By: Jeanette Shinn
Unlike anything else in your wedding planning, wedding favors are your opportunity to provide a special surprise for your guests that says thank you for sharing your wedding day. Likewise, wedding favors are often a keepsake to remind the individual of the event long after the wedding day has passed. This is nice for everyone, but it can have a special significance for people within communities of faith who can use that favor as a symbol to remind them to pray for you as you build your marriage.
Fortunately, wedding favors needn’t cost an arm and a leg. Rather, most wedding favors range in cost from fifty cents to a few dollars each or even more, if your budget allows. There are no rules for wedding favors. Your wedding won’t be shut down if you provide chocolate at an outdoor reception in one hundred degree weather (not a good idea) and your guests won’t walk out if you neglect wedding favors altogether, but why would you do that? After all, you thought enough of them to invite them and they took time out of their lives to join in the celebration of your marriage, both of which are good enough reason’s to express your appreciation with a wedding favor.
In choosing your wedding favors, begin by finalizing your guest list so you have a pretty good idea how many wedding favors to buy. As nice as your wedding favors are, you aren’t going to want an extra seventy four golf ball bottle openers left over after your wedding has come and gone. Be sure, however, that you take into account the percentage that RSVP’s late or shows up without RSVPing. Yes, that’s bad etiquette, but that’s the way life works sometimes.
That’s it. Once you have figured out what your budget can afford based on your best estimate of how many people will take part in your wedding celebration it’s time to begin looking at the incredible variety of possibilities available for you to use as wedding favors. Have fun, explore, let your hair down and dream of how you want your friends and family to remember your wedding day and your gratitude as demonstrated through your choice of wedding favors.
