Hi All,
My oldest son is getting married in September 2009. I have volunteered to get the favors and would like some ideas and places you might know of that carry nice favors that are resonable.
We are fairly religious Christians who would like something meaningful to give out as a rememberance of the day.
Do any of you have ideas out there from past weddings or your own that made an impression instead of the run-of-the-mill favors usually given out?
Thanks for your help.
10/4/09
One week after wedding (9/27/09). Woo hoo still exhausted but it was beautiful.
Just wanted to let you all know what was finally the result of all your great ideas. Since the theme was "the Park" (the bride and grooms first date was in the park and he proposed in the park) we went with the potted plants as favors. Our florist bought individual african violets in terracotta pots. I made some little notes that the florist put into each pot (with raffia and a floral stick). They were placed on the tables around the center pieces. It was lovely.
We received so many compliments from the guests.
Thank you all for all the ideas and especially this one that was such a big hit.
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First response 4/09
I still have some time to explore some of the terrific ideas you all gave me. Thank you - thank you thank you.
Some of them were: Charity donations (my son and future daughter-in-law might really like this one - will pass it by them); separate plants or sapling trees for centerpieces that the guests take home with them (love this too - will talk to the florist doing the wedding about it) or doing a crafty thing on my own from on-line stores like Oriental Trading with an ethnic theme and personalized ribbons or such (love my crafts...).
Thank you all so much for your input - I will let you know how it turns out.
Hugs to all
Z.
You should look at www.theknot.com and also www.orientaltrading.com I was just in a wedding and helped a lot with planing. Good luck and enjoy
M.
i have two suggestions - both of which i did...
our engagement party (it was small about 40 people) - we made a donation to a charity for each table (i.e. my brother is autistic so we made a donation to autism for his table, my niece is deaf so we made a donation to a deaf charity for her table)...bit hit
our wedding - we made CDs ourselves of all the important music from the day...wedding song, cutting the cake song, dances with family members songs, the song we walked into, the song our bridal party walked into....then we wrapped them like presents - very pretty...very cheap!
hope that helps
First of all, congratulations to your son and your future daughter in law. St Jude Children's Hospital has an online store. Right now they have a set of candles in the clearance department- 3 candles for $3. I'm not sure how many you'd need, but I'd suggest calling in your order to ensure they have enough. $1 per guest and I cannot think of a more worthy cause...
I know you are looking for an actual item for a favor but when I got married last year, my husband and I decided that in lieu of favors, we would make a donation to a charity that was meaningful to us. We received a beautiful letter from the charity that we framed and placed on the table that had our table # cards. This way everybody could see it. It had more meaning to us personally. The charity gave us choices of ways to note this and also would have printed out smaller notes we could frame and put on every table so people weren't looking for a favor at the end of the night! Just an idea!
we actually donated some money to our favorite charities instead of giving out favors. We printed up a note explaining it on some parchment paper and rolled it up and tied it with ribbon that matched my wedding colors and had the staff place one at each place setting. The explanation also included contact information for the charities in case any of our guests wanted to donate to them. Some charities may even provide cards for this or allow you to give them a list of names so you can honor your guests. I think what we wrote was something like this:
In lieu of a wedding favor, _____ and ____ have made a donation in your honor to such and such charity. They chose _____ charity because _____(include a short explanation of what the charity does and why it is meaningful to the bride & groom).
For more information or to make a donation, please go to www.__________.com, write to _____(address) or call 1-800-###-####.
It was well received and I felt good that we were doing something meaningful that would make a difference rather than giving away candy or some junky little tchotchke that people will just throw in a drawer and never think about again. There are so many good charities out there that really need the money since the recession hit and less people are donating, so this would be a good way to help those who are less fortunate and embrace your Christian values.
When we got married we gave out cd's. On it went some of out favorite songs, our first dance song and others from the wedding. Everyone loved it. Check the Internet or village voice If your in or near NY. I think we paid $65 for about 150 cd's. We color copied our invite on kodak label paper with the date of the wedding as the label and put them on ourselves to keep costs low. That was a fun time for the bridal party as well.
I went to a wedding and as a favor got a small african violet potted in a small pot. Each pot was decorated with paper that matched the wedding theme and had a ribbon/sticker on it with the bride/groom name and date. They were arranged around the center flower arrangement on each table. It was gorgeous to see AND I still have it to this day (wedding was a year ago). The guests were wild about them AND they only cost $2.00 a plant at Metro plants in Fort Lee!!!
Good Luck!
Hello.. I know of this really great person that isnt expensive and does an awesome job. She has very nice ideas. I have used her in the past and have seen her work, and I must say it is good! :)
Her e-mail is ____@____.com her name is Yosie.
Hi Z., you could try Things Remembered. they have a website and is located in most malls. They have a nice selection and engraving done in store. I have quite a few things from here.
I made the Favors for my brother's wedding to a very sweet irish girl cost: white bells $1.00 each at the party supply store in brooklyn, I ordered mint green ribbon (the color of the attendants dresses),with their names and wedding date printed on them (in gold), I got some beautiful beaded white pearl looking flowers and I attached that around each bell. I will email you a picture if you'd like. The cost: under $100.00.Get creative, search on-line for favor ideas. You'll have so much fun making them, I did! my email address: ____@____.com good luck and congrats!
i went to one once where we got tiny baby trees, little saplings to plant. i thought it was great, and could last forever...
