Last Minute Wedding Favors
Couples who are in the process of planning their wedding and neglect to shop for wedding favors early on in the process may find themselves scrambling at the last minute for wedding favors. This often happens as the wedding planning progresses and the couple gets caught up in other details. Time can often seem to fly by during the process of planning a wedding and the couple may keep putting off the process of shopping for wedding favors until the last minute. When this happens it can seem stressful but it is important to remember that all hope is not lost and the couple can still provide great wedding for their guests even when shopping at the last minute. This article will provide some great information on how couples can still give their guests great wedding favors even when they are shopping at the last minute.
The first thing to remember when shopping for last minute wedding favors is that you will likely have to face the fact that personalized wedding favors will not likely be possible. This includes favors which include the names of the bride and groom as well as the wedding date such as candy bars with customized wrappers or candle holders with a personal message. Purchasing these types of wedding favors often involve a lead time of at least a couple of weeks. This means you will have to order the items a few weeks before you need them. If you are last minute shopping for your wedding favors you will not likely have this much time available. While there are many wedding favor distributors who will be willing to rush the order for you, they will also likely charge you very high fees for this service. The cost of rushing the wedding favor may more than double the price of the favor.
If you are seeking last minute wedding favors, one great idea is candy. Giving candy as wedding favors can be incredibly quick and easy. You can purchase gift bags from stores which sell wedding supplies and fill these bags with some of your favorite candies. You can purchase the candy in bulk and divide it up into the smaller bags. Candies such as miniature chocolate bars, hard candies or other individually wrapped candies are all appropriate for this use.
Flowers are another great last minute wedding favor idea. If you are already planning to have floral centerpieces, your florist may be able to supply one additional flower for each guest in attendance. This is a very simple gift but it is also extremely appropriate as a wedding favor. Flowers are often used as symbols of love so giving a favor of a flower is an excellent idea for a wedding. It will also likely closely match the centerpieces so the wedding favors will actually help to contribute to the décor at the wedding reception as well as serving as a favor for the guests.
Finally, if you are in need of a last minute wedding favor you can have keys made for each of your guest. You can use a ribbon to attach a note to each key informing your guests that you wish they will keep in touch through the years and that your home will always be open to them. The key you give them does not have to be an actual copy of the key to your house but can rather serve as a symbolic gesture that you will always be available if they need you.
Shopping for Wedding Favors with Your Fiancé
For many couples shopping for wedding favors can be a difficult task especially when they are doing this together. This may sound strange but shopping for wedding favors is actually one activity which may cause a great deal of disagreements during the wedding planning process. It may sound like such a trivial detail but in reality shopping for wedding favors can actually be quite stressful and involved. There are a number of reasons for this. One of the main reasons is the large number of options available. There is such a wide range of wedding favors available that selecting just one can be an incredibly daunting task. Furthermore having two people agree on the same favor out of the many options available can be even more difficult. This article will provide some information on how couples can reduce the stress involved with shopping for wedding favors together.
One of the easiest ways to avoid the stress and arguments which are likely to ensue while shopping for wedding favors with your fiancé is to simply avoid the situation altogether. You and your fiancé can discuss the situation beforehand and if he is not very interested in helping to select the wedding favors he may be more than willing to give you free reign to select the wedding favors. If you have similar tastes he will likely be confident that you will select something great and will be more than happy to allow you to do so. This makes the shopping process incredibly easier because you simply have to choose something you like and will be confident your fiancé will be happy with the favor as well. However, if you want your fiancé to feel included in the shopping process you can do the shopping beforehand and then have him take a look at the favors before you make your purchase just to be sure you both love the favors you have selected.
Another way to eliminate a great deal of stress related to shopping with wedding favors with your fiancé is to discuss the budget carefully before you begin shopping. You should have a good idea of how many guests you are expecting as well as how much you can afford to spend on each favor how much you can afford to spend on wedding favors overall. This is very important because it will help to ensure you and your fiancé are both looking at wedding favors which are priced appropriately for your budget. Having this discussion beforehand will be very helpful because if you start looking at wedding favors first you will likely be drawn to more expensive items. However, once you realize these are out of your price range you may be disappointed. This can make selecting a wedding favor more difficult because you will likely compare the other favors to the ones you cannot afford to purchase.
