When it comes to things that you have to spend money on, the bill can sure add up quickly! Between the venue, food, wedding dress and photographer… and we haven’t even started talking about renting a tux, flower arrangements, hair and makeup, or any of the other hundreds of little costs. It really begs the question: do you really need wedding favors?

Traditions of Wedding Favors

According to an article on Wikipedia, “The tradition of distributing wedding favors is a very old one. It is believed that the first wedding favor, common amongst European aristocrats, was known as a bonbonniere. A bonbonniere is a small trinket box made of crystal, porcelain, and/or precious stones. The contents of these precious boxes were generally sugar cubes or delicate confections, which symbolize wealth and royalty.”

Do You Really Need Wedding Favors?

I did another poll, and had people weigh in on whether you really need wedding favors or not, and what the best (and worst) favors they had seen at weddings or received as gifts.

Best Wedding Favors

Food / Treats

Across the board, everyone agreed that candy was one of the best favor that you could get from a wedding! Meredith R. said “I’m always all about getting candy, I rarely have use for the other stuff so it just becomes clutter. Candy makes me happy and I can eat it on the way home!” Meghan F. agreed that “Food, (cookies and milk, salt water taffy, goldfish crackers, cupcakes in a little take away box) otherwise people forget about it. Or a “Hangover kit” water with aspirin tied around it.”

Koozies

These totally customizable favors are something that’s become more popular in the past few years. Hannah B. shares: “We did koozies that were our wedding colors and had our name on them!! They were a hit and perfect for everyone to use at the reception with their beer bottles!” Tabitha C. mentions the “Best one I got was a koozie. But I don’t come to a wedding expecting a gift.”

Photo Booth

Bethanne A. reminds us that “Overall, I really don’t want to go home with anything but fun memories and sore feet! I also think a good thing a couple can do is have a photo booth with fun props so pictures can be taken home! People love photo booths!” Michelle with MorLina Events shares the advice she gives brides: “I always suggest to save on budget if you plan to get a photo booth the photo strip is their favor.. You can customize the bottom with your names, date and a little thank you message if you want.” 

And let’s face it: who doesn’t like getting into that booth and acting a little goofy?! I know it’s definitely one thing that Eric and I absolutely LOVE doing at weddings we work!

Special thanks to our friends at Boardwalk Photo Booth Company for this awesome image!

Donations to Charities

I had no idea how many people were on board for donating to charity in lieu of giving a wedding favor! Danielle L. told us that “we did a donation in our guests honor to two charities (we each chose one, Wounded Warrior and Make-A-Wish). We still did small favors for the kids: picture frames with their names painted on them. I think favors are terrible and I always seem to help clean up after weddings and so many are left or thrown away or even found on the floor. For our wedding, we made nice handwritten cards that said “in lieu of a favor we have donated to the Wounded Warrior Project and Make-A-Wish Foundation. thank you for sharing in our special day.” Everyone loved it and many were relieved not to have to remember to leave carrying a favor or risk hurting our feelings?

DIY Favors

This is probably the second most popular option (next to candy, of course!) because nothing says: we love our guests, like a hand-making something for each of them! Samantha B. said “I hand made ours: Lil wands on cake pop sticks. The tips were decorated with cardboard to reflect different nerd/gamer things. Like an axe or a staff. They also corresponded to a group dance (the twist, the cha-cha, etc) that the DJ called out. And then we made cookies.” Candy J. recalled how “For my brother’s wedding, we made tile coasters with pics of the bride & groom growing up. Guest had a great time looking at the coasters during the reception & reminiscing.” And Dani S. talked about how “I am all about favors that people can actually use after your event! I hate getting favors that just sit around my house collecting dust! I painted wooden bird houses from Michaels for my guests. I also attached a little paper bird (in various fun paper prints) to each birdhouse with our information for an extra special touch. People even got to throw bird seed at us when the wedding was done (or take it home with their bird house if they so desired)! I received many compliments on the bird houses from my guests.”

Love What You See? Want to Chat About YOUR Wedding?!

If you’ve finished looking at this blog on whether or not you need wedding favors and are thinking to yourself – I want you to come photograph my wedding! Awesome!!! We would LOVE to create a custom wedding package for you and the ones you love! Feel free to message me by hitting the { CONTACT ME } button or by giving me a call at 757-749-5350. I can’t wait to create some magic for you!