Wedding "Favors": Spend Wisely or Lose!

Wedding favors are wedding tradition!

Favors are those little mementos that brides and grooms extend to their guests as cherished mementos of their wedding day.

Wedding favors may include small picture frames, chocolates, silver, etc. and at Italian weddings, the traditional bomboniere, a beautiful keepsake that is filled with confetti, or sugar-coated almonds which signify the bitterness and sweetness of married life.

So what's the problem? These mementos are beautiful, a wonderful keepsake... but they cost money and worse!

Wedding favors are extended to each couple that attend a wedding and are traditionally placed at the woman's place setting at the reception. Or, they may be used as place-cards (a silver picture frame, for example), that contains the couple's name and table and number, which are picked up by guests before they enter the reception room.

Here's the issue: They cost money! Lots of money. If you estimate three to four dollars per favor, you could end up spending hundreds of dollars on favors.

Here's the truth: It's been my experience that unless favors are edible or drinkable, like chocolates or splits of champagne, they are normally left on guest tables after the reception ends.

Moral of the Story: The money YOU spent on favors has just gone down the wedding drain!

If you must have wedding favors, then make them yourself! Don't buy them! This is rule one.

For one of my relative's weddings, held in South Florida, we took small conch shells, filled them with sugar-coated almonds, wrapped them in tulle, and tied that off with ribbon imprinted with the bride's and groom's name and the wedding date. They were adorable and edible!

Rule two: Make them edible and/or drinkable, or you will find them left behind--a total waste of hard-earned wedding dollars.

In Summary: If you choose to have wedding favors, it's entirely up to you. But personally, I think an invitation to a wedding is "favor" enough!