Save On Wedding Costs And Have That Chocolate Fountain
By Blake Kritzberg
Chocolate fountains, once a rarity at weddings, are becoming more common -- but no less beloved. Still, they pose a budget crunch for many brides, coming in at only slightly under the cost of the wedding cake -- and that's for a one-day rental!

If you're like us, there's something that just burns our little Yankee hearts about spending over $400 to rent a machine that granted, costs a little over ten times that, but gets rented out many times. And yet if you're like us, you really want a way to fit that fountain in.

We're both in luck, because higher-end fountains are coming to the home market and becoming more accessible ... even to skinflints!

*What We Didn't Get ... And Why

You've seen the early entrants, maybe on eBay -- inexpensive fountains made by lesser-known brands selling for about eighty bucks. You've probably thought of trying one out, just because the price difference between that and a rental machine was so astronomical.

We did too, but as we read about the small, cheap versions, we ran into a lot of complaints. One of the most worrisome was that the cheap fountains made such a loud grinding noise, you couldn't have a conversation standing next to one -- which was not the ambiance we wanted for our party.

Further, we weren't sure if we wanted to keep the fountain over the long term. We wanted to buy something with good resale value so we could recapture our money if needed.

Fortunately, as our deadline approached, Sephra -- the standard in high-end rental fountains -- began offering pre-orders on their first home market fountains. We snapped one up for about $250, an attractive fountain that holds five pounds of chocolate. The fountains were so new, we had to switch our order from the lovely cherry red we'd wanted to a stainless steel in order to get it in time. But we got it.

*Showtime -- and Some Tips

Once acquired, it was time to test it out in live conditions. The first party we unveiled it at was on the small side, with about 25 people. Set-up was simple. The experience did, however, teach us some tips:

Try out and get comfortable with your fountain before a really big affair. You won't really understand the logic behind the instruction book until you try it. For example:

- The fountain really does need to be balanced to work properly. Sephra models offer adjustable feet to accomplish this. When we first set up our fountain,

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