Planning a wedding involves a lot of decisions—and yes, even treats for guests like cookies deserve its moment in the spotlight.
I recently helped cater cookies for both a niece’s wedding and then a nephew’s wedding. We tried it a couple different ways and I can’t wait to share all the things we learned with you. If you’re wondering whether traditional cookies or cookie bars are the better option for your big day, or if you’re simply trying to plan your sweets table ahead of time, this post will help you decide what to bake, when to bake it, and how to make your dessert table both beautiful and stress-free.
When to Choose Bars vs. Traditional Cookies
Both cookies and cookie bars are crowd-pleasers, but each shines in different settings and have their pros and cons. Here’s how to decide which suits your event best:
Choose Bars When:
- You need to serve a large crowd quickly. Bars can be baked in bulk and cut to size, making portioning simple. I can bake a whole pan of almost 50 bars in the time it took me to rotate in my pan of 6-8 jumbo cookies in at a time. I use half sheet baking pans to do this.
- You want a more rustic or casual feel. Cookie bars often have that homemade charm, perfect for bridal showers, brunch receptions, or rustic-chic weddings.
- You’re short on time. Bars generally require less hands-on work than scooping individual cookies.
- You want to offer variety with ease. Swirl-ins and layered flavors are often easier to pull off in bar form.
Choose Traditional Cookies When:
- Presentation is key. Individual cookies can be beautifully styled or packaged as favors. It’s also fun to make them jumbo bakery style for something that feels more gourmet than a simple homemade cookie. I LOVE my favorite 4 tbsp cookie scoop for jumbo cookies (that aren’t TOO large). I’ll share all the recipes below!
- You want unique but memorable flavors and textures.
- You’re going for elegance or tradition. Hand-decorated cookies or dainty tea cookies fit perfectly with formal wedding receptions.
- You want something interactive. Having the guests have lots of cookie options that they can choose from is a memorable experience for the guests; or having a milk-and-cookie bar can add a playful themed touch to your celebration.
Selecting the Right Cookies for Your Event
Your cookie spread should reflect the tone and style of your event—while still being delicious and approachable. Here are some things to consider when curating the perfect cookie lineup:
1. Consider the vibe
- Elegant/formal? For sophisticated weddings, consider these refined wedding cookie options: Millionaire Shortbread Bars or French Macarons.
- Boho or rustic? Think oatmeal raisin, s’mores bars, or brown butter cookies. For a more relaxed atmosphere, such as a barn wedding or outdoor celebration, these treats offer a cozy touch like my S’mores Cookie Bars or Amy’s Cinnamon Roll Cookie Bars.
- Modern & playful? Try stuffed cookies like my Biscoff Stuffed Cookie Bars.
2. Variety and quantity
Aim for 3–5 different options with a balance of textures (chewy, crisp, gooey) and flavors (chocolatey, fruity, nutty, spiced). For my niece’s wedding, we did over 8 types of cookies and cookie bars to give lots of options for the guests.
If preparation is overwhelming, I would say try to keep it to 4-5 varieties. 8 was fun, but it was a lot, and guests want to try many of the flavors no matter the size, so keep in mind you’ll need to plan on over-baking what it typically reasonable to ensure you’ll have enough. We planned for 2.5 cookies a person and then rounded up our batch amounts just to be safe, and that ended up being a great number.
3. Dietary needs matter
To ensure all guests have a delightful experience, include at least one gluten-free, nut-free, or vegan option if you’re serving a diverse group of guests. I actually created my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe specifically for my niece’s wedding because I wanted my family members who cannot have gluten to enjoy a treat like everyone else at the wedding.
There are so many great dairy free chocolate chip options out there as well if you need to make it dairy free. My sister loves using Country Crock Plant Based butter for her dairy free cookies! I could hardly tell a difference!
4. Display creatively
Mix heights, textures, and containers on your dessert table. Cake stands, wooden boards, vintage trays, and glass jars can add charm and dimension. I use these chalk board signs (with these pens) all the time now for so many use cases!
Favorite Cookie & Bar Recipes
Here’s a list of cookies and bars I used between the two weddings, plus a few other recommendations that landed on our original list to decide from…
(All of the cookies were made with this 4 tbsp jumbo scoop. The perfect gourmet size!)
- Biscoff: One wedding we did cookie form; the other we did bar form (the cookies were lovely, but I will say the bars were 10x easier and faster!)
- Soft & Chewy Snickerdoodles: Can be made into cookies or bars!
- Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip: guests love this unique addition! The recipe is in my book Classic Sourdough.
- Gluten-free Chocolate Chip: Use Country crock plant based butter and a dairy free chocolate chip brand so make it dual as dairy free to catch all the allergies in one!
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies: Love Amy’s recipe here! This one was a guest favorite tied with Biscoff. They are more time consuming, so we made them into bars for the next wedding and didn’t make as many (when they’re gone, they’re gone) but they are always a hit.
- Double Dark Chocolate: This one is fun because you can swap half (or all) of the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips for a classic, crowd pleasing flavor too.
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip: This is NOT your normal oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. My niece Brooklyn curated this one during COVID and gave me permission to share, hence “Brookie’s Cookies”. Our whole extended family begs for them regularly.
- Bakery Chocolate Chip: A classic, great for jumbo size!