Finally, if you and your fiancé are having a difficult time shopping for wedding favors because you cannot reach an agreement on which favor to select it might be a good idea to seek an outside opinion. One way to do this is to have each of you select a wedding favor and to ask another person to choose between the two final choices. You can either have a sales associate choose between the two or you can bring along a trusted family member or friend who can be objective to help you make the decision. You and your fiancé should agree ahead of time that you are going to accept the decision of the other person.
Centerpiece Activities
The question of who will get to take home the centerpiece can sometimes be a central discussion at reception dinner tables, particularly if the centerpiece is particularly pretty or original.
Making a game of who gets the centerpiece, then, can be an amusing diversion and one many guests will enjoy participating in. Here are some ideas for giving away that reception table centerpiece.
How about a game of 2 questions? Give each guest a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. The MC or DJ asks a series of 2 questions, but first gives the guests the basic background information, that is, that the answer is an animal, place, person or thing. Once that’s taken care of, people can shout out questions and the MC or DJ will answer yes or no, and whoever figures out the answer first gets the first centerpiece, and that particular table is done playing. The game is repeated until one person at each table has won the centerpiece.
One of the most popular ways brides give away the table centerpieces is to put a number on the bottom of the centerpiece and give each guest a number. At some point in the evening, a number is called, each guest checks his or her number and whoever has the called number gets the centerpiece. There are many ways to put a twist on this traditional activity.
For example, you might provide each table with a number, but make it a lower number (ie. between 1 and 1) and the DJ or MC could move from table to table and have each guest do something a certain number of times. So, at the first table, for example, the guests might need to do “head, shoulders, knees and toes” six times and whoever does it first gets the centerpiece. Or, at the second table, the guests might be required to sing the alphabet 3 times or sing “twinkle, twinkle, little star” three times and whoever does that first get the centerpiece.
Another fun activity for divvying up the centerpieces is to require guests to produce a certain item. The DJ or MC moves from table to table, announcing what guests at that table will be required to produce in order to get the centerpiece. Maybe it’s a Georgia quarter or a mint, or a doctor’s appointment card. Whatever it is, the guest at each table who produces the requested item will get the centerpiece.
You can always make it easy and offer the centerpiece to the oldest person at the table, or the one who took the most number of years to finish college. Perhaps you could create an activity where the person who has the strangest talent (as voted on by the tablemates) wins the centerpiece. Then, if possible, that person might show off the talent for the entire reception party.
If you like musical chairs, you can play a game of musical dollar bills in order to give the centerpiece away. Someone takes out a one-dollar bill and music begins playing. Everyone at the table passes the dollar bill around the table and when the music stops, whoever is left holding the bill gets the centerpiece. Or this game can be played a bit more traditionally with the person with the bill being eliminated, and the game continuing until only one person is holding the bill. That person can then be awarded with the centerpiece. Or, for a fun twist, the bill can be passed around and when the music stops, the person holding the bill is told to return it to the person who first supplied it. That is the person who gets the centerpiece.
Some fun, and fairly traditional, ideas include the birthday person getting the centerpiece. At each table, the person who has a birthday closest to the wedding gets the centerpiece. Or if there are married couples at the table, the couple who have been together the longest can get the centerpiece, or the couple who were married most recently. Perhaps the centerpiece should go to the person with the longest hair, or the strangest shoes (again, this would be voted on by tablemates).
Your Wedding Reception Food
Something that people often remember when they go to a
wedding reception is the food, whether it’s good or
bad. Something to consider when you are choosing your
wedding menu is your guests.
Yes, it’s your wedding but you are spending a lot of
money so you want people to like what is being served.
Here are some tips so that people enjoy your reception
food.
