Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich, Washington, DC/Cape May, NJAge and Occupation: 28, School CounselorFiance's Age and Occupation: 40, Collegiate AthleticsEngagement Date: March 27, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Congress Hall HotelAbout Me: I am a school counselor who spends my day wrangling children and my nights attempting to be creative with wedding projects. My enthusiasm for each of these activities far surpasses my skill. Thank goodness Mr. Cucumber Sandwich is there to pick up the pieces and be the voice of reason about my DIY tries. I have an obsession with terrible romantic comedies (‘From Justin to Kelly’ anyone?, anyone?!?), competitive Scrabble play, and hot dogs. I could eat astronaut ice cream for every meal and can’t seem to resist buying more shoes. Our wedding is going to be a true hodge podge of semi-destination, tradition, Yuengling, New England charm, with just a dash of ‘Jersey Shore’ thrown in. It has been six years in the making and I can’t wait to marry my best friend.
We have hit the double-digit mark! That means packages have been coming in all week. Sometimes I don’t even know what is in the boxes that are piling up on our porch. Mr. Cucumber Sammie has given up asking me what I have ordered because often I can’t remember until I open it. He just doesn’t understand all the things I need for the wedding!
Recently some of the packages have been trickling in from eBay! Like many brides before me, I am collecting hankies for “tears of joy.”
Mrs. Bunting, Grand Rapids, MIAge and Occupation: 24, freelance illustrator & print productionFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, graduate of historyEngagement Date: December 3, 2009Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Spring Grove Park & St. George Banquet CenterAbout Me: I am a freelance illustrator and designer with a love of nature and a taste for adventure. Textures and color fuel my world, along with apple cider and noodles. I'll try anything once, especially if it involves heights or food. I've hiked the Grand Canyon, gone sky diving, cuddled a baby wolf, and now my latest venture consists of designing and planning a large wedding involving color, DIY details, love, and marrying my best friend.
…or FFfF, because that’s the sound I made for the longest time when I thought of favors. On the one hand, there’s a part of me that loves the idea of them. This is probably because I went to too many birthday parties as a child where we were sent home with Lisa Frank paraphernalia. Stickers, notepads, colorful pens, and temporary tattoos. Oh, those were the good days!
Okay, I am still one-hundred-percent all about the birthday party favors. But a wedding is a completely different affair. As in, we would be having 150-200 adult guests instead of 5-10 children. I wasn’t too keen on spending a lot of money on a favor that, from what I’ve heard, more often than not goes untouched and unappreciated. Yet as our day grew closer, I found myself genuinely wanting to offer our guests a token of love and our gratitude.
It wasn’t until I was searching Weddingbee for inspiration and came across Mrs. Sloth’s own favor post that I was convinced. (Thanks, Mrs. Sloth!)
And thus, with minimal money and minimal work, these were born:
Mrs. Crepe, Queens, NY/Nashville, TNAge and Occupation: 28, Jewelry DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Animation DirectorEngagement Date: September 28, 2010Wedding Date: May 2011Venue: A church in downtown NashvilleAbout Me: I'm a native New Yorker who has always been a DIY kind of girl and loves tackling creative projects while getting the most out of a dollar. I'm marrying my college sweetheart and we love frequenting antique stores, exploring together, and playing with kittens. We're planning a fun, "us" wedding in his hometown---with as many handmade touches as we can pack into a day!
Last I left off talking about our favors, they were a bit unfinished. Although I loved how clean and neat they looked without tags, I thought some might need a few hints as to what the pink granules were.
I printed these on brown kraft paper that I had purchased from Envelopemall using a laser printer. Since they were pretty small and I was starting to feel the time pressure, I just cut them up freehand with scissors. I had a pair of scalloped scissors that I had gotten at an art store years ago to add a little bit of detail. (I found another pair here at a great price, although temporarily sold out at the moment.)
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
I have no idea what my deal is, but I am weirdly obsessed with out-of-town/welcome bags. Sometimes as I lay in bed, I fantasize about the day in which I walk into the local warehouse store and buy all of the yummy snacks to fill said bags. Strange? Most likely.
Anyhow, whatever it is, there’s something truly exciting in knowing that my guests will be welcomed by a bag of goodies at their hotel room. I know I hate getting into a hotel room, thirsty and hungry from traveling, only to be met by $10 bottles of water and candy bars. It’ll be a nice treat for them and another way for us to express our supreme gratitude!
