There seems to be a new wave of brides and grooms that are deciding not to have favours at their weddings. But what would you decide to do?
As a wedding planner, we see a bit of both, but this year I would say it's been 1/3 with favours and 2/3 without. We also have couples asking our opinion as to whether they should or not, but it is a personal decision.
Photo by Mindy Coe Photography
For our own wedding we decided to have wedding favours. I loved the idea of adding something personal to each place setting as a way of saying thank you to our guests for coming to celebrate with us. However, we wanted to give them something they would use and that wasn't just a thoughtless token. For us it was something we really thought about, that fitted the theme of our wedding day, along with something we personally love and that we hoped our guests would too. We also combined it with place names. Our wedding favours were small pots of homemade chilli jam! We are massive cheese lovers and also love a bit of chilli as are a lot of our friends. So we decided to set ourselves the task of making our own. Now this was not an easy task as there was a lot to make and it did take a lot of time, so I can totally understand why someone may not want to go down this lengthy road. However what I can say, is that they went down a total storm! Hardly any jam was left behind and in my experience as a wedding planner, there can be a fair few favours forgotten and left behind after the guests go home. Guests that had accidentally forgotten their jam, had even messaged to let me know as they wanted to grab hold of it. We even had requests for more after people had used theirs up. So in our experience it was a great thing to do, which went down a treat with our wedding guests and something I wouldn't have cut from our wedding budget. It was a personal token to all our friends and family, a little bit of us to them.
Our clients this year that have decided on favours have also taken a fairly personal touch. One going for sticks of rock, with personalised flavours and wrappers. The wedding was at the seaside and it fitted beautifully with the theme and their table decor. Another client had a friend pick a load of Sloe berries and they made sloe vodka for all their guests. Time consuming, but a total hit and good bit of fun for after the wedding breakfast! Those sorts of favours are usually opened and consumed at the wedding!
Photo by Sophie Duckworth Photography
On the flip side, I can understand why a couple would rather not put their budget towards a load of favours. If you have been to weddings where the couple have had favours, but they are not personal, they are usually the weddings where the favours are left behind. Surely your thinking is then, why should I spend out this money if nobody wants them? Or you want to do something and for it to feel appreciated. Others don't want to come up with something different or personal and so decide against favours.
Which ever you decide, it has to be right for you. We are lovers of stylish detail and so for us I love favours as you can add an extra touch of you, your personality and detail to a table, but I also totally appreciate why you wouldn't choose them and that is also ok. As a wedding planner we see it all and work with whatever is right for our clients.
Lauren x