A Pittsburgh Wedding Tradition | The Cookie Table

Unless you’ve grown up in Western Pennsylvania, then you probably haven’t heard of the cookie table. A Texas native myself, I certainly hadn’t encountered one before until I started photographing weddings here. In the South, they’re all about groom’s cakes. But in Pittsburgh, I’ve only seen one or two groom’s cakes in all the weddings I’ve photographed. Instead, Pittsburgh (and the surrounding area) esteems the tradition of the cookie table.

What is a cookie table? Well, it’s as the name sounds–a table full of delicious cookies for your wedding guests to enjoy! But it is also so much more than this. The cookie table often is a symbol of family pride, with the question of who can bake the biggest, baddest cookie table often at stake. The bride and groom’s grandmas, aunts, and mothers often spend weeks or months slaving away baking cookies for the table. Sometimes I sense it’s a little bit of a competition, which is why brides and grooms are often inundated with literally 1,000s of cookies to fob off to their guests. Little containers for the excesses are distributed to guests, who are encouraged to take as many cookies home as they would like. Grandma would be insulted if you left any of her pizzelles untouched.

But I don’t think anyone minds having to take a box of homemade cookies home. In fact, most cookie tables I’ve seen are often cleared out by the end of the night, with only the most boring sweets left.

I, personally, also really love the cookie table. By the time we get to the reception, I’ve often been photographing for six to eight hours, and I’m usually pretty famished. Most cookie tables are open for the picking during cocktail hour and before dinner, so Aunt Sue’s buckeye often tides me over through toasts, dancing, and cake cutting. Yay for cookie tables! They’re just one more reason why I love Pittsburgh!