Plentyoflovelybees have put their own twist on the welcome bags/boxes and I intend to follow suit! About a year ago (yes, a year ago), in keeping with the skyline theme from our Save-the-Dates, I purchased customized welcome bags from Favors You Keep. With my new found DIY confidence, I know that I could have perhaps attempted these myself for a fraction of the cost-but, honestly, I’m glad I let someone else take on the task, because I love what I ended up with!
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
I mean, we all know this Cherry Pie is. I’m talking about pie.
Unlike my other pies, I did not buy cherries in season and freeze them. When I was trying to figure out where to buy tasty cherries in mid-June, my mum told me about these jarred cherries (not cherry pie filling. ew.). I talked about that more in my pie recipes post, so today we’re talking about the jars.
The empty jars. I had four of them, they could be useful! They could hold… um… straws!
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
Lots of people (including my own mother) thought I was insane for wanting to make all the pies for our wedding. I am so glad I stuck to my guns. Because, hive? The pie tasted awesome. People kept coming up to me and saying it was delicious (although, I suppose, who would tell the bride on her wedding day that she made sub-par pie? Hmmm…) and wedding pie was such a great idea. I have to admit that it was nice to receive all those compliments, and it felt like a little bit of vindication after all the doubters. I thought it was delicious, and I even managed to have two slices!
(this is the first guest photo of the pie table to surface!)
This is the part where I give you the recipes I used!
Miss Sweet Cream, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 26, Public Relations Account ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Outside SalesEngagement Date: July 4, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church / Rosebank WineryAbout Me: Born in the ‘burbs of Philly, it took some time living in the Big Apple to realize that I’m a girl who likes her roots. That’s why the mister and I bought a 1950s house on a charming street not too far from our childhood stompin’ grounds. This could also be the reason why our hometown is the scene where we are planning our super sweet, totally charming, BBQ-for-supper wedding that I never knew I always wanted. I DIE over DIY projects and live for vintage, heartfelt inspiration. I obsess over all things mid-century (from forks to furniture). Love is… cartoons and flea markets, and I am known to whip up a mean banana cream pie. I met the Mr. in grade school and after that boy took me for a spin on the handle bars of his BMX, I knew that things would never be the same again. Besides lovin’ my Mr., I also love to plan, sew and create, and that’s just what I’m doing as I navigate through the details, creating a laid-back day that oozes charm; one that will go down in (at least our) history as the Best. Day. Of all time.
We love all of our cakes that we are having at the wedding and seriously cannot wait to dive in to dessert time. Whatever our friends and family pick—peanut butter, or fruited bliss, or pound cake with raspberry preserves and delicious whipped cream cheese goodness—we know it will bring delicious delight to our guests’ taste buds!
But something a whole lot easier came into the picture when Mama Sweet Cream asked the local grocery store’s bakery counter where they got their little plastic containers that contain the store’s yummy single servings of cake.
Ms. Gazelle, Calgary/VancouverAge and Occupation: 32, EngineerFiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Technology AnalystEngagement Date: September 3, 2010Wedding Date: July 2011Venue: Brock House Restaurant, VancouverAbout Me: I am a marathon runner, cyclist, Ironman triathlete and beautiful shoe fiend who also loves kicking back and watching Glee. I grew up a bit of a nomad as I traveled around the world with my family, living everywhere from Australia to England to South America and Indonesia. I finally settled in Calgary a few years ago and met Mr. Gazelle who loves me even though we cheer for different hockey teams. We are planning a bit of a destination wedding in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia and we can’t wait to share the day with our close family and friends.
Mr. Gazelle and I wanted to give something that really signified us for our wedding favours. The decision was really easy—tea and cookies! We both love Earl Grey tea, specifically Russian Earl Grey tea with lemongrass and orange. I ordered 1 kg of loose tea online and we packaged them up in adorable tins from Etsy seller InTheClear.
We then prettied them up with some leftover purple Baker’s twine from our invitations. Read more…
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
Interested in the logistics of making your own pie for your wedding? I’m going to try to articulate everything we discovered about the logistics of it in this post, and share the recipes in the next one.
Mrs. Macarons, TampaAge and Occupation: 26, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Renaissance ManEngagement Date: September 12, 2009Wedding Date: September 2011Venue: Lange FarmAbout Me: I'm creative at heart and a graphic designer with an unhealthy obsession with type. I love roller coasters, spicy foods, and a good glass of Crianza. We’re planning a soft and lovely vintage-meets-modern wedding in a state that’s known for its beaches, glitz and glam. I have a ton of DIY projects and lots of little details I’m dying to share and can't wait to celebrate with our closest friends and family.
