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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.
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No, in my opinion favors are not a waste. Wedding favors can take many forms from cookies to charity contributions and everything in between. Hopefully they are something the bride and groom feel shows their guests gratitude for supporting them on their big day. Wedding favors are gifts to the guests to thank them for attending- I think they are a great gesture and can really add a nice, personal touch to the celebration. Definitely not a waste.
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).
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We arent doing favors. My crowd will likely toss them in the trash. I got quite a few upgrades and thought that was a better way to budget.
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
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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.
If you spend that money on a photobooth, those pics can be the favor.
I think this is a regional thing - in some areas it's done, in some it isn't. I've been to a lot of weddings around the country and can not remember a single favor I've ever received. So yeah, I'd call that a waste of money.
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.
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nobody will miss them. we are doing them because my FMIL already bought all of the packaging and we are using cheap candy to fill them
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!
We are doing something personal as well-if I hadn't (accidenatlly) found these in a cooking magazine ad, I wouldn't have bothered with them. I love the late night snack idea-or if your reception doesn't run late, upgrade something.
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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...
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we're doing favors....for two reasons 1) obligation 2) adds to the theme
we have korean wedding dolls that are going to be set out at each table.
we also have korean fans that will be placed on the chairs for the ceremony since its outside and most likely sunny and hot (assuming it doesn't rain)
it did cost more than your average favor i.e. bag of mints, but it was mainly to give the wedding/reception its theme.
we're also not doing any flowers for the wedding or reception to cut costs.
so the favors really are the main things that set the theme of the whole thing.
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.
I love a good food favor but besides that, it's not a big part of what I remember from a wedding. One of my favorite weddings ever didn't have a favor at all but did have a nacho bar around 11 and that really made the night for our group of friends and it was personal because we knew that the bride LOVED nachos.
I think if you feel like you have to do something do not buy into the wedding industry and the silly little things they offer - if it's something your guests can eat, or take home later to eat they will probably appeciate it. Even better, find something you can make for them to eat. One Bee did cookies and milk to be picked up when people were leaving which I thought was really cute.
Otherwise just skip it and use the money for something else. We're giving away small evergreen seedings as they fit with our winter wedding theme and add decoration to the table. We got the seedings for free and the pots were only 15 cents at a local gardening store. If this didn't work out I probably would have made fudge or shortbread cookies myself.
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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.
Yeah, if you just pick a favor to pick on and get it over with...that's a waste. But if you provide a personal memento to your guests, the majority of them will appreciate it.
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We're shamelessly stealing Mrs. Lovebug's "Sweet Charity" idea and doing donations as favors (with the free choice of the guest, like hers as well). I much prefer giving that money to a good cause than spending it on useless forgettable stuff.
(edited because Lovebug is a Mrs. now! oops!)
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We're doing doing them, but I'm doing very well stocked OOT bags, since it's a destination event.
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In most cases, yes - I usually (guiltily) throw wedding favors away after a few months. I appreciate food-related favors (mmmmmm caramel apples!), but wouldn't notice if there weren't any. Like pp's say, it's definitely a generational thing. Favors are one of the things that my parents as well as FMIL went gung-ho with! I finally talked my parents into no favors, now I just have to stop my FMIL from buying random plastic stuff "with our name and wedding date on it" (she's SO obsessed about that!) and forcing me to put them out. =P
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We're having our wedding on Halloween next year so to go with the theme we are going to have a table full of bulk candy and everyone's "favor" will be to mix their own bag of candy and take that home. I almost don't look at it as a "favor" because it really goes with the whole theme of the reception and it's not a little trinket I'm placing at their seat. I do think favors can be a big waste--I know I've thrown away everything I've ever been given at a wedding (besides chocolates and candy!) and I'd rather put the money towards other things at the reception.
I think they are a waste, and outdated. Spend the money someplace else. We aren't doing favors, and everyone I have mentioned it to thinks we are right.
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For some reason, I had really wanted to do a favor. I spent a LOT of timing looking for the right thing - something that would reflect us, look good and not cheesy on the tables, be appreciated by most guests and affordable too. I quickly realized that buying a present that 150 people will like for a few bucks is pretty imuch mpossible. So I finally gave up. Then I fell in love with having a candy buffet. I guess this counts as a favor (people could bag up what they liked and take it with them) but I really had it more as something fun and sweet for my guests.
My parents were skeptical but the pictures reveal how much fun everyone had. And it looked great to boot!!
Anyways this is not a suggestion for a candy buffet - I do think favors are generally a waste and trying to find something to give people can be a huge time sink. Let it go and if there is something else you really want to do for your guests instead (photobooth, better drinks. a great OOT bag) use the money there!!
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We're doing a candy buffet/bar as a favor.
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I definitely think they are a waste, even the edible kind. We may be making a donation to charity in lieu of favors, but other than that, we're not doing anything.
We had different varieties of succulents as our favors. All of our guests seem to like them. The out of towners did not take theirs home, but the locals snapped them up so at the end of the night they were pretty much gone except for a couple of them.
A lot of our guests reported that they have repotted theirs to a bigger container.
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Hi, We are doing a favor - more for ourselves than anyone else - we are getting postcards made with our photo on the front and then having our address printed on the back with a place on the back for our guests to mail us a note about our wedding. We are placing postcard priced stamps on them for our guests, Pretty cool idea, we went to savethedatemagic.com and made our postcards at a reasonable cost for 100. Cheers, Crystal
I agree to an extent about the favors.They have to be something meaningful to the bride and groom, something that the majority of people will like, or food! I love sunflowers and they are a big part of my wedding. I was looking through a baking cookbook that my sister bought for her husband and I found an awesome receipe for sunflower seed cookies drizzled in chocolate. He said he would make them as the favor for the wedding. Everyone knows he is a great baker and this way i don't really have to worry too much about them. So food favors I think are the best.
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I think it depends on the favor. I don't know how many little bags of candy I have tossed over the years. I have gotten some really great favors which I still use and remind me of the wedding. The two I have and use 3 years later are the wine bottle stopper and the emergency sewing kit. The sewing kit came from a friend who is an avid quilter. I thought it was perfect and I bring it with me on all my trips.
I have an entire drawer full of Koozies from weddings. I'll agree I'm a little over "to have and to hold and to keep your beer cold", but I do use them!
I'm not sure if we'll do favors for our wedding yet or not, but if we do, they'll be something I know my guests will appreciate.
go for an edible favor, as others have suggested...they won't go to waste! FI is an Ohio State Buckeye fan so we're doing buckeye candy (choc and peanutbutter) as our favors...tied in cello bag with our monogram label on the bag, and tied with a ribbon.
I don't think they definitely are or are not a waste. My opinion is that if there is something meaningful you want to give to guests (a local treat, something meaningful to you as a couple, etc.) then you should. But if you're just giving out any favor you can find online because you feel obligated to do so, don't bother.
It depends on the bride and groom and what they choose for their favors. In the case of my sisters and their favors, it wasn't necessary.. just a box of truffles. I do want to incorporate favors in my wedding, but I also want to make it a bit meaningful and personal. I think that guests will appreciate it if it's out of the ordinary and have a special meaning to us.
I totally think favors are a waste. Spend the money on something more important- like the food!
I think favors you can eat never go to waste. And I agree with Mrs. Corn that if a bride picks a favor for the sake of having a favor and that it does not in any way add to the day, then it can be a waste. But if thought is put into a favor, and it ties in well with the day, expresses the personality of the couple or is just plain edible, then no, it is not a waste.
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