Favours. Those little things you give to your guests. Something nice or a little out dated? What do you think? This topic was suggested by the lovely Zoe, my wedding planning partner in crime!
I’ve talked about favours in my wedding posts before {link} and my general idea was to use either tealight holders or something similar to hold some sweets in. However, the more I thought about it, the more it doesn’t seem like us. I don’t want my wedding to turn into a total cutesy, girly, floral affair – I’m not that kind of girl. Yes, I like girly things sometimes, coo over babies and small animals and am even partial to the odd floral print – but does that mean I want my wedding to be taken over by Jess from New Girl? No, it doesn’t! (No disrespect to the character of Jess, New Girl or Zooey Deschanel intended – I actually love that show, but I’m sure you know what I mean!).
I have been racking my brain over what favours we should have and whether we should have them at all! What exactly is the etiquette regarding favours? Are they expected or a nice surprise? At Steve’s aunts wedding, his cousins and others heavily involved in the wedding each received a present completely tailored to them and their personalities – Steve’s three cousins couldn’t be any different from each other so it was nice to see how much thought and preparation his aunt and her new husband had put into choosing their wedding presents and this extended to the favours for the rest of the guests too.
I reached out to the lovely people over on Twitter to see what you thought would be an ideal wedding favour:
I love this idea by Allie – it is a brilliant idea to kill two birds with one stone and keep your guests tummies full too!
This suggestion by Becky was another that really caught my eye – yes, some people will be like ‘but it promotes gambling, blah de blah de blah’ but if you know my family, you will know they like the odd bet so this would actually be great for them!
Another great money saving idea, this time from Boo. I’ve said in previous wedding posts that I am going to try scrimping and saving for this wedding and this may be the way to do it!
This tweet by Kele? I totally agree. I need to find something that represents us and on a budget too!
Lix {blog/shop} has also given me another fab idea; handmade items definitely make that extra personal touch! Please do check Lix out too 🙂
Again, something that relates to me crops up – another sign that I am going in the right direction by steering away from my original ideas. I met this hilarious lady, Dawn, this past weekend and she definitely has the right idea here!
I did say I was backing away from the ideas of sweets in tealight holders but I actually love the idea of personalised packets of love hearts – I really want to make my favours personal so these would be a fab addition to my day. Rebecca has got me thinking!
Finally, Rosie came up with this idea which I think is fab too – I am a sucker for homeware and the thought of my guests leaving with a favour that will be a constant reminder of our wedding day is actually really appealing to me. I’ve already got ideas (non wedding related, actually for Jack’s birthday) for certain homeware additions to the house – thanks Charl for some great birthday inspiration – and I love the idea of creating something similar, but perhaps on a smaller scale, for our wedding favours. Hey, who said I was nothing but ambitious?
What are your thoughts on wedding favours? Are they a necessity in these penny pinching days? Or are they overrated? Let me know what you think!
Such great ideas!
xoxo One Stiletto At a Time fashion and beauty blog
Yes, very perfect wedding ideas.
http://www.elegantweddinginvites.com
Such good ideas, aren't they?x
I usually save wpw for my bedtime reading but i caved in this week!! I love the scratch card idea 🙂 I'm still contemplating having favours, it used to be just the lady guests that received them but now I think it's everyone is it? I have no idea, sounds very expensive to me ha ha , fabulous post as always, my little wedding planner buddy 🙂 xxxxxxxx
http://www.mammafulzo.com
Thank you 🙂
Most weddings I've gone to (and it's been a while) did give out various favors. Sometimes they gave a set to female guests and a different set to male guests, which I think is kind of ridiculous – it would make more sense to me to have a couple of options and let people choose, since not everyone's the same and will find use in the same things, even if they are the same gender.
Now you've got me wondering if people have finally stopped giving cigarettes (to women) and cigars (to men) (seriously, what is with the gender divide?) since the laws about where you can and can't smoke got tighter. Cigarette smoke makes me sick.
I'm generally in favor of giving out candy – especially chocolates, haha. I don't think it's a bad idea to give out things to hold sweets in – maybe you could mix and match prints so they're not all floral? I keep playing with the idea of offering little zipper pouches on my campaign or my shop – like clutches, I think they'd make good personalized bridesmaid gifts, but I'm not sure about favors for all guests.
– Lix
I now really want sweets hehe 🙂 x
I'm really thinking of doing homemade jam, haha, just because i'm gotten decent at making jam. I also saw on pinterest someone did a bag of seeds, with a label saying 'watch our love grow!' and the date. I was thinking it could be seeds of something in the bouquet.
Oh, there's also fortune cookies.
Orrrrr actually, I just looked at a scented candle in my room and thought of you, how about getting small-ish scented candles with your names & the date printed or blasted on? I'm sure somewhere must do those.
Bit of a inspiration flow, haha, hope it helps!
– Nin xx
for the candle idea – I have an etching tool you could use, it cuts candles really well…
Oooh, could you send a link to one? I'd love to give it a try. Thanks xx
I'll chase Clare up for the link to this!x
Great post, I love the scratch card idea! I would probably try and make something I think.
Kerry xx
I'm thinking that, but I am soooo not crafty!x
we're having little square frosted glass votive candle holders with clear round name stickers as placecards. The jury is still out as to whether these will contain scented candles or colour coordinated m&ms…
ps. personalised m&ms are AWESOME
Ooh, let me know what you do!
Some great ideas here! We're having miniature bottles of Absolut Raspberri vodka. It references the fact we met in a bar; our friends and family love a good drink so we know they'll enjoy them; and the bottles are red and silver which matches our colour scheme perfectly. I'm also tying name tags around the neck of each bottle so they double up as place names.
Good luck with your planning!
http://littlelovenotes.co.uk/blog
Thank you 🙂 x
When I got married we gave everyone a basket filled with Kitkats. During my speech I explained that when we were at school the reason my friends knew Mark was special is because he was the only one I would share my kitkat with at lunch. I asked the crowd to split the Kitkat and share someone special. It just meant something to both of us and cost £30 in the end (with a few left over)
Aww, that is so cute!x
At the wedding I went to recently , we got homemade jam as favors, as the wedding was held on a farm. And on the jars it said "Spread the love" which I thought was nice and cute. I love wedding favors it just reminds me of the amazing day and the happy couple!:)
Ooh homemade jam is a great idea!x
I loved our favours, they were dirt cheap, personal and all of the guests loved them – people still talk about them now!
We got personalised love hearts really cheap from eBay, bride & groom sweet holders (again cheap from eBay) and then put a photo of the guest on them so that they doubled up as their place names.
There is a picture of them in this post http://asliceofmylifewales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-wedding-little-touches.html
xx
Ooh what a fab idea, Leanne!x
LOVE the cookie idea! M&Ms do personalised m&ms (duh) for weddings too … Xo
Oooh don't tempt me!x
I couldn't do scratch cards because I would have been so miffed if someone won big!
I like the idea of sweets, snacks etc because you often wait for ages for food at weddings. Give everyone a paper sweet bag with their name on as their place card and then they can fill it from a sweetie bar. Choose sweets that represents memories, your faves etc and create labels for the table that have little stories etc. Creates a talking point and offers some lovely insight into your relationship that people love at weddings. You can make it fit your theme by using ribbons, sweet colours etc Not cheap but fun and suits most people
There is that problem with the scratchcards! Ooh good idea!x