Wedding favors

mpitochelli

Im trying to figure out what to do for my wedding favors..something to do with the military so i was thinking about doing a dog tag with our names on it and our wedding date on it connected to a bag of goodies. but i have no idea where i would be able to get those dog tags made...any idea?

lulu4150

i wouldn't recommend the dog tags. they will either get thrown away or put in the back of closet.  with favors only go with something edible.

HeatherR45

Agree with PP, it's a cool idea, but I don't think it will be meaningful enough to some people. You could cut dog tags out of paper with your names and date on it and attach them to a little bag of goodies instead, would be much cheaper!

FloandMark

You can make a donation to CT National Guard (or another military charity). My friends brother is in the Guard - for her wedding she did a patriotic colored chocolate pretzel for each guest with a note that a donation was being made in their honor.

MoonlightSilver

I agree that favors should be edible. As much as we love our wedding date, it's not as meaningful to everyone else. 

Also, I'd avoid donations. If you make a donation, that's not a gift to your guests- so you can still do it, but don't pretend it's a favor to them. 

We're skipping favors all together. I don't think any of my guests will miss them. 

cmac3504

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_wedding-favors-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:65Discussion:f3a1da02-bf22-4a18-824d-45418288bc02Post:d445906a-9c4c-43e6-bd73-49105a6108e7">Re: Wedding favors</a>:
[QUOTE]I agree that favors should be edible. As much as we love our wedding date, it's not as meaningful to everyone else.  Also, I'd avoid donations. <strong>If you make a donation, that's not a gift to your guests- so you can still do it, but don't pretend it's a favor to them.</strong>  We're skipping favors all together. <strong>I don't think any of my guests will miss them. 
</strong>Posted by MoonlightSilver[/QUOTE]

FWIW, here are my opinions.....

<strong>"I don't think my guests will miss [favors]"</strong> - I have to disagree with this.  When I go to weddings, I enjoy seeing what each couple has put together as a favor. Plus I think it looks super cheap that you can spend thousands of $$s on your wedding but can't spend $25-200 in total (barely anything in comparison) on a small favor for each of your guests.  Same goes for OOT bags. (I recently went to a really nice wedding that didn't give a favor or OOT bag, and it makes you feel a little unappreciated..)

<strong>"If you make a donation, that's not a gift to your guests... so don't pretend it's a favor to them"</strong> - While I do agree that a donation is not really a gift to your guests, I'd prefer that over nothing.  It's a simple gesture to show you spent some time putting together a favor or finding a meaningful charity to help as a way of showing 'thanks' for all of your love/ support and time/money spent to be at the wedding.

MoonlightSilver

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_wedding-favors-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:65Discussion:f3a1da02-bf22-4a18-824d-45418288bc02Post:71bc42bc-cc95-44d4-b2a0-86ffe82e9ad0">Re: Wedding favors</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Wedding favors : FWIW, here are my opinions..... "I don't think my guests will miss [favors]" - I have to disagree with this.  When I go to weddings, I enjoy seeing what each couple has put together as a favor. Plus I think it looks super cheap that you can spend thousands of $$s on your wedding but can't spend $25-200 in total (barely anything in comparison) on a small favor for each of your guests.  Same goes for OOT bags. (I recently went to a really nice wedding that didn't give a favor or OOT bag, and it makes you feel a little unappreciated..) "If you make a donation, that's not a gift to your guests... so don't pretend it's a favor to them" - While I do agree that a donation is not really a gift to your guests, I'd prefer that over nothing.  It's a simple gesture to show you spent some time putting together a favor or finding a meaningful charity to help as a way of showing 'thanks' for all of your love/ support and time/money spent to be at the wedding.
Posted by cmac3504[/QUOTE]

<div>Each family is different, and may feel differently about favors. I am doing OOT bags, though. The whole reception is a thank you to the guests for coming to your ceremony, so I don't see why a $1 trinket or pack of M&Ms is going to change anything. </div><div>
</div><div>As for the donations- what if someone donated in your name to a charity who's mission you disagreed with? I'm thinking an anti-abortion guest who gets a donation to Planned Parenthood as a favor, or if your guest disagrees with the policy of the breast cancer org you donated to. We might think a certain charity is free of drama, but I'm willing to bet very very few of them actually are. I don't want to risk upsetting my guests. </div>