Give them a choice -
It’s always a good idea to offer your guests a choice
on what they would like to eat for your wedding
reception People may have food allergies, so this way
they can choose what they would like to eat. Two
choices is enough.
Keep it simple -
Just because it’s not something fancy, it doesn’t
meant hat it won’t be good. If they are faced with
something that they aren’t sure what it is, they may
be reluctant to eat it so don’t go for things that
people can’t identify.
Keep it clean -
Everyone at your wedding reception is going to be
wearing their best clothes. You want to stay away from
food that is very messy or could cause stains that
will be hard to remove.
Remember, you are going to be wearing a white dress.
The last thing you will want is to have something
spill on it that may ruin it, or will be very
noticeable.
Think about what you have had in the past at wedding
receptions, and what you liked or didn’t like about
them. That will help you plan your own wedding
reception menu.
Kids Wedding Reception Activities
Not all brides and grooms want to exclude children from their wedding. Many are happy to welcome children into their wedding both as members of the wedding party and as guests.
Having children at a wedding, however, poses a myriad of problems. Do you leave the children to their own devices and hope they behave and don’t get in the way? Do you provide a room with childcare so they are “present” but not too much under foot? Perhaps the best solution is a simple mix of both, with a smattering of fun built in.
First of all, if children are invited to the wedding, take into consideration the ages of the children. Babies will have to stay with mom and/or dad, for a variety of reasons. So planning to have all the children in another room might not be feasible. But if the children are toddlers up to about age 12, you can provide a separate room for them with childcare and a make a number of activities available to them.
If the children will be in a separate room at the reception, you can provide a coloring table, perhaps a TV with an appropriate movie ready to roll, and some board games. That could probably be enough for the duration of the wedding reception. Be aware of a few things: there should be a ratio of at least 1 adult for every 5 children if the children are toddlers, or 1 adult to every 1 children if the kids are older. Don’t expect the kids to take up the activities on their own, but rather tell the childcare provider to get the kids involved in the activities by doing them him or herself.
What if the children will be part of the reception festivities? What activities can be geared specifically to children at the reception? There are plenty of things you can do, really. You can certainly plan a coloring table at the back of the reception hall or room. There, you can provide loads of paper, coloring books, markers and crayons. Paints are not recommended, for obvious reasons, and moms will thank you if you remember to supply the kids with washable markers and crayons only.
The art table can be more than just coloring, however. Buy a huge bag of pipe cleaners. Kids can amuse themselves for long periods of time, making animals, odd figures and the like. Make sure you have at least 2 or more pipe cleaners for each child, however, as children can go through these quickly. Think about “clean” clay, the new products that don’t stick to anything and don’t leave a trace on furniture. With a few different colors, kids can create a variety of figures, faces or forms.
Many brides like to plan more formally for their small guests. There are several options if this is the route you want to take. One popular option is to have paid entertainment on hand just for the children. This can take place in a separate room or toward the back of the reception room or hall if it’s large and the guest list is big. You can hire a clown or a balloon artist. You can have someone braid the children’s hair and provide temporary tattoos. If there is a separate room available, you can even hire a children’s musician to come and entertain the kids. The options are endless.
If no plans are made for the children, but they arrive at the wedding expecting entertainment, you’ll have to make some plans. One option is a “child only” dance, which allows only the children on the dance floor. This is not only cute to watch, and could be entertaining as well, but it will bring a smile to the face of every grandma and grandpa present.
Edible Wedding Favors
There is one type of wedding favor which is almost always appreciated by the guests at the wedding. This is an edible wedding favor. Whether you opt for sweet or savory items you and your guests are likely to enjoy your edible wedding favors. The downside to giving an edible wedding favor is it is likely to be consumed shortly after your wedding instead of being saved for years to come as a memento of your wedding. However, you can rest assured that your guests will greatly enjoy the gift. This article will provide a few ideas for edible favors you can give to your guests on your wedding day.
