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As you may know, we are having two wedding-related celebrations: a reception in Vegas and a party in Milwaukee. This means that I need (or, at the very least, really want) to come up with two sets of unique and fun favors for our guests. I know that favors aren’t necessary, but I think that they can add a nice touch to the event.
Luckily for us, it was pretty easy to come up with favor ideas for Las Vegas. We could give our guests personalized playing cards. We could give them dice embossed with our wedding date. We could give them slot-machine keychains. We could give them poker chips made out of chocolate.
Mr. Mole and I eventually decided on poker chips — but we decided to go for the real deal. Our guests will get $5 chips to play at the Venetian casino. (Or, if they are like me, to cash in at the cage to get money to play the video poker games; for all of the times that I have been in Vegas, I have never played any games at a table. I am too chicken to bet more than a dollar at a time!) We figure that it will allow our guests to have a few more minutes of fun after our reception concludes. Maybe someone will even turn it into a huge profit on the blackjack tables.
Our favors, waiting to be played
The next thing to figure out was how we were going to display these chips at everyone’s seats. I found my solution in a blog post on Weddingbee!
When it comes to wedding favors, Mr. Warbs and I come from different camps. I think that it’s nice to give our guests something to remember our wedding by. He thinks that favors are unnecessary because nobody ever keeps those things and we can put the money towards something else. I do agree that most favors are disposable and probably do get thrown out. I’ve only been to a few weddings and I definitely didn’t keep the favors. Hell, I don’t even remember what the favors were. Mints? Candy? Beats me.
So, if we’re going to give our favors, we want them to be something that our guests can keep for a long time. And since we’re having a loose bookish theme, it would be great if the favors could have a literary theme. I thought bookmarks would be cool. Cheap, compact and they’re even in our wedding colors. Win!
“Turning Leaves” bookmark favors from Weddingbee Favors
There was one thing I knew I needed to have at my wedding, way before I was even engaged. (Besides the groom, of course. And a white dress. And a videographer. And an open bar…) And that was…
Image via Style Me Pretty / Styling by Amy Atlas
…a candy buffet! I’d seen them all over wedding blogs (and all over party blogs too) and they’re always the prettiest part of the whole affair. I found pictures like these, with colorful candy-filled apothecary jars:
Many months ago, in honor of our first married Valentine’s Day, I set out to bake these yummy treats for my beloved hubby.
Upon sharing our Valentine’s Day plans with the hive, I received more than a couple of requests to share the recipe and am happy to finally oblige.
*The Filling
Homemade Blueberry Filling from Scratch
(using supplies I had on hand, feel free to make changes)
What You’ll Need:
Read more…
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
“Who told you that you had to give out wedding favors? Etiquette has never thought of weddings as comparable to children’s birthday parties, where the guests might need consolation for not being the center of attention. You owe them only the hospitality of the occasion.” - Apparently, The Miss Manners
Yeah, but but but…true story time.
Once upon a time, I was a very bad wedding guest. It was entirely on accident, I cringe remembering, and I swear up one side and down the other I’m not a total snot. Mr. Raccoon and I were enjoying the wedding of our friends, and all of the sudden things were winding down because it was time to leave. I thought, Hmmm, odd, no favor. My eyes scanned the room—no one else was leaving toting bubbles, little tulle bags stuffed with almonds, or any other goodies. No favor? Rational thinking set in that those thoughts were seriously stupid. Had they not just provided me with a way to see old friends, dance, drink, have nice dinner and dessert, and most importantly share their special day with them? They didn’t have to invite me. My rump was taking up valuable seat space.
On the other side of things now, guests are going to be traveling long distances to make it to our wedding, most likely they will need to get a hotel, maybe they are bringing a present, maybe they had to request time off of work, they have probably invested serious amounts of time, friendship, and love into one or both of us, etc. The list goes on. I don’t want anyone to be leaving and think, “No favors?” I want them to know how truly thankful I am they went well out of their way to spend their weekend with us.
So what are we doing? Giving everyone our warmest thanks.
Image via ChezWedd / Photography by Camilla Photography
I had two specifications going into choosing favors that really narrowed down the field.
I agonized over favors! First, there were none. Then, there were many. After writing this post and getting plenty of feedback on my options, I settled upon the one that would require the most effort, but the least amount of money: Homemade fudge.
Let me clarify: By “effort,” I mean melting chocolate, pouring it into a pan, and sticking it in the fridge. Yeah. Sooooo hard.
I used my mom’s fudge recipe, since it was the only fudge I can ever remember liking. I had it so much growing up that any other fudge just tastes too sugary, or too “off” to me.
The recipe:
Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
You guys were wondering what to get us for the wedding, weren’t you? I mean…the guests were wondering. What do you get for a couple who already lives together in a small one-bedroom apartment, who might be moving and selling off all of their possessions in a couple years, and who are traveling 7,000 kilometers to the wedding and might not have the most room in their suitcases for gifts?
Image via Wikipedia
OK, it’s kind of tacky to straight up ask for money. But I do not want any of these:
Quick, what is this?
Does it at least kind of look like a float?
I was trying to think of something small and nice I could do for my aunts for having the family get together for us. I didn’t want to get them any thing that could not be used up and go away. When you’re in your 70s and 80s, you’ve had enough time to get about five of everything you need, three of everything you want, and then some. I think in general I’m going to start going this route when I don’t know of a specific item for someone. I’m really not that great of judge on what someone else wants to have around their place. But, who wouldn’t love their favorite soda with some Hershey Kisses?
