Wedding Favor Ideas

Weddings are joyous spiritual occasions that require a lot of planning to make the day as perfect as the bride pictured it. Even the smallest detail can make the difference. I have helped plan weddings before and the one thing that brides have trouble deciding is what favors to have for the guest. It can be overwhelming since there are so many favors that can be given.

Let's start with explaining what a favor is. A favor is a gesture from the bride and groom to their guest that shows that they are happy the guest came to celebrate their nuptials. A favor does not have to be an expensive item from Tiffany's, it can be something that is personal and straight from the heart.

Now let's talk about what kind of favors you can consider having. Personalized favors can be something special that they will be sure to treasure. If you have a theme for your wedding and reception that should play a part in your favor decisions. You will want your favors to look like they belong on the tables and not stand out as an odd item. Here are a few ideas to get you on the path to choosing your wedding favors.

You can take flower seed packets, you can get them cheap at a local discount store, and tie them together with a poem that is special to the happy couple. You can print the poem out on your home printer. There are tons of sites on the internet that you can find poems if you need to research for one. This is great for Spring or Summer weddings.

You can also usually find votive candles cheap at a local market or store. A candle will look elegant wrapped in tulle, which you can buy at a local craft store, and tied at the top with ribbon. For an added touch, you can also personalize the candle with the bride and grooms name and wedding date on the side of the candle. I did this for a bride by getting the clear labels for the printer at a local mass merchant.
If the wedding is near Christmas, make a personalized snowflake ornament. That is something that they will put on their tree every year and think of your wedding. I have done this favor for a wedding and the guest loved it. You can find blank snowflakes at a local craft store, they usually come so many to a pack. You can decorate the snowflake simply by dipping them in glitter. After it dries then you can personalize it with a glitter writing pen, that can also be found at the craft store.

If you are a great baker, make cookies shaped as a wedding cake or bells and wrap them in cellophane, tied at the tip with a bow. This is a cute idea if you are expecting children at the reception. They usually are amazed at the cookies shape and think it is the most special thing in the world. You can usually find the cookie cutters in the baking section at your local craft store.

Do you want to offer candy as a favor? Candy is usually a big hit at any wedding reception. Wrap a Hershey's in a personalized wrapper. You can get these wrappers to fit a regular candy bar from a personal gift internet store that does personalization.

Another great favor is if you have pictures of the bride and groom together, go to your local dollar store and pick out frames to fit the picture size. You can place these at each place setting. You can take a casual picture at the local park or in front of a flower garden area with a digital camera and then put it on a disk with your computer and take it to a local photo shop and tell them how many prints of this you want. I had a bride do this for a small wedding and it was inexpensive but left a great impression on the guest.

Since the age old tradition of throwing rice is out, bubbles have taken over the reigns. You can find bubbles at most online stores or your local craft stores. If you are looking for them to be in a unique bottle, look online. Craft stores tend to just have the plain small round white bottle that has no personality what so ever. Online stores have a variety of chooses. If you don't like the idea of having a bubble send off, you can also choose rose petals. You can get the rose petals at the craft store and put them in sachets for your guest. Do keep in mind, if you go the rose petals route you will need to have someone planned to sweep them up and discard of them properly.

One last tip, if you have more than a few favors for your guest to take home, think about having them a favor bag or box at their table to make it easier to take home. You can also personalize the box with a clear labeled stick on tag that has your names and date of the wedding on it.

Whatever the favor you choose for your wedding, keep in mind to stick to your budget. Don't get into the mode of loading your guest up with favors. A few great favors will take you a long way with your guest. By doing this your guest will have an excellent time at your wedding and reception and will remember that day for years to come.