Wedding Favours
Traditional wedding favours were sugared almonds in a little drawstring bag. There were 5 almonds to represent health, wealth, fertility, happiness and long life.
Not many couples still use this tradition and favours have developed a lot in recent years. However, you shouldn’t feel obliged to buy favours for your guests. Many couples don’t do it anymore and I’ve never heard a guest complain!
Favours do often get left behind after the wedding so think carefully about what to buy if you are going to do this. There are some things which are more popular with guests so you can avoid them being left behind.
Here are some suggestions of favours which tend to be more popular:
Lottery Scratch Cards
Lottery scratch cards are always a really popular choice and at £1 a card they’re cost effective too. Imagine the excitement on the day if someone had a big win? They’re easy to source too and put out at each place on your tables.
Guest Names
There are a number of ways to combine the favour with your guest names so you don’t need place cards. Carved wooden names like these are a great option. I’ve never seen these being left behind either especially as they’re small enough to fit into a handbag.
Small flat pebbles and slates work really well too for this.
Alcohol
Small bottles of alcohol tend to go down well. You can buy miniatures of most spirits or maybe try making something like raspberry vodka? We made raspberry vodka and limoncello for our wedding and there definitely wasn’t any left!!
If you’re thinking of doing this, make sure you check with your wedding venue that this is okay. Some venues will want to charge you a corkage fee for it which definitely isn’t cost effective.
I would also suggest a few different options so that guests can swop with other guests if they don’t like a particular drink.
Food
Again food favours tend to be eaten or taken home. You could opt for little bags of fudge or chocolates, biscuits or sweets. These can often be personalised with your names and wedding date too. Miniature jars of jam and honey are a lovely idea too. 
Charity donation/pin badges
You can make a donation to charity instead of buying favours or buy charity pin badges for your guests. This means you can support a charity which is close to your hearts too.
Embroidered napkins
Another idea which doubles up as your place cards are embroidered napkins. These can be embroidered with each guests name in your colour scheme and these definitely won’t get left behind. Who wouldn’t want to use these later at home?
Napkins from https://theembroiderednapkincompany.co.uk
I hope this gives you a few ideas to consider if you’re definitely going to provide favours for your guests. I think it’s a nice touch for your wedding tables but you definitely shouldn’t feel pressured into doing this and don’t break your budget doing it!
Louise
