Wedding Blog

Know that fantastic feeling you get when, faced with the tantalizing yet terrifying surfeit of options that comes with wedding planning, you finally come down fast and firm on a decision? When you hit upon an idea that’s so perfect and fitting and right, that with a sigh of relief you can consider one thing finally settled and move on to the much more important issue of footwear?

Well, load me up some Zappos dot com bay-bee, because the issue of favors is settled.

I was never particularly keen on the idea of disposable favors. And really, “disposable” is brutally subjective. I’m the kind of heartless wretch who’ll throw away a Christmas gift if it I consider it clutter. And I play fast and loose with the word “clutter,” I do. That’s right. I’m the tchotchke Nazi. So while the idea of wasting money on throwaways offends me, it’s the tackiness of forcing “goodies” on my unwanting guests that I really have trouble with. I just can’t do it to them.

However, the natural alternative, a donation to charity in our guests’ honor, never really did much for me. (The heartless wretch strikes again!) I’m sorry, but honestly? Besides plunking some change in a red bucket every Christmas, I’m just not a charity-minded person. But then I realized there is one cause to which my overly verbose and bombastic heartstrings pull: literacy.

As a teenager, I volunteered one summer for Literacy Volunteers of America. Don’t pat me on the head just yet; it was only to fluff up my college applications. But you know what? I genuinely enjoyed it. I probably would have kept at it through college, but I discovered boys.

Anyway, it’s perfect! It skirts the whole favor-turned-doorstop issue, does something good for the world, and even conveniently picks up on the “writing/typing” aspect of our wedding. My shallow, inner aesthete can pat herself on the back!

So now all I need is a clever way to inform my guests of the donation. Some kind of bon mot the likes of which my brain is far too muddled to produce right now. But, along with our “Sweetest Type of Love” theme, something like, oh, giving them a lollipop and a note that says “You did something sweet tonight!…etc.”

I told my FILs about the idea last night, and my FMIL made a face. I think maybe she’s just of the not-giving-favors-will-seem-cheap generation. But I’m standing firm on this one. Give me meaningful, tchotchke-less favors, or give me death.

I’ll be looking into literacy organizations directly, but if anyone’s personally involved with any, or can speak to a “good” one for donations, I’d love to hear suggestions. :)