While wedding favors aren’t a necessity for weddings, most couples do decide to partake in this tradition. Wedding favors can range from customized gifts to small token items to edible items. They are a nice gesture to show your guests your appreciation for celebrating your wedding day and can serve as a reminder for the special day.
If you do decide to take part in the tradition of handing out wedding favors, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. Here are our top wedding favor mistakes you don’t want to make:
Don’t Get Favors that are Heavy, Fragile, or Big
If your wedding favors are delicate, difficult to carry, or heavy you can assume that many of your guests will opt to leave them behind. This is especially true for guests that have to travel back home after your wedding. Super delicate glass items, large gift boxes, fragile plants, even full-sized bottles of wine can be difficult for guests to manage.
Instead of risking your guests leaving their favors behind choose something that can easily fit inside of a suitcase and isn’t difficult to carry. This way your guests will get to take home their favor without added stress, and you won’t be stuck with a ton of leftovers and the frustration of feeling like you wasted your money.
Don’t Keep in a Difficult to Find Spot
While many of your guests will expect to receive a favor at the end of your wedding, just as many may not expect to receive one. Additionally, even if you tell people to take their favor, if they are out of sight, most guests will likely forget to grab them after saying their goodbyes.
To ensure this doesn’t happen keep them in a prominent spot so guests won’t forget. This can be anything from handing them out with their seating cards, putting them at their place setting, or having a table set up by the exit so people can grab them on their way out.
Don’t Go Overboard with Monograms or Personalization
Monograms are a special touch for wedding days. From programs to menus to place cards to dance floor projections they add a level of elegance to your wedding. However, unless they’re small and tasteful we advise leaving them off your favors. Ask yourself whether you would display an item in your home with someone else’s monogram on it. If the answer is no, you can safely assume most of your guests won’t want to either.
Our advice is to stay away from monograms when it comes to favors that are items intended for someone’s home. However, monograms are perfect for edible favors, like custom cookies or chocolates.
Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute
The earlier you can get your favors done the better. The week leading up to your wedding will be both stressful and busy and most likely spent running around doing last-minute fittings, dropping stuff off at your reception hall or ceremony site, attending rehearsals and special dinners, and finalizing a dozen other details.
The last thing you need is to be assembling or packaging dozens or even hundreds of favors the night before your wedding. If it’s a non-perishable favor get it done as early as possible. If you are handing out perishable favors, then consider asking family or friends to handle the task for you, so you can take care of other last-minute details.
Don’t Let Them Stress You Out
As we said previously, favors are a nice touch to weddings but aren’t a necessity. If you’re over budget, running out of time, or overall too stressed out – skip on the favors! There’s no reason to turn them into an added stressor when most guests won’t even realize you chose not to hand any out. If you’re really worried about not having favors and want to give something away at the end of the night, contact a local bakery about ordering some fresh cookies or cupcakes designed in your wedding colors and ask them to individually package them for you.
