Wedding favours. To do or not to do???!!!

I wasn't planning on doing favours as I think they're pretty pointless and nobody would notice there weren't any. I got suckered into buying some beautiful laser cut birdcage boxes made of card that we are going to give as favours with personalised love hearts in - however bridal brain was in full mode and that was expenditure we could have avoided.

I say if there isn't anything you re desperate to give, don't bother. Weddings are expensive as it is!

That has to be a new thing alongside "bride zilla" --- "bridal brain"

But no you do not have to do anything and if you don't then no one will notice. If you do then it dosent have to cost the earth I shot a Chinese and English wedding and what is common between the two cultures TEA! so as favors they had English and Chinese tea bags.

No, you don't have to do them. Some brides leave them out just to make the tables look neater!

The guests won't even notice if you don't have favours.

Not doing favours, I agree that they are usually a waste of money and effort. We are doing a sweet pick and mix table so that will hopefully be seen as a favour instead.

We're not doing favours. The conversation went something like this:

"ME: And what do you fancy doing about favours? I was thinking we could maybe do pretty chopsticks? Except for your family, 'cause you guys already have, like, a million sets of chopsticks.

OH: Wait, what are favours?

ME: You know, the little things that get put on the tables for guests to take away after the wedding.

OH: Wait, so we pay for people to have lunch and dinner, pay for their drinks, give them cake, and then we give them a present as well?! It's our wedding - shouldn't they be giving us things??

ME: But it's nice, and it's tradition. It shouldn't be expensive - a couple of hundred quid or so for everybody...

OH: TWO HUNDRED QUID?!?!? We're spending enough on them already. NO. FAVOURS.

ME: ...Ok."

To be fair to him, it's the only thing so far that he's had a strong opinion on (I can see his point), so I've let him have this one.

I had a sweetie cart instead of favours x

We're doing cake pops but you don't have to do them if you don't want to. Some people might pick up that you don't have them but let them - it's their problem.

We're having favours, I ordered some badges with slogans on like 'Here for the cake', they had them on Not on the Highstreet but I designed my own and got them printed by a company online which worked out a fair bit cheaper, I'm going to put them in boxes on the tables which will double up as placenames. Completely unnecessary but I love them! I went to a wedding earlier this year and was excited to see what favours they had but only because I'm in wedding world at the minute, if it had been a couple of years before I wouldn't even have noticed.

I hate the phrase 'no one will notice' its on here all the time and is completely wrong... YOU might not notice but a lot of people do any you cant talk for anyone else

for a fact I know the favores, colour of the carpet, and small detail (or more to the point lack off) from every wedding ive ever been too, the only thing I dont know from them is the flavor of the cake (which never seems to actually get served at weddings lol)

with weddings you dont HAVE to do anything other than legalities, you can get married in a pink onesy on a mountain top in scotland with a dog as a bridesmaid and oninon rings instead of wedding rings but im assuming your going realativly normal so in answer to your question, yes favores are usually given in some form but no they dont have to be expensive or almonds in little bags etc...

We're not doing favours, and quite a few weddings I've been to haven't had them. I honestly didn't notice or care, I was busy enjoying myself! If you decide to do them I'm sure they will get noticed and appreciated at the time, although I've heard that lots tend to get left behind or taken home and then forgotten about... so I wouldn't spend hours and hours hand crafting anything

As everyone else has said, you don't need to have them.

We see lots of favours left behind and subsequently binned during room turn around, so it wasn't something we were prepared to spend lots of money on ourselves, or put a lot of effort into.

If you'd rather put the money to better use somewhere else, i'm sure your guests wouldn't resent not having a favour ?

Nice to hear other's opinions as I had been wondering about this.

We have planned not to do favours (my OH doesn't even know what they are) - part of the reason is we are having food which is shared at the table - so a shared platter started and then meats to carve and bowls of veggies etc, so out caterer has advised against too much on the table. The other reason is I think it is an unnecessary expense.

I think certainly some people will notice and think 'oh where are the favours??!!' but tbh I don't want too many people who will think this kind of thing at our wedding! I can't imagin many of our friends and family will be thinking we haven't done enough when we have created a lovely wedding day to invite them to.

