Wedding favors

MysticCat · #1 02-27-2008, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

. . . but if I didn't get a favor it wouldn't have made me think the wedding was cheap or tacky.

I find this fascinating. I've been going to weddings for decades and had never even heard of the idea of favors until 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe its a regional thing. But to me they just seem like something the wedding consultant industry dreamed up -- kind of the nuptiul equivalent of a Hallmark Holiday. Something else to waste money on.

As for idea of charitable contributions, that seems nice and all, but I'm still flummoxed -- I've been invited to witness the exchange of vows (that is what it's all about, after all), I've been given my fill of good stuff to eat and drink, I may have danced, I've had a good time . . . . that's plenty! Why do the bride and groom need to give me a little gift (that I probably don't really want) or make a donation in my honor? I just don't get it.

I guess it's obvious we didn't have favors at our wedding?

lilzetakitten · #2 02-27-2008, 01:40 PM

My FI and I are doing rock candy in our wedding colors. One of the groomsmen has sworn to vigilantly pick up any rock candy left behind.

As for the donations thing, I'm really not a fan. Not that I'm against donating... I'm against donating and then telling everyone you know about what a great thing you just did. I think that should be more of a private thing. Additionally, there's no such thing as a charity without controversy... you really don't want a guest leaving offended because you donated to a charity that they're very much against.

SthrnZeta · #3 02-27-2008, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilzetakitten

My FI and I are doing rock candy in our wedding colors. One of the groomsmen has sworn to vigilantly pick up any rock candy left behind.

As for the donations thing, I'm really not a fan. Not that I'm against donating... I'm against donating and then telling everyone you know about what a great thing you just did. I think that should be more of a private thing. Additionally, there's no such thing as a charity without controversy... you really don't want a guest leaving offended because you donated to a charity that they're very much against.

Rock candy is an awesome idea since you can get it in your colors and it's so yummy!!!! ::drool::

And who would be offended by saving some boobies?

lilzetakitten · #4 02-27-2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SthrnZeta

Rock candy is an awesome idea since you can get it in your colors and it's so yummy!!!! ::drool::

And who would be offended by saving some boobies?

Thank you! If no one else takes it then I'll probably end up rotting the teeth out of my head eating about 100 pieces of rock candy

And about the charities: usually, what they stand for isn't the problem, it's how they operate, what/who they associate with, how they go about fixing whatever problem they're supposed to be dealing with, etc.

Xylochick216 · #5 02-29-2008, 09:42 AM

We did fortune cookies with fortunes we had personalized. They were REALLY cheap (we ordered 1000 cookies). We put them in Chinese take-out boxes with our picture on them and had 3 cookies per box. They went over really well, and when everyone was REALLY drunk later that night, apparently they feasted on fortune cookies. My mom decided she needed to make origami cranes to go on the boxes since it meant good luck, so she spent weeks making them. They looked awesome when displayed. I need to find a picture.

SWTXBelle · #6 02-29-2008, 10:07 AM

I'm thinking the idea of a cookie table would be neat for a shower - get the cookies and the recipes . . . .

honeychile · #7 03-03-2008, 12:58 AM

I have been told that my marriage didn't work because I didn't have a cookie table! My Southern mother couldn't handle the concept at the time.

She is now 100% sold on them!

I'll admit, though, the last local wedding I went used purple and black as their colors (Scottish wedding, the kilts & sashes were in the clan colors). Seeing black and purple filling in a mini-ladylock didn't look very attractive. I found the whole Susanna Martinsen article, quoted here on Greek Chat:

The Legend of the Cookie Table

"An excerpt from "The Cookie Table: A Pittsburgh Tradition"

by Suzanne Martinson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Food Editor

You can have a designer wedding gown and tuxedo or hand-me-downs. You can have an "A-copy" guest list or just the closest of kissing kin. You can receive your guests at the fanciest restaurant or at a potluck at the firehall. But you aren't truly a Pittsburgher unless you have The Cookie Table.
When we first moved here and a bride-to-be mentioned The Cookie Table, I was puzzled. "What do you need cookies for?" I asked. "At a wedding, you eat cake."

Little did I know. The Cookie Table is as much a part of Pittsburgh as the Pirates and the Steelers and the Penguins. We may bleed black and gold, but at any event worth writing home about, we have cookies.
And most of these cookies are homemade by the mother of the bride, sisters, aunts, cousins and grandmothers. Sometimes both sides of the extended family get involved. Friends are also called into the fray. Happy to do it, in fact. The Cookie Table is, indeed, the gift of love.

