What are wedding favors?
Wedding reception favors, also called “bridal favors”, are gifts given by the bride and groom to their wedding guests as gestures of thanks for sharing in the happiness of their wedding day. There are no definite dates on when the tradition of giving wedding reception favors started. However, it is an accepted fact that this tradition dates back several centuries ago. The belief is that wedding reception favors started with the Europeans, especially the Italians and French nobilities and aristocrats. The wedding reception favors were made of sugar cubes or delicate confections, since sugar was quite an expensive commodity during that era. In addition, sugar also symbolizes wealth and royalty. These sugar cubes are placed inside small trinket boxes called “Bombonieres”, which are made of crystal, porcelain or metal and decorated with precious or semi-precious stones.
As sugar became more affordable, this tradition spread to the common masses. The delicate confections were also replaced with sugar coated almonds called “confetti”. Eventually, the confetti were replaced with Jordan Almonds. Traditionally, five Jordan Almonds are wrapped in artistically shaped containers made of elegant fabric to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, heath and happiness for the bride and groom.
Today, choosing wedding reception favors has become an intricate and necessary part of wedding planning. You are no longer longer limited to bonbonieres, confetti or Jordan Almonds, although these are still popular. The choice of wedding reception favors is usually given to you, the bride, to decide. You have the option to select favors based on your wedding theme, your wedding colors, the wedding season or anything you fancy. Your choice is limited only by the your imagination, budget, personality type and taste.
How many wedding reception favors should you buy or make? The number of favors to purchase for your wedding depends on; you guess it, your wedding budget. A good rule of thumb is to plan on purchasing one wedding reception favor for each couple or, if the favors are expensive, one per family in your wedding guests list. However, budget on giving each guest one edible wedding reception favor, unless you have at least two in the edible favor container. In essence, each guest should get a taste of the edible favor.
You can also choose keepsakes and practical wedding reception favors such as photo frames, photo albums, wind chimes, CD’s with music that you both love and share, seedlings or personalized gifts that your guests will remember you by and still enjoy using the keepsakes years after your wedding.
Best of all, once you have chosen your wedding favors, relax and look forward to having a grand time at your wedding reception.
April 19, 2008
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