Where to start

The best way to choose your wedding favours is to tie them in with your wedding theme or location. If you’re having a beach wedding then painted seashells containing sweet treats would make a nice favour, or miniature snow globes would be perfect for a winter wedding.

Finding and creating your favours can take time, especially if you choose to make or wrap each item. So before you start it’s definitely a good idea to pull some of your bridal party in to help. There’s more to them than looking pretty on the day so make sure you take advantage of their services!

There are many items you could use as your wedding favours and they don’t need to cost the earth, especially if you make them yourself. To help you with the task of choosing your favours, we’ve put together our top 10 favourites for your consideration.

The traditional wedding favour

If you want to stick with tradition then sugared almonds are the way to go. These are the classic wedding favours which you can use in pre-prepared bags or boxes to save preparation time. If you have a little extra time you can customise them perfectly to fit in with your wedding theme.

Lottery tickets

This one is nice and simple and could make your day even more memorable for very lucky guests. Simply buy a lottery ticket for everyone attending, and then pop it into a little card with a message from you both. Having themed envelopes could also act as part of your name place settings. We love two-in-ones!

Edible favours

Edible favours always go down well… fact! And there are many heavenly sweet stores that can provide small boxes of chocolates for each guest. As pretty and traditional as sugared almonds may be, you can’t beat chocolate for the ultimate treat. It’s probably a good idea to test the various chocolates first, you know, just to make sure they’re suitable for your guests…

Pick and mix

Quite possibly the ‘piece de resistance’ of all edible favours – the pick and mix. Create your very own wedding sweetshop and let your guests loose to fill up their bags with all manner of sweet treats. Choose sweets to go with your wedding theme or colours, or go retro and get the tasty treats from back in your childhood days.

Drinkable

For a favour that your guests will definitely thank you for why not simply buy all of your guests a drink? Start a tab behind the bar and let them choose the tipple of their choice. Alternatively, miniature bottles of champagne or wine make a simple but fitting gift. Bottoms up!

Charity favour

Make a difference by choosing charity wedding favours. Rather than buying themed gifts choose a charity you’d like to help and buy their charity package. In return, the charity often sends you token pieces, such as soft toys, to give out to your guests. So they will not only receive a nice little token to remember the day but they’ll also know that it’s helped a worthy cause.

Green favour

Go green on your big day. A very popular wedding favour is to get everyone a pack of seeds of your favourite flowers or the flowers that you had on your wedding day. This is a great way for your guests to enjoy something that lasts a bit longer than edible delights (depending of course on their green fingered skills).

Favours for kids

If you’ve not opted for a kid free zone on your wedding day then think about having some separate wedding favours that are more child friendly. Buying younger guests gifts such as mini colouring books or puzzles for them to do is a great way to keep them occupied. Just try to avoid gifts that create added noise, so kazoos and whistles are definitely out.

Candles

Candles are a simple but elegant favour that are nice for guests to take home and keep as a memento. Certain shops customise candles so you could have individually named ones or a different colour for each table. Scented candles are also a good idea and can really set the scene –consider floral fragrances or ‘fresh cotton’ to tie in with the wedding theme. Some candle brands even have ‘wedding day’ scents!

Photo frames

Give all guests a framed photo of you both for them to treasure forever. As long as the frame is neutral guests can always reuse it for their own photograph. Keep the frames small and the photo simple –perhaps a photo of you both at your engagement party.