Marilyn’s Blog

Wedding Favors

Bag of Cherries Wedding Favor

Seasonal fruits make wonderful (and delicious) favors. Each of these sacks holds a handful of juicy red cherries, perfect for an outdoor summer wedding.

 

Buy glassine bags, and trim tops with scalloped scissors. Fill bags with enough cherries, or other small fruit, so they peek out over the top. To help the bags stand up, turn corners under at bottoms. Display favors in wooden crates.

marthastewart.com

Wrap favors in brightly colored tissue paper and top them off with a paper flower — a low-cost alternative to the real thing.

Berry Basket Favors

Send wedding guests home with fresh strawberries and scones to enjoy the morning after. Wrap scones in cellophane and line a wooden berry basket with parchment paper. Tie on a note stamped with a strawberry design.

Almond Honey Favors

The Romans showered newlyweds with almonds, a symbol of fertility. Include them in your celebration by giving guests jars filled with almonds and honey as favors. Decorate the caps with squares of fabric in playful colors and patterns (we used stripes, pink linen, and florals), and secure with twine. Line up the jars on a tablecloth made from matching fabric, and label them with your first initials and the wedding date.

Candy-Rock Favors

They may look like the real thing, but candy pebbles in small galvanized pails are a sweet and delightful favor for an outdoor wedding — a note lets guests know they’re for eating.

Seed Matchbook Favors

Martha Stewart Weddings, Spring 2010

Sure, matchbooks have become a go-to wedding favor, but there’s more to these clever versions than meets the eye. Give away a surprising something to remember in the form of a cheery, charming pack of forget-me-not seeds. The best part: Long after the big day, guests will watch the dainty blossoms — and the memories — spring to life.

Download editable clip art, and type in your first names and wedding date. There are two pages, one for the covers and one for the planting instructions inside the matchbook.

Print the front of the matchbook covers onto 8 1/2-by-11-inch card stock. Turn the paper over, and print the page of instructions on the back (test the alignment by printing one copy first, before printing the rest).

There are three creases you’ll need to make, and there are three sets of dotted crop marks to make it easier to do so. Use a bone folder and a metal straightedge to draw creases between the dotted crop marks.

Use a craft knife and the straightedge to cut out the matchbook covers, cutting along the edges of the colors.

Fold matchbook along creases.

Scoop seeds into 2-by-3 1/4-inch glassine envelopes, and fold top edge over twice by 1/4 inch.

Tuck seed-filled glassine envelope into the bottom flap, with the folded edge down, and staple once in the middle of the flap.

Wedding seed mix, $45 for 1 pound, Flower Art & Soul

Glassine envelopes (G7), $2.75 for 50, Clearbags

Cherry Blossom Favor Boxes

It doesn’t get any easier (or cuter) than this. Put dragees in notched-petal favor boxes. Arrange five of these unusual shapes together in a circle, and voila, you’ve got a classic five-petaled cherry blossom.

Custom favor boxes, Denise Sharp. Dragees, Pecou, from Crossings, 800-209-6141.

Bird Favors

Paper birds keep watch over colorful chocolates. To create, use scissors to carefully cut tulle, which comes by the yard, into 8-inch squares. Deposit several dragees onto each one. Gather up the tulle around the candy and secure each pouch with twine. Place a die-cut bird on top, knotting the twine around the bird’s leg to anchor it. Set the pouches out on trays for guests to take home.

http://weddingthings.weddingstar.com/product/miniature-natural-bird-nests

Gummi Garden Snacks

The aptly named Awesome Blossoms (groovycandies.com) are addictive, quarter-size candies that make great gifts. Slip them into clear bags (clearbags.com), and secure tags with brads.

Mini Bouquets

Give guests sprightly bouquets of their own: arrangements of ‘Ping Pong’ mums, chamomile, and lady’s mantle (or other blooms to fit your color scheme). The flowers are held in small plastic floral tubes filled with water.

Favor Tree

Ready to be plucked from the branches of a quince “tree,” dragees grouped in glassine bags are a delectable snack. Keep branches in water; arrange additional favors alongside.

Potted Orchid Favors

Perfect as a centerpiece for the party or as individual guest favors (perhaps at a shower), stunning orchids emerge from terra-cotta pots painted white and arranged on saucers. A butterfly-shaped tag on a thin wire holder hovers over each plant.

Bird’s Nest Favors

In these lovely favors, sugar-coated Jordan almonds masquerade as robins’ eggs in a delicate faux nest, while parchment paper threaded among them acts as a simple place card. The almonds are available from confectioners in a range of colors — the nests are from a floral-supply company. Cut 3/4-inch-wide strips of paper long enough to reach across a nest, and write a name on each strip, finishing the ends in an inverted V.

http://weddingthings.weddingstar.com/product/miniature-natural-bird-nests

Garden-Inspired Favor Bags

Surprise and delight your guests with creative packaging. Best of all, these are easy to craft and make a beautiful favor-table display.

  • WEDDING THINGS
    30 Jun, 2012mini natural bird’s nest can be found athttp://weddingthings.weddingstar.com/product/miniature-natural-bird-nests
  • Marshmallow Favors

    These marshmallows are naturally pastel-hued making them perfect for spring. They’re imported from Paris and, as you might suspect, they’re not your typical campfire fare — they are long (about 14 inches) and quite pretty, especially when fashioned into love knots, time-honored symbols of commitment.

  • mini natural bird’s nest can be found athttp://weddingthings.weddingstar.com/product/miniature-natural-bird-nests
  • Photo: Anna

    Enduring Favors

    These rosette-shaped ‘Echeveria’ resemble a favorite cut flower, but the similarity ends there. The hardiness of the succulent plant is unequaled and will leave guests with a lasting and easy-to-care-for reminder of your wedding — all they need is good drainage and sun.

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    Twisted Treats

    A flick of the wrist is all it takes to dress up tea cookies and bonbons: Layer Marcal dry wax paper (reliablepaper.com) on top of origami sheets, center a treat, and twist the ends in opposite directions to create tails.