- Lemon Swig: Or a classic swig cookie would be fun. We wanted to add in some flavor variety. If you do classic, you could even make the frosting the color of the wedding!
- Dulce de leche bars: these stuffed bars are underrated, especially with the flaky sea salt on top
- S’mores Cooke Bars: A rustic hit!
- Millionaire Shortbread Bars: Elegant. Cut them slightly chilled for clean cuts!
- Nutella Stuffed Cookies: With browned butter, it’s a home run and people don’t know why.
- Chocolate Mint Brownies: An elegant favorite!
Cookie Bar on a Budget
It doesn’t have to be said that the cost of a wedding adds up fast. We want this to be a special time for the couple and the incredibly supportive guests, but I never think anyone should feel like they have to break the bank to do that.
Doing your own cookie bar is a really cost effective way to do it. Here’s what we learned that kept it budget friendly AND stress-free.
- Make ahead! It feels doable to do yourself or even ask a couple close friends to help when you’re asking them to do it in advance with no pressure. For my nieces wedding, I did a bulk of the 750-800 cookies myself but it wasn’t a huge deal because I did double batches weekends leading up to the wedding. More tips on making ahead in section below.
- Consider making LESS flavors. I was excited to do a lot of flavors at my nieces wedding, and figured it didn’t matter if I had more flavors because I’d need to do more separate batches in a bowl anyway – so why not just make a different flavor? Well, guests are excited about more flavors too. The more variety, the more they’ll want to try of course! For my nephew’s wedding that happened next, we cut out a couple of the flavors, and were able to make less. Same amount of guests, less cookies needed. (And I don’t think anyone noticed or thought twice honestly!) It meant less time and less money.
- My niece’s wedding had 750-800 cookies and we spent about $300-$400 dollars (including boxes and such I used for storage and transport). I did have a lot of cake stands and platters at my use. Ask to borrow some, rent from Facebook marketplace, or go thrifting! Home Goods usually has great stands for a good price.
- My nephew’s wedding we only had to make about 600 cookies for about the same amount of guests. Cost closer to $250.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. People typically love feeling like they can help. I think it’s comfortable to ask people for help when you can ask it of them in advance – they can help on their own time table when making cookies/bars ahead of time. For day-of help, you’ll likely need a couple hands to help refill stations. For this kind of help, I prefer not asking close family or people from the wedding party if I can. Ask someone more distant or a “friend of a friend” that you can trust.
- Use variety of “fancy flavor” levels. Not every flavor costs the same. Snickerdoodles are probably half the price of the cinnamon roll cookie (recipes linked in above section!). Consider the kind of cookie you’re making and how to have a mix when on a budget.
- Practice a batch! Think ahead, and you’ll have time to practice. Trying a new recipe isn’t the time to jump in and make 100 cookies. Make a few small batches, and have some friends over for a little taste testing!
Calculation of how much to make
The general rule for calculating how many guests to expect from an invite list is 60-85%. Consider your invite list. Do you have a lot of local people on the invite list? How much of it is family? If yes on those, safely weigh on the side of closer to 80-85% attendance.
When calculating how many cookies to make for each guest, we said roughly 2.5 cookies per person, then rounded up on the batches. (Example, I needed 100 cookies of one flavor, and I could either make ~85 or ~115 due to how the batches worked. I opted for the additional batch of 115. So round up a bit when it makes sense. One time I had a flavor that made ~95 cookies. Of course, I just left it at that knowing the other batches would compensate for it. No extra batch needed.)
Tips for making cookies ahead of time
Whether you’re baking a week before or prepping months in advance, here’s how to stay organized and keep your cookies tasting fresh:
- Freeze cookie dough or baked cookies. Scoop and freeze cookie dough balls for freshly baked treats on demand; frozen cookie dough can last up to 3-6 months unbaked in the freezer. And when you are ready to bake those cookie dough balls, leave them out to slightly soften up for about 20 minutes (does not have to come back to room temp; I bake them cold all the time). You may need to add an extra minute or two to the bake time.
You can also simply bake all your cookies and then freeze those baked cookies up to 3 weeks in the freezer! Pull the cookies out the morning of the wedding so they thaw completely before the wedding reception in the late afternoon or evening. As long as they were wrapped well and done within a few weeks of the event, they’ll taste fresh.
NOTE for cookies with a topping or drizzle (like the Biscoff bars!): to ensure the drizzle doesn’t get smashed, lay them out on the tray, pop in the freezer uncovered for about 15 minutes to allow the drizzle to harden, then you can stack. When defrosting, make sure you lay them out separately so they don’t get smushed together as they defrost. - Label everything. Include the type, date, and baking instructions on each bag or container. It seems odd to say now, but if you are making a large quantity of multiple types of cookies, you will want to label every cookie bag.
- Use airtight containers or bags. For baked cookies, cool completely and store in airtight containers with parchment between layers. I have a stand up freezer in my garage that did save us for this. We used just simple study Wilton cake boxes from Walmart to store them (I wrapped plastic wrap around them on the inside of the box for an extra layer of freshness).
Have more cookie bar questions?
Drop a question below in the comments! I’d love to share what we felt like worked or didn’t work!
Whether you go with trays of gooey bars, a mountain of classic cookies, or a beautifully curated mix of both, the best choice is the one that feels right for your wedding and your energy level. With a little planning, your cookie spread can be just as memorable as the cake.
