mind. Don't let their size fool you. Although small, cupcakes really can pack a punch, and most brides and grooms find they offer more benefits than your classic three-tiered wedding cake.

One of the things we love most about cupcakes is that these little desserts lend themselves well to personalization. Colorful frostings and ornate decorations make them customizable for your event while the flavor combinations are seemingly endless. For a classic wedding, have your baker decorate your mini-cakes with intricate fondant flowers or simple greenery leaves, like Le Dolci did above. Throwing a modern celebration? Cupcakes still stun with nontraditional additions like edible gold leaf.

While wedding cakes are often defined by their ornate details, cupcakes don't require a ton of decoration to stand out. That's an important thing to remember about cupcakes: Whether they're decorated with a simple polka-dotted frosting or a sugar flower, they're amenable to any wedding style. No matter what type of treat you're looking for, you'll find your inspiration here.

01 of 24

Touch of Gold

cupcakes with chocolate and vanilla frosting with gold foil
Emily Wren Photography

Nutmeg Cake Design used edible gold leaf to add a little unexpected shine to this couple's cupcakes.

02 of 24

Ornate Details

pink frosted cupcakes with roses
Caroline Tran Photography

Rose-topped cupcakes, like these by La Vie Douce Design, were the perfect dessert for a blush-hued wedding.

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Simple Sprinkles

vanilla frosted cupcakes with rainbow and pink sprinkles
City Love Photography

These Toni Patisserie & Café treats were simply decorated with frosting and sprinkles, but the results were mouthwatering.

04 of 24

Multiple Toppings

chocolate and vanilla frosted cupcakes on a stand
Erika Brown Photography

Don't want to stick to just one flavor? Then offer a variety. Here, Sweet Haus served a mix of different mini cakes, including both chocolate and vanilla varieties.

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Strawberry Cupcakes

vanilla frosted cupcakes with strawberries
Finch Photo

Love vanilla cupcakes but think they could use a pop of color? This couple asked their baker to top each treat with a vibrant strawberry. Not only were the results beautiful, but they were delicious, too.

06 of 24

Fun Tiers

four tiered cupcake stand with mini cake on top
Ben and Colleen, Wedding Photographers

To keep things organized, ask your baker to arrange cupcakes by flavor on different tiers. This setup ensured guests got to bite into the treat they really wanted.

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Cute Cacti

cupcakes with green cactus frosting
Feather & Twine Photography

If you're planning a nontraditional event, ask your baker to decorate each cupcake with theme-appropriate details. Sweet Treats made cacti and succulents out of frosting, and the treats were perfect for the couple's greenhouse wedding.

08 of 24

Pastel Tones

pink blue and white cupcakes on a white stand
Justine Milton Photography

Pink, blue, and white cupcakes from Creamy Bakery were an appropriately romantic dessert choice for one couple's French wedding. If you're tying the knot in an equally dreamy locale, you may want to steal this idea.

09 of 24

Chocolate and Vanilla

chocolate and vanilla cupcakes on a tier
Love by Serena

HappyCakes Cupcakery baked this classic combo of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, then added a chocolate drizzle to top everything off.

10 of 24

DIY Dream

cupcakes with red and yellow sprinkles
Love in Theory

Believe it or not, this bride baked and decorated these two-toned cupcakes herself.

11 of 24

Topped With a Cake

four tiered cupcake stand with multi-colored cupcakes
Austin Warnock

Serving cupcakes at your wedding doesn't mean you can't cut a cake, too. Make like this couple and ask your baker to create one small cutting cake that can sit on top of a tower of mini treats.

12 of 24

Purple and White

purple cupcakes with white frosting
Naomi Wong Photography

Kawaii Designs created these unique purple cupcakes for one couple's retro-inspired destination wedding. The chocolate-macadamia nut flavor was a nod to their Hawaiian locale.

13 of 24

Lime Cupcakes

green frosted cupcake with lime on top
Ashleigh Taylor Portrait

This compact, tequila-infused cupcake created by Nicole Chapman Designs was appropriately decorated with a single lime on top.

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Real Flowers

vanilla frosted cupcakes with fresh flowers
Emma Sharkey Photography

To upgrade simple vanilla cupcakes, Blooming Bridal placed a fresh flower on top of each.

15 of 24

Fresh Herbs

vanilla cupcake with frosting and rosemary sprig
Renee Lemaire Photography

Adding a sprig of rosemary to white frosting, like A Cupcake A Day did here, will give your desserts a fresh, seasonal feel.

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Two-Toned Cakes

chocolate cupcakes with white frosting and black berries
Retrospect Images

Pretty Please SF achieved this two-toned look by using blackberries and white frosting atop chocolate cakes.

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Floral Treats

cupcakes with sugar flowers
Nathalie Cheng Photography

Etta Avenue Cakes added a single sugar flower to each of these cupcakes, which helped the classic white confections pop.

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Woodsy Cupcakes

colby john wedding desserts
Carrie Patterson

Although these cupcakes had minimal decorations, they were still the main attraction at this dessert table.

19 of 24

Caramel Drizzle

jess-clint-wedding-desserts-265-s111420-0814.jpg
Jacqueline Campbell

The only pop of color these cupcakes by Hey There, Cupcake! needed was a tiny drizzle of salted caramel.

20 of 24

Elegant Minis

cupcake tier with purple and white cupcakes
Michelle Lange Photography

With ultra-smooth frosting and beautiful décor, these Patty Cakes cupcakes did not look out of place under an elegant chandelier.

21 of 24

Stand-Out Cupcakes

vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with fondant roses
Ella Jae

These cupcakes were decorated with fondant roses for a more elegant feel.

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Ornate Stand

chocolate and orange cupcakes on a gold stand
Leslie Hollingsworth Photography

Cupcakes don't have to be heavily decorated in order to wow your guests. Instead of over-the-top adornments, try placing them on a stunning stand like Sweet for Sirten did here.

23 of 24

Delicate Pearls

vanilla frosted cupcakes with gold pearls
Millay & Young Photography

These Lisa Vivo Custom Cakes treats prove that simple can be stunning. White frosting and a trio of edible gold pearls were all these small confections needed to achieve a vintage look.

24 of 24

Polka Dots

purple frosted cupcakes with white polka dot sprinkles
JoPhoto

This bride decided to make these purple-frosted cupcakes herself. She added white sprinkles to create a polka dot effect.

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