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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Favor Ideas

Choosing favors is one of those things that gets tossed aside on most brides list and oftentimes causes a bit of a headache as the date sneakily approaches. Everyone wants to say a nice thank you to their guests, but the days of giving away platters and serving spoons seems to have faded as people have begun noticing these items collecting dust in their basements. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten some beautiful stuff along the way that I use quite frequently, but this just happens to not be the majority of the time. Newer trends include items tied to seating table cards, godiva chocolate boxes, seeds for flowers and of course, charity donations.

While we love these trends, especially the latter of donations (which J and I used it ourselves) , we were recently reminded of a favor we recieved at a wedding a few years back as we unpacked it while moving. It was such an innovative idea at the time and while we are sure it is much more common now, we still find it to be incredibly romantic, personal and useful. The bride and groom had each member of their bridal party, along with their parents, chose a song that reminded them of the couple or love and compiled a CD. On the inside cover of the CD, each song with the artist was listed, along with the person who chose the song. The songs chosen were far from cheesey love songs, they were all tunes which we ended up loading into our IPODS and rocking out to on our ride home. It was exciting to pop it in the CD player in the car and listen to a few classics and a few that we never had heard of ourselves and still to this day, when I hear most of the songs, I think of that wedding. And to top it off, the bride and groom decorated the tables with the CDs which had the most beautiful DIY covers around their centerpieces, so it not only served as a favor, but as table decor as well.

And for those Italian brides out there, I cant help but remind you of the Jordon Almond Tradition. Five Almonds are to be given out for health, wealth, happiness, fertility and longevity. If you aren't superstitious, at least you know Nonna would be proud : )

Any favor ideas you have recieved and loved? Any others that inspire you ? Any traditions to incorporate?

3 comments:

  1. Favors are the a challenging part of planning a wedding as you want them to be useful, represent who you are, AND remain in budget. I love the Jordan Almonds idea...didn't realize the history/story behind the 5 almonds...very cool!

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  2. We're planning on giving out CDs! Instead of having table numbers, we're having each of our tables named for one of our shared favorite songs, or songs we associate with a great memory, then the CD is going to be comprised of all of the table names. We're thinking of titling it "For the Ride Home". I can only imagine what Steve (who is a graphic designer) is going to dream up for cover art.

    To top it off, circa High School my mixed CDs were a highly anticipated birthday gift for all of my friends (and my dad)! Hopefully getting the CD as a favor will bring back those memories for some people.

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  3. Yes I agree Cat! and B, thats awesome!! I think your guests will absolutely love them. Be sure to post pictures of Steve's cover art!!!!

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