Macs and I have spent a lot time brainstorming ideas for our favors. We’ve tried to include little bits of us throughout our wedding and hoped to do the same with small tokens of edible appreciation.
In an ideal world our wedding would be budget less. Pierre Hermé would send his amazing macarons right to my doorstep, perfectly packaged and ready to grace our tables. Macarons were a memorable part of our Bunnymoon and the reason I chose my moniker.
Mrs. Perfume seemed to have great success with hers, but after reading about Mrs. Turtle and Mrs. Rainbow’s attempts I wasn’t quite ready to give it a shot. Miss Bacon was planning on making them too, until she found an amazing baker that didn’t sell them for an arm and a leg. I still haven’t let go of this idea entirely but for now it’s on the back burner. Read more…
Mrs. Seal, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 25, Personal AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Sales and Support SpecialistEngagement Date: December 12, 2009Wedding Date: November 2011Venue: Sts Peter and Paul Church/The Bently ReserveAbout Me: I am a goofy, wannabe crafty, well-intentioned Renaissance Woman (OK, perhaps "aimless wanderer" is a more aptly suited term for me, but hopefully you get the point)—basically I dabble in just about everything and pride myself in such. Without warning, I occasionally breakout into soulful improvised songs and interpretive dances and there's just no stopping me! As so many others before me, planning our wedding has unearthed a deep, intense passion for all things bridal and I secretly fear the day it will come to an end. Mr. Seal and I are quite the pair and life with him by my side is extremely rewarding—I am so thankful to have found him. Together we are planning a black-tie San Francisco affair for 250—light on the stuffiness and with lots of extra Seal-y flair.
Hive, I haven’t intended to be so elusive in regards to our favors and I fear I have unintentionally amped them up to be a bit more groundbreaking than they are. They’re not quite as unique as Mrs. Tartlet’s book charity favors or maybe not as fun as Mrs. Ostrich’s CDs, but they come from an important place nonetheless.
And it’s partly because of this beautiful lady:
My Grandma Mary
I never had the privilege of knowing my Grandma Mary—she passed at the young age of 56 from pancreatic cancer long before I was born. I can’t tell you how weird it has been not knowing this woman—a woman who has touched the lives of so many in my family. Being that I am so very close to Mama Seal, it’s strange not knowing the person who brought her into this world and shaped her into everything I aspire to be. Even now, referring to her as “grandma” feels strange to me—as if it’s an amazing honor I never earned.
But despite not ever having met her—I feel an intangible closeness to her. Read more…
Mrs. Cinnamon Bun, Calgary, AlbertaAge and Occupation: 26, Stage ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Theatre TechnicianEngagement Date: June 22, 2010Wedding Date: June 2011Venue: Calgary Opera CentreAbout Me: I'm a life-long crafter and bookworm living in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Some of my loves include Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, knitting, opera, musicals, Etsy, baking, and of course, Mr. Cinnamon Buns. We're keeping our wedding close to home---the venue isn't very far from our house, and we live within walking distance of 6 bridal salons. I'm using the wedding as an excuse to try out every craft project I possibly can, with the endless help and support of my fiance.
So. Hive. Let’s talk about that crazy plan of mine to make all the pies for our wedding. All the pies consist of of seven different flavours, two of each pie. I like baking, so I thought it made sense. Cinnamon Buns was as supportive as ever, and let me fill our freezer full of tasty in-season fruit over the summer. My original plan was to have all the pies done and frozen before the end of May, for our late-June wedding. That, I am not ashamed to tell you, did not happen. Nor did I do anything about pies (apart from stock up on butter) in the first week of June. It was the middle of June when I thought to myself, “OK Cinnamon Bun, you better do something about those pies.”
Mrs. Magic, Chapel Hill, NCAge and Occupation: 30, Licensed Clinical Social WorkerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, ResearcherEngagement Date: December 1, 2009Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Barn at ValhallaAbout Me: I’m a tall drink of water (5’10”!) and a Southern bride with an enormous appetite for Mexican food, good deals, anything French, and all things wedding! By day I am lucky enough to work with individuals with autism and their families. By night, I’m even luckier to be able to spend time hanging out with awesome friends, crafting, shopping, thinking about exercising, and kicking it with Mr. Magic and our two cats. I tend to have sudden, intense cravings that will not be denied (seafood enchiladas! new jeans!) and I’m prone to being a disorganized mess of anxiety and stress. After waiting (and waiting!) to get engaged, I am finally planning the colorful, fun, fabulously awesome Fall wedding of our dreams. In an effort to share the fun and craziness that is wedding planning, I’m gonna blog about it for y’all---the good, the bad, and the pretty!
