This is such a good point - and I really like what she said about making a donation instead: "Yeah, we thought about giving you a gift and then decided not to." That's almost worse! I think we may have a basket of rock candy or cookies or something up front, little bags of chocolate maybe, something edible and not an expensive gift. The gifts should go to the wedding party that helped organize the day to show your appreciation, you shouldn't have to show appreciation to people that just show up for the party. Now there's going to be even more money for food/booze/honeymoon! :D Thanks Miss Manners!

Thanks mods for cleaning up this thread!!

Wedding favors - what you want to buy
 

As far as wedding favors go, I like to receive personalized stuff. Anything personalized is good. I think personalized photo guest books are really good because you don't have to label them yourself. You can just tuck it away, organized and such. Then when you want to find it the label is already personalized on the cover. Easy.

Hammilton

My fiance's father has volunteered to make wine splits with custom labels for our wedding guests to take home (he makes his own wine).

Apparently there is a winery here where they do this. At my Godson's wedding, we each received a bottle of wine with a label that had a picture of the bride and groom. The bridal party had gone to the winery and were involved in the bottling/labeling so it was like a little mini-party and time for the bridal party to get to know each other too. Very cool idea.

The other wedding I went to this summer gave wine stoppers. Also a great favor. I'd been wanting one and was excited to get it!

Yes, there are a few wineries in the Seattle area that will do it, but we love that the wine is actually going to be from "the family wine estate" (haha).

Oh definitely! It makes it even more special when it's from the family! My Italian grandfather made each of his grandchildren a huge.. I don't know what you call them, they were bottles as big as a small child, probably 4 feet tall.. of wine for our weddings. He made them when we were born. It was very special to have that, especially since he passed away when I was 14 and couldn't be there for my special day. He only saw a few of us actually get married, but his wine was at all of our weddings.

That is so sweet! You are very lucky he thought ahead like that.

We got luggage tags without the bride and groom's name this summer. (There was a travel theme.) I love useful favors.

We once got luggage tags being used as a form of place cards. They read the bride & groom's names with the date, then the name of person to sit there. I thought it was very colorful and clever!

Wow, that was touching.

I don't know about the whole confetti thing. Maybe that's a Sicilian tradition but when I was in Italy last summer (Milan, so northern Italy), they had confetti at a baby dedication, and everyone ate the confetti. Though again, I'm sure the tradition varies regionally.

Yeah, I know it's an older post, but since it got spam-bumped, I ask anyway: Why would anyone want luggage tags with someone else's name on them? Mine would head straight for the trash.

The only truly useful wedding favors I've ever come across have been matchbooks.

I don't know why people emboss/engrave half the favors they do, to be honest. That's why I was glad they were not. I throw all of that stuff out too, unless it is a package for food or drink. Call me not sentimental.

The bride and groom's names are on the one side of the little white card for personalization, you then fill out the other side when you go to use it. The ones I got looked like Christmas ornaments - obviously, a Christmas wedding.