Wedding Planning Update #29A - Favors!
Last week while searching for honeymoon information, I also did some searching for wedding favors. It’s been a difficult process, as once again there are several variables and types of favors to consider while trying to pick a favor. These include:
1) Little items as place card holders, such as miniature chairs: they’re SO cute, but what purpose can they serve other than holding those cards? None Kris nor I can see. We’re opposed to giving anything too cheesy that’s cute but not really practical. 
2) Candles and soaps…cute again, but so boring - and what if they melt in the August summer heat and humidity? 
3) Candy was a good idea - possibly even something personalized…but then again there’s the heat and greater chance of melting not only AT the wedding, but before - and even when they’re being shipped! 
4) The cute favors that are something along the lines of: “Mint” to be Together; Meant to “Bee;” the Perfect “Pear;” and “Two Peas in a Pod” - we feel are a bit too cheesy for us. 
5) We’re not wine lovers, so wine favors are out. We’re not having our wedding in the fall, winter, or on a beach, so all those favors are out. Not to mention our friends Andrew and Sabrina are getting married on the beach in May, and I didn’t want to copy anything they might use as a favor. We just had no wedding “theme,” (I didn’t want to drag the sun/moon/stars into the wedding and we didn’t have our honeymoon booked yet, nor we sure how to incorporate that besides the beach favors) and there’s not really any favors we could find that might best represent our career fields and passions: science, technology, and rallying! Plus, we’re not sure that even if we could find rally-related favors that most of our guests would understand what they were all about.
6) We can’t use rice or flower petals or anything thrown at the church. I’m opposed to bubbles because they are known to stain - and who wants that to happen to her $100, $200, $500, or especially $1,000 dress? 
Since we can’t throw anything, and we don’t want people to have to wait around forever for us to come out of the church after the receiving line, we’re probably not going to have anything at all - no rice, no flower petals, no bubbles, no bells, no flags. Maybe we’ll get some rice if we can throw something at the reception instead for some faux “we’re leaving for our honeymoon” pictures. 
7) Picture frames - not a bad idea, but they’re a bit expensive, especially if you are using them as place card holders since you have to give one to everyone (as opposed to giving one per couple). However, if the favors are like $10/person, multiplied by a hundred guests - that’s an easy extra $1,000 spent on cheesy favors alone! I don’t think so.
8) I’m Italian, so I’ve wanted (almost my whole life) to use Jordan Almonds as a traditional favor. Yes, these are classic, probably over-used wedding favors, but they have a more subtle meaning behind them, as opposed to the cheesily obvious “Mint” to Be.
This list doesn’t leave much left in the “ready-made” favors area.
I had no good ideas - not even the Jordan almonds thing, since I felt that was an inpractical favor. I wanted something else, but couldn’t find anything and was getting frustrated. I eventually figured that at least the Jordan almonds were a starting point for my new searches. But what should we put them in? Now I had to find favor holders that weren’t too expensive or silly. Luckily, I found tulle, ribbon, and tags in a package available at a fairly reasonable price almost immediately. So I started searching Froogle for “Jordan almonds” to get some pricing on wholesale bags of almonds to at least make our own and try to save some money for when Kris and I would eventually figure out what the more practical favor would be.
I got lucky again, because in that search I came across the cutest Jordan almond favors, which come with tags, ribbon, and a poem all their own! I decided immediately that these were one of the favors we would use, and discarded the idea of putting them together on by ourselves (especially because it really would most likely be my mom doing all the work!). Anyway, I’m not going to say exactly what they are (maybe after the wedding I’ll post a picture), since I don’t want to ruin the surprise for our guests. However, they gave me a great idea of a theme for the wedding, which in turn gave me an idea for a second, more practical favor that can also double as reception place card holders. 
Again, I’m not going to say what they are - I’m going to leave it as a surprise for our guests. But I’m really excited because these items gave me an idea for gifts for our wedding party and our parents too! 
Kris and I need to discuss the last part a bit more, since I already have something for my girls, and I’m not sure this is something he wants to give his guys, but at least we’ve at least got it partially figured out.