You might think I’m referring to being the middle child, or being in the middle of family conflicts, or that television show The Middle. Or that Jimmy Eat World song The Middle. Or, the middle finger. But I’m not.
I’m referring to something much, much more important than any of those things. And something much more near and dear to my heart.
People have very strong opinions about their brownies. Apparently, a lot of people like their brownies with edges. There are entire specialty cake pans devoted to baking a whole batch of brownies so that each brownie, when cut, has a crispy edge.
Mrs. Snow Cone, Pittsburgh/Johnstown, PAAge and Occupation: 23, Public Health Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, EngineerEngagement Date: April 9, 2010Wedding Date: August 2011Venue: OMOS Church ceremony/Sunnehanna Country Club receptionAbout Me: I’m one of the lucky ones---I met my future husband at the ripe old age of 13, started dating him as a mature woman of 15, and have been enjoying the ride ever since. Here we are, 8 years later, living in Pittsburgh, planning a "homestination" wedding in the place our school romance began---Johnstown, PA. I thrive on talking a mile a minute, eating my weight in chocolate, and internet shopping. I love a lengthy to-do list almost as much as I love a healthy amount of chaos in my life. Mr. Snow Cone and I watch countless episodes of Friends and The West Wing on repeat, root for rival college sports teams, and make each other laugh each and every day. We’re putting together a small-town wedding with a big personality and a classically modern (or modernly classic?) look for 250 of our closest family and friends. It’s been 8+ years in the making, and sometimes I still can’t believe I’m finally getting to marry my high school sweetheart!
Mr. Snow Cone and I never really considered doing favors. We weren’t too gung-ho about putting together a couple hundred of a certain item, only to end up with many being left at the table at the end of the night. We didn’t want to hand off some random piece of junk to our guests that they have absolutely no need for…it would be a waste on multiple levels for everyone involved. However, having the guests leave the reception without any sign of gratitude from us was simply not an option. Thankfully, we came up with a way to express our thanks to our guests without going the traditional favor route.
Our answer? The charitable donation. Mr. Snow Cone and I were able to come up with any number of causes we deemed worthy of getting a little extra funding as a result of our wedding. Sure, all of our guests might not necessarily appreciate this approach. Some may disagree with our idea to do charity donations at all, and some may disagree with our charity of choice. At the risk of sounding rude, that’s not really a concern of ours. We really like the idea of expressing some generosity in conjunction with our grandiose celebration, and we’ve found a cause that we feel strongly about. So, regardless of our guests’ opinions on the matter, our minds are made up. Read more…
Mrs. Funnel Cake, Zürich, Switzerland/Columbus, OhioAge and Occupation: 24, Visual Communication DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Application EngineerEngagement Date: May 30, 2010Wedding Date: October 2011Venue: Catholic church followed by a botanical conservatoryAbout Me: I'm an American designer who moved to Switzerland for love after a fairytale beginning at the top of the Eiffel Tower. I love travel, photography, museums, learning German so I can speak with my mother-in-law, cooking (eating), cuddling, and I'm not afraid to try something new even if it terrifies me. My Swiss/Brazilian man and I are both down to earth people planning a traditional Catholic wedding in my hometown with some quirky cultural exceptions to reflect our different backgrounds. We look forward to celebrating with friends and family from all over the world in a classic, sophisticated fusion of heritage and love.
What is today’s topic? Today we are talking about wedding favours!
I’m blessed to have two amazing sisters-in-law, and one of them is sweet enough to have offered to make our wedding favours/table cards!
Sabra is awesome at DIY and, since she is local to Columbus, she is much more capable of doing wonderful handmade projects than I would be from here. Can you imagine trying to DIY favours, church programmes, table signs, etc. and then stuffing them into a suitcase? Mr. Funnel Cake and I will be trying to pack light, as we are planning on backpacking in Hawaii so we can go camping…so no big suitcases for us. Sabra is probably the only one besides my mom who jumped to do such a big favour for us (literally, haha). So I’m really appreciative that she wants to help us plan this non-local (for us) celebration!
Sabra had these adorable creations at her wedding.
Unique Wedding Favors