One of the most popular edible wedding favors is a simple chocolate bar with a personalized wrapper. These chocolate bars can be simple milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate are can be filled with items such as almonds or raisins. There are even more options available for the wrapper of the candy bar. This is very important because this is the first thing your guests will notice about your favor. Most brides and grooms opt to have their names and the date of the wedding printed on the wrapper and select a wrapper design which relates to love, weddings or the specific theme of the wedding. However, some brides and grooms may even decide to have their pictures on the wrapper along with their names and the wedding date.
Tins filled with candy are another option for brides and grooms who want to give out edible wedding favors. These tins can be filled with any type of candy you wish. They can be filled with mints, hard candies, candy coated almonds, chocolates or any other favorite candy. There is also typically the option of personalizing the tin by including the wedding date and the name of the bride and the groom. The guests may eat the candy soon after the wedding but they can keep the candy as a reminder of your wedding and use it to store other small items such as change, sewing needles, rubber bands or virtually anything which is small enough to be stored in the tins.
Candy is a very popular choice when a bride and groom are considering giving edible wedding favors. One unique way to give out candy as wedding favors is to use large glass bowls as the centerpieces for the tables and fill the bowls with the bride and grooms’ favorite types of candy. You can give each of your guests a small container which matches the theme of the wedding such as a sand pail for a beach themed wedding or anything else which is appropriate. The guests can fill the containers with some of the candy from the centerpiece at the end of the evening.
Cookies are other options for brides and grooms who want to give out edible party favors. There are a number of different options in this case. You can select cookies which are rather plain in nature but place them in keepsake boxes with the bride and grooms’ names as well as the date of the wedding. They can also give out personalized fortune cookies with each fortune depicting a quotation which is related to love. Another way to use cookies as wedding favors is to give out cookies displaying a photo of the couple. There are many bakeries that can make these cookies for you in a variety of sizes and shapes. You simply need to select a design and give the bakery a photo to use in the design process.
Cocoas, teas and coffees are still another option for couples who want to give out edible wedding favors. You can select specialty cocoas, teas or coffees or you can have the packaging customized to include your picture, an appropriate quotation, poem or other message related to loves and weddings. Putting the couple’s names as well as the wedding date on the package is a good idea as well as including a picture of the couple.
Wedding Guest Book Activities
Traditional brides don’t have to have traditional guest books. Certainly you can purchase a standard guest book and ask your guests to sign it, but there are so many more guest book-like activities that are more unique.
Let’s move from the popular to the less well known. One very popular option allows guests to sign a picture of the bride and groom. Simply take a picture of the bride and groom and have it matted in a mat several inches larger than the photo itself. Place a frame around this, but don’t include the glass or Plexiglas frame. You’ll add this later. Some people prefer to use “bulldog” clips to keep the mat together instead of putting the picture in the frame. The picture can be framed after the wedding.
Most couples choose a nice photo of themselves for this picture/guestbook option, although if there’s a formal engagement photo, this is an excellent way to preserve that photo and show it off to friends and family. If photos are taken before the wedding with the bride and groom in their wedding attire, you can certainly use this photo. Many couples opt to either leave the mat empty or they place a temporary picture in the mat and add a wedding picture later.
Be sure to have a nice Sharpie marker handy and place the picture on either a sturdy easel or on a table where guests are sure to see it.
Another option is instead of providing a picture of the bride and groom to sign, the guests are provided with a picture of themselves! Simply provide a Polaroid camera and assign someone the job of taking pictures of the guests as they arrive at the reception. Once the picture is dry, provide a Sharpie and they can sign the picture, make a note to the bride and groom or hand draw a silly picture. It can be whatever the guest wants it to be. This is a unique, and personal, way for guests to “sign in” at the wedding.
Whoever handles the taking of the pictures should also handle putting them in an album of some sort. A scrap booker might provide a special memory book with the Polaroid pictures in it, or the pictures can simply be placed in a nice album and presented later to the bride and groom.
