Weddingbee Boards

My wedding director keeps suggesting that I have favors at my wedding.  Personally I think they're just kind of useless.  Every weddng I've been to and received a favor, it basically ended up in a junk drawer or on the floor of my car until I just threw them away.   I don't mean this to sound ugly -- but is it really a good idea to give people more useless stuff they don't need -- i.e. picture frames, honey, flip flops, coozies, etc.    I think guests would much more appreciate the money being spent on upgraded seat cushions, higher quality liquor, hgiher quality food, or even something fun like a photo booth.   Am I missing something when it comes to favors?  I guess i just don't get it.

Favors a waste?  You betcha.  Your wedding director deserves a kick in the shin.  A snack toward the end of the evening is a much better way to spend the cash (taco bar, pizza), if you really have that much cash in your budget burning a whole in your pocket.  Or your suggested upgrades are also good ideas and will be appreciated way more.  I've been to a lot of weddings and worked at a lot of weddings (caterer) and people like a good meal, good liquor, and some good music to shake their tails to.  Most of the rest is unneccessary fluff that is only noticed by a few (and often left behind on the tables).

LOL at bluegreenejann ("you betcha").   It almost seems like some planners/brides just want to do favors as another way to continue their theme whatever it may be, or to "out bride" others. I agree that many many times the favors end up being left behind too.   If people are partrying and having a blast, the last thing on their mind is going to be to take home their bag of seeds or tea or whatever.    I think some older female guests might appreciate the cuteness of favors, but otherwise I personally vote No

Absolutely. I think the celebrating takes precedence over the kitschy stuff that you get at a wedding to take home. I'd remember a bad meal sooner than I'd remember a cute favor. If I remembered the favor to begin with! I'm not doing favors and I'm sure they're not going to miss it with the great music, food and all night open bar.

I think it's a total waste.  I've gotten wedding favors at most weddings I've been to and they all end up in the trash eventually.  and the money really adds up so i would much rather spend it elsewhere.  the only wedding favors that I thought was an awesome idea was little bottles of champagne at every seat with a personalized label.  It was favor and alcohol in one.

I don't think anyone would criticize you or think less of you if you didn't do favors.

We are making a very personal favor, and that's the only reason we're giving one away. We are musicians, and so we're going into the studio this week to cut a cd. We're spending a LOT on it, but it's something we wanted to do anyway and it's special to us. We're recording 5 love songs together, will package it very inexpensively, and give it away to our friends and family at our wedding. Since we met in a band it ties into our personal story.

 I think if your favor doesn't mean anything to you - DON'T DO IT. That's when it's a waste of money!! If we weren't doing this, I would not be doing anything.

 I love the idea of a late night pizza or taco bar!

I agree, I think favors are wasteful.  The problem is the older more traditional crowd sometimes "expects" them.  When I mentioned to my Aunt we were going to forgo favors (as well as children) I could tell she was offended (by both equally). 

  To quiet everyone we are giving away our favorite almond cookies that are homemade by my MIL and myself to quiet those who feel favors are necessary.  

I  envy you brides from modern families...

I think it depends on the favors.  We had little boxes of chocolates, handmade by a local company - not one was left at the end of the evening, and lots of people said that they couldn't wait to eat them until they got home.  We also had wrapped votive candles and custom match boxes, which I was a little less sure about, but they also disappeared - every one - and I have had quite a few emails in the weeks since the wedding asking what the candle fragrances were (we used Home Sweet Home and Lemon Lavender from Yankee Candle) as people liked them so much.  We also got a lot of comments on the match boxes.

We tried to pick out things that we thought the majority of our guests could use - a nice candle is useful to most people - and a lot of our friends compulsively collect match boxes.  And of course, you can hardly go wrong with good chocolate.  If you can think of a favor that you feel your guests would like, then it's a nice idea.  I do also agree that I have gotten a fair amount of useless junk as favors at weddings over the years, which is why we didn't even consider most of the stuff available.

Possibly one of the most useful functions of favors, as emmkae says, are as table decor.  We wrapped ours in colors that coordinated with the rest of our decor and with our table linens, and they looked lovely.  I think the tables would have looked a bit bare without them, as we didn't go for the elaborate centerpieces that some do.

Nixing them for all the reasons the PPs have already stated.

We initially did not plan to do any favors at all, for many of the reasons you've mentioned. But FI's mother offered to buy tons of Berger cookies (Baltimore delicacy ), so we may wrap those in glassine envelopes for guests to take home. Since we're doing a destination wedding, we're assembling out-of-town bags anyway so we may just stick with those.