amymaysa

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_wedding-favors-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:65Discussion:f3a1da02-bf22-4a18-824d-45418288bc02Post:e0abb0f9-4b8b-4a24-9764-f3b06ac9219f">Re: Wedding favors</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Wedding favors : Each family is different, and may feel differently about favors. I am doing OOT bags, though. The whole reception is a thank you to the guests for coming to your ceremony, so I don't see why a $1 trinket or pack of M&Ms is going to change anything.  <strong>As for the donations- what if someone donated in your name to a charity who's mission you disagreed with? I'm thinking an anti-abortion guest who gets a donation to Planned Parenthood as a favor, or if your guest disagrees with the policy of the breast cancer org you donated to. We might think a certain charity is free of drama, but I'm willing to bet very very few of them actually are. I don't want to risk upsetting my guests.</strong> 
Posted by MoonlightSilver[/QUOTE]

I agree with the bold and would also like to point out, that every wedding I have gone to with donations as favors, I have never seen any kind of 'proof' that this happened. Now, I don't care if it does or doesn't, but I know for a fact, one couple said they did this and then were saying how they never got around to it.
Again, to each their own, but don't say you are donating as a favor and then not do it, just skip the favors in that case.

theholograms

Well, we are doing a donation for our wedding. One of my best friends past away a few years ago due to a heart condition - so we ARE making a donation to The American Heart Association in her memory (this will be stated to the guests). I think it is a very nice way to incorporate her into our wedding, when one of her sisters heard we were doing this she cried. 

I've been to over 20 weddings and I can tell you that I haven't kept a single gift - and I personally think making a donation to a charity that has meaning to us is a special favor to give.

(We will be having a candy bar with bags for people to take candy home with them - so I guess if we have guests like some of the comments on here suggest, the need for a favor will be satisfied.)

calindi

I would really suggest staying away from dogtags in any part of your wedding - dogtags are there so that the can identify dead service members.  Seriously.  Not something that is cool or cute, and definitely not something you want as part of your wedding.  As a military significant other, I'd get the creeps seeing dogtags at someone's wedding.

Personally, I don't miss favors when they're not there.  As ladies said, no one usually wants something with your names and date on it.  And as far as edible goes, you'll probably have plenty of food at your wedding.  If you don't want to do favors, don't do them.  So not a big deal!

As far as donations go, I don't mind.  If you want something military, I'd suggested the Wounded Warriors Project.  I can't imagine anyone objecting to that! 

If you want a physical favor that represents the military, you could come over to the Military Brides board and I'm sure they have lots of ideas!  I can't think of any off the top of my head, but we're not really encorporating the military into our wedding much besides him wearing his uniform.

We're having Georgetown Cupcakes (they're opening a store in Boston, and they have one in NYC already - we used to frequent the DC store when we lived in DC) and we're going to have them put a custom fondant circle on top with our last initial.  They do custom fondant for free with the large cupcake purchase - you could do something military themed if you wanted?

kizznible

Ok WOW, I love your idea about dogtags, it may be costly but if that is what you want to do and it fits your budget, then go for it. The first thing that came to mind is Thingsrembered. But the knot might even have something, I am sure if you do a search online you can find something.

I have got to disagree with the PP that would go against a charity. I am personally doing 2 favors. I made a donation to the ASPCA and they actually send you cards for you to place on the tables. (takes the guess work out of it for your guests). It is meaningful to me and my FI so I could honestly care less if other people would be offended that we decided that to be their favor. So if you did a donation to veterans or some sort of military charity, dont for a second think that the people would be upset and think that was not a gift. People served our country and I am sure they would be thankful. I am also doing a little green tea favor to go with my theme, and because I worry that it will be forgotten or tossed I am hoping people will use it at the reception during our toast. 

The way I see it, is no matter what you use as a favor you can't think of everyone. you could have that person with the food allergy, the person who doesn't use candles, that person that would be upset that you gave a notepad and they love trees. You can't make everyone happy, but as long as you are happy with it and a majority of the people will find it important because they know it was to you, then do what your heart tells you. 

LandB2012

I agree that the dogtags aren't my favorite....just because of how they are meant to identify bodies. 

I keep hearing that donations are tacky, but I never mind when I go to a wedding that does this.  We're doing toffee from our favorite candy store in CA, but that doesn't have any military theme.

I liked the idea about the pretzel with a donation.  Love something that is edible but don't think it's necessary.  My mom is in love with these salad tongs she got at a wedding years ago and uses them every day.