Many guests don’t give a great deal of thought to the guest book. They whiz by the guest book table more concerned with getting their cocktail and hitting the dance floor. If this is a concern, provide a “traveling” guest book. Send each guest something either to sign or decorate before the wedding.
In this “traveling” guest book scenario, there are several options. One of the easiest is to send each guest a small piece of paper and ask them to write something meaningful or thoughtful for the bride and groom on it. The pieces of paper are returned prior to the wedding (to ensure a better response, provide a self-addressed stamped envelope with the paper) and can be compiled in some meaningful way for the bride and groom and presented to them on their wedding day.
If the guest list is a creative or particularly close group, there is one other option that is even more meaningful. Again, in a scrapbook fashion, send each guest a piece of paper to sign or decorate. The paper should be the size of a photo album, so it might be a 6 x 6 piece of paper, an 8 x 8 piece of paper, or even 12 x 12, if the guests are up to that larger size.
In a letter that arrives with the paper, the guests are instructed to create a memory page for the bride and groom. They might include photos, quotes, little anecdotal stories, or combine all of these with stickers or embellishments. It’s thoughtful, meaningful and personal and it’s an excellent way to include guests who might not be able to attend the wedding, but would still like to be a part of it.
Saving Money on a Wedding Cake
One of the biggest focal points of a wedding reception
is the beautiful wedding cake. That towering,
flowering, blinding beautiful wedding cake with the
two people standing on top, that the bride and groom
cut and then feed to one another.
Although a lot of brides and grooms go with the
traditional pound cake taste, it doesn’t have to be
that way.
Flavor -
If you don’t go with the traditional pound cake taste
for all of your layers, keep in mind that not everyone
is going to like lemon or raspberry, or any other
exotic flavors.
One popular alternative is chocolate chip cake.
Another idea is to go with alternating chocolate and
vanilla.
The top of your cake is traditionally saved and eaten
on your first wedding anniversary. So choose the
flavor that both of you will enjoy and make that your
wedding topper.
Although a lot of cakes are purchased in a traditional
bakery, there are a lot of supermarkets that make
delicious cakes that aren’t as expensive.
If you are working on a budget, shop around for prices
on wedding cakes and be sure to sample them. You may
be surprised at what supermarkets can do.
If you have someone that has taken a cake decorating
class and makes great cakes, you may find that they
will do it as a wedding present and it will save you
some money.
A wedding cake doesn’t have to be expensive to be
delicious, and you can find plenty of money saving
ideas when looking for your wedding cake.
Wrapping Wedding Favors
For many couples one of the most tedious aspects of planning a wedding is wrapping the wedding favors. This is especially true if you are planning to have a large wedding reception with many guests in attendance. Wrapping wedding favors for hundreds of guests can be very time consuming. Therefore couples should plan on purchasing their wedding favors well in advance to avoid having to wrap the favors at the last minute. In general you would ideally want your favors to arrive 2-3 weeks before your wedding date to give you plenty of time to get them wrapped without feeling stressed. Orders involving personalization should be ordered even early because these will take significantly longer to arrive. This article will offer a wide range of advice on wrapping wedding favors including advice on how to wrap favors and tips for making wrapping wedding favors a lot more fun.
Our first tip for wrapping wedding favors is to make sure you factor the cost of wrapping the gifts into your overall budget for wedding favors. This is important because it can add a significant amount to the cost of the favors. Most wedding favor distributors can ship the favors to you already wrapped but there is likely to be a costly fee for this service. It is far less expensive for the couple to wrap the gifts themselves. The most common theme for wrapping wedding favors includes wrapping the gifts in white and using ribbons the color of the bridesmaids’ dresses to adorn the wrapped packages. However, some couples opt for white ribbons for a more monochromatic appearance. Whichever way you decide to wrap your favors you should try to estimate of wrapping supplies such as paper, tape and ribbons before you purchase the favors to ensure these costs will not put you over budget. This may influence the wedding favors you select because you may be more inclined to select favors which are smaller because they will require fewer additional resources to wrap.
