Tired of the tried and true? Join the club. When it comes to reception fare, today’s couples are stepping way outside the box with creative new approaches to the conventional catered affair, incorporating everything from cake pops to food trucks. Here are a few fun ideas for the big event.

PRE-WEDDING

Imagine going to a wedding and being handed a cocktail the moment you arrive. That’s the idea behind the “pre-social,” a relatively new trend, says Lora Ward, wedding planner and owner of A Day to Remember in Sacramento. A signature beverage—mint juleps for a Southern-style wedding, for example—is a fun way to go, she says.

You wouldn’t do this in a church, of course. But if you’re exchanging vows in a garden or a private home, it may be the perfect way to add a splash of panache. Invite your guests to arrive about a half-hour before the wedding ceremony, suggests Ward, to allow time for them to sip their libations and mingle a bit.

THE MAIN EVENT

After shopping around for a caterer and encountering sticker shock, Seabelo “Sabs” Silitshena and his bride-to-be, Paula Wells, were running out of hope. “Then one day Paula’s dad said, ‘Why don’t you have the Mini Burger Truck cater the wedding?’” remembers Silitshena. It was an obvious solution: Silitshena is a friend of Davin Vculek, who owns and operates the popular local food truck. “We’d been bragging about the truck to everyone,” Silitshena says. “But for some reason we didn’t think of it for the wedding.”

The couple wanted to go beyond beyond burgers, so they special-ordered a spinach salad with strawberries, feta cheese and pomegranate vinaigrette. Sliders were beef and chicken. And the burgers were something special: One had bacon, pepper jack cheese, grilled onion and barbecue sauce; another was topped with Asian slaw, pea shoots, lotus chip and Sriracha aioli. The price? About $10 a plate. “We would have had to pay two to three times more with traditional catering,” Silitshena says. “Val-uewise, we couldn’t have done better.” The reception was held at his new in-laws’ home, which also helped cut costs. Silitshena says he couldn’t have been more pleased. “The food was delicious, and it made our wedding so different. I would highly recommend it.”

A few more angles:

• Late-night snacks: “The after party is one of the hottest things in wedding receptions right now,” says Vculek, whose Mini Burger Truck lately has been doing about two weddings a month. “If you’re at the reception drinking and having a good time, we come in late at night, before everyone goes home, and serve it up.”
  Wedding planner Ward has noticed the late-night snack trend, too. “Halfway through the dancing portion [of the reception], you might bring out small sliders, mac ’n’ cheese cups, chocolate chip cookies or some other little num-num.”
• Fast-Food Frenzy. koo-koo for KFC? Wild about Wendy’s? Some couples are turning their fast-food fanaticism into finger lickin’ reception fare. “A girl-friend of mine did Jimboy’s Tacos as an evening snack—pre-ordered about 100 of them,” Ward says. At another event, 59-cent McDonald’s cheeseburgers were passed around “as a nod to the groom, who was crazy about them,” she says. “He was just floored.” But one word of caution: If you’re holding the event outside of a private venue, you’ll need permission from the powers-that-be. As Ward warns, “The Hyatt doesn’t want Jimboy’s coming into their property—that just doesn’t fly.”

SWEET ENDINGS

Not a cake person? Try pie.

“Some couples just don’t like cake,” says Carissa Jones, pastry chef and owner of Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts in Sacramento. “I’ve done several pie weddings this year.” An elaborate wedding pie, plus mini-pies for each guest, is one way to approach it, suggests Jones. A dazzling array of fruit pies was featured during one summer wedding, she recalls—“everything from nectarine/raspberry to lattice-top apple, peach and jumbleberry.”

Other alternatives to the classic tiered white wedding cake:

• Cake pops: These lollipoplike cake bites on a stick, dipped in candy coating  (usually chocolate), are trendy and fun. Decorations can run the gamut from “simple to very ornate,” Jones says. “It depends entirely on the couple’s budget.” It’s an especially good option for kid-friendly receptions, she adds. “I’m doing a wedding this year where they’re expecting about 50 kids, so they’re doing traditional cake for the adults and cake pops for the kids.”
• Dessert Stations: Often an adjunct to (rather than a replacement for) the traditional cake, dessert stations featur-ing an assortment of treats are popular these days, Jones says. Shot glasses of chocolate mousse, mini-strawberry shortcakes, truffles, tarts—and, yes, cake pops—are just a few possibilities for the smorgasbord of sweets.
• Candy Bars: Are you a candy girl? Try a candy bar, as did local bride Alicia  Jacobs last summer. Inspired by a large swirl lollipop incorporating her wed-ding colors of orange, green, yellow and pink, Jacobs Alled glass containers of all shapes and sizes with lemonheads, pink-wrapped tootsie pops, green jelly beans, orange slices and other bright, bold candies. “I loved the outcome,” Ja-cobs says. “I basically needed another way to incorporate my four colors without it looking cheesy. The candy bar was the perfect whimsy touch.”
• Old-Fashioned Cookies: Here’s a homespun, heartfelt way to wrap up your wedding day: Mom’s cookies. At one reception, says Ward, “we had Mama’s three kinds of cookies displayed in three kinds of cookie jars, and in little baggies, so people could take them on the way out.” It’s a nice way of honoring family tradition, Ward says, whether it’s Mom’s cookies, Grandma’s cookies—or even the bride’s.