You will need:
After this wedding, I’m pretty sure I’ll never want to create any sort of signage/labels/tags ever again. Because let me tell ya, our guests are going to be the most fully-informed, non-confused, wedding guests ever. As things have gotten down to the wire we decided to nix a few of the signs on our list because, in all of our wedding brain craziness, we came to our senses and realized our guests could probably figure some stuff out on their own (like, say, where the bathrooms are or how in the world to navigate the fifteen feet between the elevators and the ceremony space).
There were some signs that were always non-negotiable for us though, and those were the ones that were meant to be functional while also adding some crucial design flare (and, let’s be honest here, that would make for some incredibly cool detail shots). Labels for the dessert buffet and the candy buffet definitely fell into that category.
As is probably true with all good design, these little devils look much more beautifully simplistic than they actually were to create.
Read more…
When super excited, I relax my Midwest sensibility and default to West Coast vernacular. Forgive me, but to properly start I can’t help saying…
DUDES!
The DIY project I’m about to share was hands down the most fun, affordable and quick to assemble. I’m talking about providing entertainment for the 20 or so children we expect as guests.
A few Bees from past generations shared their cute ideas for kiddie activity bags, including Mrs. Lox, Mrs. Toucan and Mrs. Martini. For ours, I’ll begin with the price.
I spent $34 to create 24 of these fun little surprises. Yay for the budget! No lie, each completed bag cost a whopping $1.41 each. That’s right, one dollar and forty-one cents. Can you even get a cup of Starbucks drip coffee for that price?
Easy peasy and cute to boot!
I’m a firm believer in the power of the edible favor. I’ve never been to a wedding with a non-perishable sendaway, and I’m not a fan (for us) of anything but. This is not to say I don’t love things such gifts as wildflower seeds, mixed CDs, recipe books and the like. Honestly, I just don’t want guests to leave their favors behind if I can’t eat the leftovers. I also don’t want to hand out anything that guests can’t easily transport back home on an airplane.
Favor Idea #1: Italian cookies
With all that in mind, I decided a few months back to purchase trays of Italian cookies from one of my favorite stores EVER — Mazzaro’s Italian market — and pack up three to five cookies per guest with a cute little note.
Photo via Mazzaro’s Italian Market
However, a couple of months ago, we had a site visit at our venue and decided all our rentals. And our rental budget thereby doubled.
Read more…
I love to bake goodies. Despite my own dislike of cake, I love making pretty cakes. And eating anything out of a jar has a bit of Southern nostalgia that makes me weak in the knees. There was no question that I’d be doing some sort of sweets for our favors. One of my favorite blogs to get ideas from is Our Best Bites. They have tons of great recipes, and I have yet to try something that hasn’t turned out amazing.
In late September two years ago, they posted a recipe for pie in a jar. Oh how glorious. I have a couple of these on hand at all times to pop in the oven on a whim. Then late last year as I was contemplating what to gift my bosses, they posted cupcakes in a jar. Hallelujah! This is how they turned out.
Personal photo. Sorry for the weird angle.
The day before “Bridal Shower Socal,” I asked Mama Ticket if she and Sister/MOH Ticket had favors for the guests. She sounded puzzled and said no. I told her I would take care of it. She thought me a little odd, but agreed and went on her way. Later that day she called me back to inquire more about these favors—suddenly it had occured to her that recent showers she had been to had favors as well! She was very concerned over the fact that she had forgotten this and didn’t want me spending too much on my own shower. So Daddy Ticket kindly offered to pay for the goodies, and I put them together.
After trips to Dollar Tree to buy ribbon and little cello bags, Target (unsuccessful mission to find bags), Party City (Mission “Find Bags” = success!), and Michaels for a “Thank You” stamp, I was ready to acquire the goodies. I headed to Sam’s Club and picked up giant bags of M&Ms and Skittles, as well as a bucket of Ring Pops, then went home and set to work.
Personal photo
When it comes to wedding favors, I was surprisingly (and thankfully) very decisive: we would be providing an edible favor or nothing at all. I can’t tell you how many bottles of bubbles and little boxes I’ve collected at weddings over the years, and they all end up forgotten at the bottom of some drawer. Edible favors, on the other hand, always get put to very good and tasty use.
Mr. Parasol and I bounced around a few different ideas and ultimately decided on providing homemade granola for our guests. We both absolutely love granola, it’s easy to make, and it’s a relatively affordable favor option. And when Cousin Parasol E, who is just about the best 17-year-old cook in the history of the world, said she makes a mean granola, I was totally sold. So one weekend, I went up to Cousin E’s for a sleepover, and between lots of gossip and bad TV, we whipped out more than enough granola for our 90 wedding guests.
Our first stop was WinCo, the most amazing and affordable store ever. I still can’t believe I’d never heard of it before. We quickly stocked up on all the granola supplies we could ever need.
Personal Photo via Cousin E
It was ironic (or was it?) that BM Esquire proclaimed she would be at our latest crafternoon “with bells on” – because pretty much all we did was craft up these darn farewell bells. I’m a bad, bad bee because I didn’t take any pictures that afternoon, but all you need to know is that we devoured an entire grapefruit-sized cheeseball between three of us, ate about 6 cupcakes (including frosting out of the canister), and produced about 2.3 boxes of farewell bells. It was a success… on so many levels.
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