The wedding we attended Saturday, everyone got bright yellow large face towels with the bride & groom’s names printed on them and the date of the wedding, like the towels folks wave at sporting events in support of their team (the couple is a pair of avid football fans). Each guest also got a “bug bling” bracelet made by dad of bride, to keep mosquitoes away in yellow or black (colors of the couple’s favorite team, go Steelers)!
Edible favors are always enjoyed. The bride’s sister was married last year. They gave everyone macademia nuts as favors in a nice taffeta drawstring bag, plus the bug bling bracelets in assorted colors.
I belong to a women’s group and there is an annual luncheon put on by one subsection of the big group. Last year the subgroup donated the ‘favor’ money to the scholarship fund. We all loved the idea, and my subgroup will be putting on the luncheon in 2019. Definitely stealing the idea. No more trinkets.
S had a large basket of dipped pretzels as the favors: the 8 inch long ones, dipped in chocolate, rolled in sprinkles, and wrapped individually. I suggested they get enough for 1/2 the guests, but they went for one/person. And were left with half of them. We left them in the country club lobby for the day’s golfers.
Currently we are considering mints. I’ve seen some that come in a rectangular tin and you add a customized label on top.
I’m a huge fan of practical swag.
Favors: one good truffle from a local artisinal chocolatier. They can be packaged in clear plastic tied with a simple organza ribbon in the wedding theme color.
We’re considering the photo booth strips the favors. I also like the idea of donating the money that would be spent on that to a local good cause. I agree that if you feel the need, edible is the way to go.
I agree with Consolation – really good chocolates make for the best favors. Please skip the knick-knack-y things; the little mini picture frames and the like go right in the trash.
If you decide to skip the favors, I really don’t see the need to make a donation in lieu of favors. By all means, donate money in accordance with your charitable plans for the year, but I don’t see the need to tie a donation to the absence of favors.
We went to a wedding with a photo booth. I personally thought it was kinda stupid but we did it. It was a blast! I thought it was a good idea. I think they are a bit expensive, I don’t know what your budget is. The price I kept seeing was around $1000+.
This wedding had little jars of local jam with the couples name on them. They were in baskets by the door and it seemed that when we were saying goodbye the wedding couple was begging everyone to take them. We kept the photo booth pictures (they are hilarious) and threw the jam away later.
We’ve gotten favors at bar/bat mitzvahs, but not frequently at weddings. Did get a jar of BBQ spice rub from one. Its from a great local BBQ place and we use it. Yum! At DS’s wedding, everyone (locals and out of towners) was given a cute burlap hospitality bag with water and snack goodies, and these were available (each had a gift tag on the handle with the name of the attendee) at the rehearsal dinner (or whatever it was called, as everyone was invited and host everyone attended) the first night of the wedding weekend. I hope people kept the bags. They were cute. But if not, thats their decision. Regardless, I hope they didnt mock the couple for providing small mementos to the attendees, whether it was considered useful or not. Its the thought that counts.
I was asking everyone that had a wedding within the last couple of years what they thought was a good use of money and what they wish they had not done. A few people told me they went overboard on the flowers - they were expensive, time consuming to fuss with and then left over afterwards. A couple of people mentioned the photo booth and I decided that was something I wanted. I found a local person whose photo booth my daughter and I tried out at a big Bridal show and he gave me a deal of $600 for four hours. Unlimited photo strips - one for every person in a picture, props, and we get a copy of everything on a disc or thumb drive at the end. Oh, and they’ll put the couple’s graphic (my SIL made one up for the seat assignment things) , name and date on each strip. I’m picturing the strips hanging up all over the place! If we want, they’ll put them on a special FB page too.
S & DIL had a photo booth and the guests got pictures and a duplicate set was kept for S & DIL in place of a guest book. I think everyone really liked it.
Regarding the bridesmaids wearing practical and reusable dresses, in my church, there were several youngish couples getting married only a few years out of undergrad. A great idea for the guys was this:
Rather than rent a tux to be used for only one night, the groom and his party got matching off-the-rack suits at a local men’s clothier chain store and a matching dress shirt. The groom gifted cufflinks to each groomsman.
It seemed none of the guys was overflowing in suit ownership – so even though it was an inexpensive suit, all of them came out ahead (rather than simply photos of them wearing a tux for 6 hours) with something practical.
I also think party favors are very optional…BUT…if it’s in your game plan…
My S and DIL theme was maps/traveling (the reception was in a train station) - they ordered these small map favor boxes (not from this source but somewhere cheaper - I don’t know exactly who!) and then we filled them with chocolate “hugs and kisses” which I purchased at Costco. Inexpensive and we noted upon cleaning up that everyone either took them or we found lots of empty boxes and kisses wrappers!
Regarding photo booth - we also made our own. D2 is very crafty and she made an adorable backdrop that we hung in a little cubbie area of the venue…we set up a little table that had a selfie stick on it, and a slew of photo props on sticks that we bought from Amazon for $10. Set up a stand up decorative chalkboard with the wedding hashtag - everyone posted their pics to Instagram - we just had to search for the hashtag to see them all. Everyone from the youngest to the oldest guests were seen indulging in photos. Very cheap.
When my oldest got married, we took him to JA Banks and took advantage of one of their suit deals. He and my husband both got new suits for the wedding - for less than a tux rental. Most adult men can use a black suit more than once, so it’s a super practical alternative to a tux rental. My son is in public relations, so he was thrilled that we bought him two suits (it was a buy one get two suits free deal at JA Banks). He got a lot of use out of those suits.
I just went to a niece’s wedding this past weekend and just watched the video of a wedding of one of D’s friends. No matter the flowers, decor or dresses the one thing that stands out for me at both is the look on the groom’s face when he sees his bride! Precious.