Personalized Wedding Favors

Placing small gifts at the side of guests’ plates at wedding dinners has long been an established tradition. These tokens of appreciation let the friends and family of the bride and groom know their presence is acknowledged and are small ways to share the couple’s happiness. Personalized wedding favors generally list the name of the bride and the groom along with the wedding date somewhere on the favor and are considered as keepsakes to be taken home and enjoyed long after the day of the wedding has passed.

Traditional Favors

Deciding what to select as personalized wedding favors can sometimes be a confusing task – there are so many choices! One way to decide is to go by the theme of your wedding. For instance, if your wedding is going to be held with a traditional theme, favors such as netted, beribboned bags of wrapped, fine candies or nuts (or a mix of both) makes a common favor. The ribbon is personalized and can be used as the after-the-wedding keepsake. Other traditional favors include miniature silver-plated picture frames (in small, personalized boxes), shot glasses, and key chains.

Themed Gifts

Other wedding planners choose to go with themes that vary from those of the traditional type. Asian-themed weddings have become popular with the rise in Zen Buddhism, for example. Silver-plated “fortune cookies” fashioned into a place-card holder and engraved with the names of the bride and groom make a stylish Oriental-type personalized wedding favor.

If a wedding is to be held near the beach or at a lake, many nautically themed favors are available: tea light holders in the shape of boats sails (in lovely shades of blue!); silver-plated seashell place-card holders; candles made from real shells; woven, palm-shaped fans; candied lollipops in the shape of starfish and other sea creatures; and much more – all either engraved or beribboned with the names of the bride and groom and the wedding date.

Favors That Salute the Holidays

Nowadays, many couples eschew traditional June weddings and elect instead to marry during some holiday season. Personalized wedding favors to suit the celebration of the season abound. All kinds of winter or Christmas-themed favors fashioned with snowflake, snowmen, or ornament motifs grace the tables of weddings held when it’s cold outside.

Favors alluding to Valentine’s Day include anything shaped like hearts, flowers, or candy. Easter weddings include favors featuring bunny-shaped bookmarks, ceramic or glass decorated eggs to be used to decorate the home at a later date, and baskets festooned with personalized ribbons.

Unique Favors

One unique way to acknowledge guests using personalized wedding favors is to make a donation. Using printed tags tied with engraved ribbons to small bags of candy or nuts, have the name of the wedding couple’s favorite charity and the amount of a small donation written in script. This type of favor is truly a gift that keeps on giving – something guaranteed to not be stuck in a closet and forgotten.

Weddings are such a happy time and should be celebrated with fun in mind. Whatever personalized wedding favors are selected do not have to be expensive, but they should be somewhat thoughtful and given in the spirit of the day – happiness and celebration. So keep in mind that whenever you choose favors, do it from the heart. Always remember: It’s not the gift, but the thought behind it that counts.