Another tip for wrapping wedding favors is to not avoid this project until the night before the wedding. In the opening paragraph we stressed the importance of ordering your wedding favors early to avoid having to wrap them at the last minute. This is incredibly important because wrapping wedding favors can be very time consuming. If you leave it until the last minute you may find yourself staying up all night to try to get all of the favors wrapped and unfortunately may run out of time and not be able to wrap them all. We cannot urge you enough to purchase your favors ahead of time and wrap them as soon as they arrive. This way you can simply set them aside and will not have to worry about them again until it is time to get them to the reception location so they can be placed at each place setting.
Wrapping wedding favors is definitely not a fun project. It can be very time consuming and can also be incredibly tedious. One way to make the project easier is to enlist the help of friends or family members to help you. If you get together a group of 3-4 of your friends you will find the task of wrapping the wedding favors is accomplished in much less time than it would take you to wrap them yourself. You will also have a great deal more fun because you will be spending time with your friends as you wrap the wedding favors.
Our last tip for wrapping wedding favors is to keep the wrapping very simple. You may have ideas about complex wrapping techniques and elaborate ribbons but this can make the task of wrapping the wedding favors take considerably longer than it has to take. Plus it can make storing the wedding favors very difficult. If you spend a great deal of time tying elaborate ribbons it would not make sense to stack the wrapped favors in a box where the ribbons will become crushed. You would have to find a space big enough to lay each favor out flat. This can be very difficult and even if you are able to do it, it will likely cause some inconvenience. Therefore we recommend simpler methods of wrapping and decorating your wedding favors.
Wedding Weekend Activities
Weekend weddings are becoming more popular, particularly as families are spread further apart. They usually begin on Friday night, continue with the wedding Saturday and conclude with a post-wedding breakfast on Sunday before everyone returns home.
Planning activities for these weekend-long celebrations doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact, it can be quite a bit of fun if you keep everyone’s needs in mind. First, consider the wedding. Will this be a formal wedding with a sit-down dinner at its center? If so, you might want to ban a formal rehearsal dinner and replace it instead with an informal barbecue dinner or picnic.
But how will you keep people occupied during the long weekend? There are many activities to consider. Will the wedding be near a lake? How about planning a day at the lake on Saturday, filled with pre-wedding activities like swimming races and beach volleyball.
One popular pre-wedding activity is a scavenger hunt. Prior to the wedding weekend, a list of meaningful items should be drawn up, and guests placed in two teams. The list should include things like “get a brochure from the jewelry store where (groom) bought (bride)’s ring” or “take a picture of the group at the location where the couple got engaged”. You will have to tailor the scavenger hunt list to the location of the wedding and the energy of the guests who will be participating.
You can even offer lavish prizes for the team that wins the scavenger hunt, such as gift certificates or gourmet food and wine baskets. It might seem an obvious choice to divide the teams into groups who know or are related to the bride and teams who know or are related to the groom, but it might be a little more fun to mix it up a bit. You can create teams of friends versus family, or men versus women (always a popular choice).
Another activity that’s popular during wedding weekends is a competitive sport activity, such as baseball or flag football. Again, add a special twist. Offer prizes for performance (first home run gets a kiss from the bride) or make silly rules, like members of the bridal party have to wear tiaras while running bases or members of the groom’s family should always have their shirts on backwards.
It’s important that during the wedding weekend, planners keep in mind that the weekend itself might be expensive for some guests, particularly those who had to fly in for the occasion and many of the activities should be free, or inexpensive. If they are more expensive, and planned for the entire group, they should be paid for by either the bride and groom or their families.
But there are plenty of activities that don’t have to be expensive, but can provide big bang for the little buck, such as the scavenger hunt suggested above. If the wedding weekend guests will mostly be family, you can schedule a home movie-viewing event, including home movies from both the bride and groom’s families. For even more fun, consider an activity where the movies are mixed up and the guests have to guess which family’s videos they are watching. This might sound easy, but depending on the contents, it could be hard, particularly if the bride and groom are babies in the photos.
