Giving guests a gift for coming to your wedding might seem a little odd at first - they're supposed to be celebrating you and giving you presents, not the other way round, right? But wedding favours are a nice way to say thank you for coming and express your gratitude for your wedding guest's attending... plus as a guest, it's always an entertaining bonus when you get to the reception and find a fun treat waiting for you.
Before you get up in arms about the cost: wedding favours are optional. I originally decided not to do favours for my wedding as our budget was tight. But while I was having my hair trial and thinking about the big day, a week away, something clicked. I had a eureka moment - cookies! My husband's nickname is Cookie, so it fit perfectly... and that's how I found myself baking 6 large batches of delicious chocolate chip cookies in the leadup to our wedding (I could've done it in less, except I burnt a few in my efforts to multitask).
Anyway, if you're trying to decide on a bonbonniere to give wedding guests, I hope something on this list gives you a eureka moment like I had. Introducing... the Southern Bride's guide to more than 70 different wedding favour ideas.
Food based wedding favours
Something to nibble on while waiting for the entree, or something to take home, food always goes down a treat. Here's some of our favourite food items that make fantastic wedding favours. Warning: having a lot of delicious food in your house, in the lead up to your wedding, is dangerous.
A Donut wall...
Donut Wall here
Sugared/candied almonds - the traditional wedding favour
Personalised chocolates (Get personalised wrappers and share your favourite choc)
Homemade chocolate chip cookies
Mints (Play on the "Mint to be" and have a little fun)
Heart shaped chocolates wrapped in foil (I couldn't find a photo but every damn wedding I go to seems to have these kicking round so they can't be too hard to find...)
A sampler of your favourite spices or herbs
A personalised bottle of wine (you might be pushing the budget to give a bottle of wine to each guest, but Southern Bride Verified Vendor Be My Guest makes these personalised wine bottle labels which you could modify to each of your tables
Jam/preserves (bonus points if made by you or a family member)
Make your own Fudge
Shortbread
Sugar Cookies
Personalised M & Ms (you can even by bulk ones of particular colours!)
Jelly beans. Match the colours to your wedding theme. This tag is from Be My Guest
Hershey's kisses with personalised stickers
Truffles
Honey ("Meant to Bee")
Cookie kits in a jar - you can get these tags made, then fill up a jar with the dry ingredients
Homebrew (check with your wedding venue in case this upsets their liquor licence requirements)
Fortune Cookies - these ones can be customised to your wedding theme and you can even write your own fortunes to include in the cookie
Pretzels - complete with personalised bag. I've made pretzels myself a couple of times and they're surprisingly easy to DIY. If you're keen to give it a go, give yourself a test run a few months before so you have time to find another option if you can't get the knack of twisting up these doughy knots of deliciousness.
A sampler of your favourite teabags/tea (could also use this for coffee)
Mason jar drinks (make it clear that the jars are to keep, otherwise guests might leave their glass behind)
Coffee Snobs? Why not share some of your favourite beans
Gender-specific favours
You can personalised guest gifts even further with something for the women and something different for the men. Of course you can use the ideas on either list for anyone!
Wedding favours for the ladies
Wine Charms (could double as a placename for your guests)
Handkerchief - Southern Bride Verified member Veronica and Me Designs can custom-embroider something to suit (or get the hanky below from the Southern Bride shop)
Homemade body scrub
Go with personalised candles:
Wedding favours for the gentlemen
Cigars
Monogrammed Whisky Glasses
Bottle opener (this one would be good for a nautical themed wedding)
Wedding favours that do double duty on the wedding day
Make your wedding favors do double duty and pick a favor that can do some extra work on your wedding day
Cute Coasters (If you get your wedding stationery through Southern Bride Verified Vendor Be My Guest, you can get coasters that match your wedding invitations and stationery!)
Mini blackboard (can double as a wedding place name)
Megan from She Said Yes had menus that did triple duty - they were personalised with the guest name on front, had information (including the menu) inside, then had a cookie recipe and cookie cutter tied on the back. Designed by Be My Guest
Sparklers for a "sparkler exit" (you may need to think ahead and buy the sparklers in November)
...or rose petals for a petal toss
Potplants/succulents/herbs (can double as greenery for the table)
Pop a personalised tag on a jar of their favourite sweets to do double duty with wedding favours
Other wedding favours ideas
If nothing is sparking inspiration just yet, have no fear. Here are some different wedding bombonieres...
A donation to your favourite charity
A card with a personal message and photo with the couple
Potted tree seedlings
Air plants in a gorgeous mini planter
Mixtape or CD of your favourite songs - there are some awesome printed CD sleeves to pretty them up
Adorable mini lanterns
On a similar vein, "seed bombs"
Maracas (I never knew how much I needed these till I saw this)
So there you have it - more than 70 different options to get the creative juices flowing for your wedding day too. If you have another idea from what's listed - please let me know in the comments below. I'll be sure to add it to the list.
Hi there, I'm getting married in Queenstown and live in Brisbane. I want to do the sugar coated almonds (Italian Bonbonnerie) as my favours. Do you know if a place makes them in NZ as I don't think I can bring them through customs from Aus? Thanks so much!
If you can find sealed bags of them, you might be ok - you will still need to declare them but they'll just checked they are commercially packaged & let you go (I've bought back cake decorating supplies from Aus for someone in NZ). Then repackage them into favour sized packages when you get here. You can buy them in Queenstown, this local shop has them: http://www.remarkablesweetshop.co.nz/product/207-sugared-almonds - I would get in touch and make sure they can cater to a wedding-sized order and have the right colour etc in stock.
Thanks for our reply Amanda. Hopefully this will work! 🙂
Good luck!
So many fantastic ideas! I will keep these in mind if I ever get married...one day 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
You're welcome Charlene x
Some super cute ideas! My brother got married last year, he and Em had little potted succulents with "Let Love Grow" flags stuck in the pots and names tied around the pots. They doubled as seat placeholders and made great favours!
That's so cute! And succulents are reasonably easy-care, so even the non-green-thumbed guests should be able to look after them 🙂