A wedding favour is an age old tradition and it’s a way of saying thank you to guests for coming to their big day.  A wedding favour can be anything at all – food, sweets, scents, pot pourri – anything!  So you have to decide – do you make your own wedding favours or do you hire someone else to do it?

This depends on three things; the amount of money you have, the time you have and how many guests you have.  If you have 300 guests then making favours yourself could cost a lot anyway and consume a lot of your time.  If you are very busy and working up to the wedding then you may not have the time.  If you are on a budget then you may have to make the favours yourself.

If you decide to make the favour yourself then you need to first decide on what to give.  Easy choices include sweets and cakes; you can easily buy these from a store or bake it yourself.  You can give smelly items such as bath salts or bath soaks.  You can give small memorabilia such as a photograph of your day.

Then you need to decide how to present it.  The easiest and cheapest ways are to buy premade boxes or a storage cases that can be bought from places like WHsmith, Paperchase and Hobbycraft.  You can also buy these in bulk from eBay in a selection of colours.  To make them look prettier, add ribbon, glitter and beads to the packaging – style is everything!

You can also use netting, silk or some nice fabric.  Place your item inside the netting or material and bundle it up – use ribbon to tie it together or add some pretty card with your names and the date of your wedding on as a personal touch. 

Good edible items include chocolates, cake, mints, almonds, crèmes, jelly beans, flowers or seeds.  Non edible favours include soaps, pens, coins, photographs, notebooks, pot pourri, candles or a photo frame.

Keep everything in a theme.  What colour flowers will you have at your wedding, what colour are the bridesmaids’ dresses? Keeping everything coordinated adds a beautiful look.  Also think about your table arrangements and how the favours will look on the tablecloth.  If in doubt keep the colours simple with creams, reds and pinks or even yellow.

The giving of small gifts to your guests is a nice gesture as a thank you to them for attending your special day. These favours can be elegant, fun, or practical. Here are some great suggestions for fun and unique wedding favours that won’t cost an arm and a leg:

Fudge and Truffles: wrap then up in white tulle and tie them with a white ribbon. Add a tag that you can make yourself with a personal message.

Candles: these nice for cheap wedding favours. Wrap in tulle and tie with ribbon. Stick a small flower in the ribbon.

Seedlings: tree or flower seedlings make good wedding favours. Wrap the plastic pot to disguise. Tie with ribbon, raffia or paper ribbon.

Wine Glass Markers: make these from wire and beads. You can find instructions online. One is enough for a wedding party favour. Place in a small box and tie with ribbon.

Lavender Sachets: A traditional wedding favour. Make a small bag from lace. Sew up three sides, put the lavender in and sew up fourth side. Attach a small silk flower. Potpourris in drawstring bags made of lace or tulle are pretty and they smell nice too. You can use any kind of bag that’s easy for you to make.

Assorted Sweets: e.g. M&Ms in your wedding colors, Love Hearts, Sherbet Dips all look great and have a nostalgic feel about them. You can also buy plain chocolate bars in bulk or get the miniature version. Print out new labels on your computer that you personalize for yourself and wrap them around the bars.

Make your own CD: create a mix of the songs from the wedding and/or your favourite songs. Be sure to include the First Dance song and make CD covers with your picture on it.

Get Personal: Do you and your intended share a love of something unique? Are you snowboarding freaks? Do you share a passion for golf? See of you can tailor your favours around these unique characteristics that are you.