I think it if there is something that is really personal to you and that is simple and fits it with your day then definately go for it - but I find the idea of favours for the sake of it a little strange.

We're doing charity pins for our favours. You can order them online, and they're only a couple of pounds each which goes to good causes. We're picking charities that mean something to us so we can give a gift to our guests, and help out good causes at the same time!

Thank you all for your contribution to my query.

I think we are not going to them as we could use the money for something else.

Love the ideas though !!

We didn't bother, no one noticed. A friend of mine stamped tea spoons and made her own heart shaped sugar cubes- it took her hours, more than half were left at the venue.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I always feel a tad disappointed when there are no favours.

We aren't having favours. i wanted a magician instead!

We're doing cancer research pin badges, they come on card with your names and wedding date. I worked at a wedding venue for years and the amount of favours we threw away was heartbreaking! So we figured this way even if they all go in the bin the money we spent on them has gone to a great charity which means a lot to both our families

Like these

Ours are going to be things that can be used during the day. We're having fish and chips so we're having personalised wooden cutlery packed in a little bag with these little

and then we're going to put a scratch card in with them too.

We were due to etch wine glaases to take away with people but had to redo the wedding budget and are selling the glasses after usage instead.

We do doing favours partially but at a cost of £10 for over 120 - the name card is a stone painted with everyone names (this was because I thought card with people's names on was a rip off!) and my mum is making paper hearts which bind to make a holder for the sweets from the sweet bar - just costs the paper and the paint. Will take my mum about 3 hours to make 120 (according to her - she did 80 within 1.5 hours at Christmas).

Most weddings I have been to have had favours but I couldn't tell you what any of them were at all - I think probably 1 in every 20 guests will notice!

I was at a wedding last week where the girls got hand warmers and the boys got a home brewed beer. It was a nice touch but there were a few left behind.

We were not planning on doing favours but then I saw these cute little boxes with 2 ferrero rochers in it and I was sold. You can't go wrong with chocolate. Everybody likes chocolates. I am going to to stick the name tags onto the boxes so they will serve two purposes. To be honest I can't wait. I was going to make cupcakes and have individual cupcake boxes but then I went off that idea too.

Love this idea

I originally wasn't going to do them at all but ended up making 90 mini jars of jam with my sister (she obsessively makes jam every year so it was nice to do with her) and then used some fabric a friends mum gave me to put a cover over the lids and wrote little labels for them. I got the jars on eBay and other than the sugar, spices and as the plums came from my parents trees it didn't cost much. Maybe £40-50. Most of that was jars.

I didn't think people noticed and realised people either really didn't care (me, usually) or people really did. I was surprised at the amount of people who would be annoyed if they didn't get one and it kept bothering me.
I think homemade and/or simple is the way to go personally you can get personalised packets of love hearts on eBay cheaply etc.

Thanks! If we're feeling flush we're going to put stand up to cancer pins in as well. This year i shaved my hair off for the charity and it means a lot to almost everyone that is invited - so i know they wouldn't be left.

We are having charity favours but also a sweetie buffet

I really wanted a photo booth at the reception, so we've gone for the package where one copy of the photos goes in a guestbook, and the guests get to keep the other copy as their favour. It cost £495, which is a lot, but I think its worth it for guestbook/favours and the fun factor!

I think there nice and as a guest I also love what thought the couple has put in. Ours is cheap as chips though personalised chocolates and a pretty fabric bag only cost us a total of 30quid for 100 for it all!

We arent doing favours but have a DIY sweet buffet so people can help themselves if they want something.

A lot of them seem to be just left. Our wedding was at Easter so we put some mini eggs and haribo rings in little stripped bags, folded them and stuck a sticker on to seal, then wrote the name on. So it was more of a name card than a favour. Probably cost about £50 ish for everyone.

I think if you want to do them then do, but if YOU and your husband don't, then just don't bother.

My husband's side of the family were not impressed with my favour planning - his granny has all of the families lace covered almond bundles from all family wedding a etc in a display cabinet! Don't think the mini eggs ended up in the cabinet

There's some brill ideas on here! I am undecided my only idea where they wouldn't get binned was scratch cards, hopefully get people talking too! Xxx