Wedding favors

[nittanyalum]

I am with MC and others who have said not to spend too much time or especially money on favors. They fall under the same category of waste as the "save the date!" magnets in my book. Getting gifts for your bridal party/groomsmen is one thing (although from some of the other threads it sounds like those are getting ridiculously huge & expensive as well), but there's no need to give every person who comes to your reception a gift too. They've already eaten the food you've paid for, drank your bar dry and devoured the wedding cake you took hours to decide on and that it took days to make. Do they really need 3 candy-covered almonds wrapped up in tulle? (yes, got that one time)

Your wedding is about YOU and it's ok if YOU are the main recipient of gifts and spoils. You will spend hours writing thank you notes, that is usually enough for people.

I blame (as always) the wedding "industry" and the onslaught of online resources that found yet another "niche" to get advertisers and products to shill to overstressed brides with overstretched budgets that do not need ONE more thing to plan or buy or spend time making by hand to save $$ but still make a "showing".

/rant

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

Do they really need 3 candy-covered almonds wrapped up in tulle? (yes, got that one time)

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.

ETA: I wish people would just go back to matchbooks. I always had matches back then. Now, you need a match and there are none to be found anywhere. You used to get them at every restaurant, hotel, etc. for free. They are practically an endangered species now.

[nittanyalum]

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.

Oh, really? I've never heard of that! Well then they should have included a cute little note about that tied to the lovely ribbon around the tulle because I don't think anyone knew that tradition (plus, what if you're already married? do you dream about your spouse?). People were ripping in to them and snacking at the table, I gave mine to the couple next to us because I'm not a fan of Jordan Almonds (I knew they had a name ). Plus, neither the bride nor the groom were Italian, so I'm not sure what they were thinking with that favor then, either...

[Cheerio]

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.

ETA: I wish people would just go back to matchbooks. I always had matches back then. Now, you need a match and there are none to be found anywhere. You used to get them at every restaurant, hotel, etc. for free. They are practically an endangered species now.

Matchbooks are rare indeed! and formerly very popular as 1970's wedding favors when people would smoke where they pleased. I admit trying to eat Jordan Almonds and declaring them inedible (whilst not understanding their true tradition until now).

As a teenager, I liked the tiny napkins embossed with bride/groom names and event date. It's how I now recall anniversaries/name spellings, and I keep them in scrapbooks as an alternate to the original invites belonging to/thrown out by my parents.

At 80's weddings, each table's floral centerpiece was a 'favor' for the person seated on the chair with the hidden "winner" tag under the seat.

In the 90's, my December-bride cousin used small, inexpensive nutcracker ornaments as part of her centerpieces. She painted the outer bottom with bride/groom name and event date. They wisely put four ornaments to a ten-person table, knowing some people would not want them (but I am reminded of their anniversary every year when I put ornaments on my tree!)