Nobody knows the exact origin of the tradition, which has been exported to other parts of Pennsylvania, other states, too. It may be Italian or Slovak or Polish or Croatian or Greek. The Scandinavians may get involved, and the Indians, too. The Germans do cookies, and so do the Irish. If we've left anybody out (like the English), add them to the cookie equation. There may be no greater tribute to cross-cultural friends and marriages than The Cookie Table. It's what makes America great; a medley of cultures taking the best from each. The best, in this case, being favorite family cookie recipes. When we researched the topic for the premier edition of the Food Section in 1996, we talked with more than 150 people. The cookies that emerged most often as the "must haves" on the table were: Pizzelles; Biscotti; Italian Anise Drops; Baklava; Cherry Cheesecakes; Thumbprints; Pecan Tassies; Apricot, Poppyseed, and Nut Rolls. And two indicators that Americans never stop innovating: Buckeyes and Hershey Kiss Cookies...

Remember, in Pittsburgh, people don't wonder, "How was the wedding?" They ask, "Were the cookies good?"

VandalSquirrel · #8 02-27-2008, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I find this fascinating. I've been going to weddings for decades and had never even heard of the idea of favors until 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe its a regional thing. But to me they just seem like something the wedding consultant industry dreamed up -- kind of the nuptiul equivalent of a Hallmark Holiday. Something else to waste money on.

As for idea of charitable contributions, that seems nice and all, but I'm still flummoxed -- I've been invited to witness the exchange of vows (that is what it's all about, after all), I've been given my fill of good stuff to eat and drink, I may have danced, I've had a good time . . . . that's plenty! Why do the bride and groom need to give me a little gift (that I probably don't really want) or make a donation in my honor? I just don't get it.

I guess it's obvious we didn't have favors at our wedding?

I don't want them at mine, I'd rather spend money on good food and booze for my guests, maybe an environmentally friendly way to travel as a group (boat, horse drawn sleds/carriages, etc.) or for centerpieces people could take. I am on a planning committee for an annual event and we buy flowers from a student group on campus that grows them as a fund raiser so we are supporting the local students and allowing guests who choose to care for a plant that could potentially live for a very long time. I snagged a pansy one last year for a dear Theta friend. People really liked the flowers and it was one less thing to clean up since they took them away.

OleMissGlitter · #9 02-27-2008, 10:23 PM

I'm having favors at my wedding this May. I wasn't going to at first but my mom and wedding planner convinced me and I had it in my budget. I believe it is a regional tradition because it's popular in some Southern towns and not others. I am doing MS Cheese Straws (made in MS) in little bags. They are really yummy too!
http://www.mscheesestraws.com/cheese...FTOKEN=7259962

pinkyphimu · #10 02-27-2008, 10:48 PM

OMG I forgot to mention my cookie table!! I can't wait for the cookies, but unfortunately, ours will be purchased from a bakery. My grandma was the one to make all of the cookies and she is in a nursing home. The coordinator at our venue told us a story about how when she first started working there 20 years ago, she had never heard of a cookie table. They had all of these boxes of cookies under a table to put out after dinner. She started putting them out one box at a time, rather than spreading out the various types of cookies, and she was nearly attacked by little old ladies wondering why she didn't think there cookies weren't "good enough." She said she learned to take out a few cookies from each box! LOL

PhoenixAzul · #11 02-28-2008, 04:00 AM

Cookie table evangelism is go!

SWTXBelle · #12 02-28-2008, 08:25 AM

I could live on cheese straws. Yum.

cuteASAbug · #13 02-28-2008, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilsunshine214

Nobody ever told me of the tradition of putting in under your pillow! I just thought I was getting tricked!

I've never heard of that. What's the tradition?

MysticCat · #14 02-28-2008, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuteASAbug

I've never heard of that. What's the tradition?

As described above:

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGDee

These are Jordan Almonds and the Italians refer to it as Confetti. It is a long standing Italian tradition (my great grandparents even did it in the late 1800s). You are NOT supposed to eat those! You are supposed to put them under your pillow that night and you will dream about who you are going to marry.

hannahgirl · #15 02-28-2008, 05:31 PM

Cookie tables are amazing! We had everyone making cookies for ours...family, friends, friends of friends. My mom and I had them dropped off or we picked up all the cookies and put them on trays the morning we had to take everything to the reception hall. We had 22 trays of cookies which has AT LEAST 100 cookies on each tray. Plus we had cookies left over! I think we had at least 100 dozen cookies made. Here is a picture of what our cookie table looked like: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a313/andreadg9/Our%20Wedding%20-%20August%202007/andrea0033.jpg