Wednesday, July 7, 2010

BeCome a Long With Me: To Favor or Not to Favor?



One of the decisions you have to make is whether or not you want to give wedding favors to your guests. Many choose to do so, while others choose to opt out. I chose to have wedding favors...but what kind do I give? There are so many different options nowadays, so choosing can be difficult. This is what I went with.


I love the bride and groom favor boxes, but they can be expensive. Luckily, the Dollar Tree sells them and they are only $1 for 10!! This is one of my proudest buys. I will fill them with some sort of candy (I'm undecided yet,) along with these handmade Korean wedding doll clay magnets, to incorporate my mother's heritage. Each box will get one magnet, and the great thing is that no 2 magnets are the same!

I thought I'd share how giving favors originated, since the giving of these hasn't changed much. According to Suite 101, the earliest records of such gifts date to various European countries in the 16th to 18th centuries – the late Medieval to Early Modern period. During this time, it became traditional for the nobility to give gifts of sugar and sugared confections not only at weddings, but at any parties and receptions.

Sugar was very expensive at this time, so the gifts were a mark of the wealth and prestige of the giver. Sugar cubes and candy were usually presented in a "bonbonniere," a small box made of precious crystal, gemstones, or porcelain.

As the price of sugar became more affordable, the tradition spread to other social classes and it began to include other gifts: small boxes of almonds and other nuts, biscuits, and fruit. In the lower classes, these gifts may have been presented at the start of the wedding ceremony so the guests could enjoy them during the celebration.

You don't have to give candy and treats. Many people are now doing donations on behalf of the guests as favors. See this donation card that I designed for one of my bridesmaid's friends. Deana and her fiance Ryan both love animals, and decided to give donations to the Humane Society of America on their guests' behalf. This will be made into a book mark for the guests to take home.


Now let's talk about my DIY project of the week. I wanted the head table centerpiece to be different from the other centerpieces, when I came across this picture on Wedding Bee's DIY section (which I LOVE!)

I decided to try to copycat the centerpiece, and this is the start of it:


And this is the end result! Not too shabby, huh?


I got the vases at the Dollar Tree for $1 each,
Damark ribbon at Michaels for $9.99 (I'm using it to hand-tie the bouquets too,)
Black bead string at Michaels for $3.99 and 50% off, so $1.98,
Foam ball at Walmart for $2.49
Faux white carnations at Walmart for $1 for a bundle with 8 flower buds on it (used 5 total, so $5.)

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! Check out what I'm up to next week!

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