Name cards and Favors

TinyTRex321

I haven't decided yet what to do for name cards and favors yet.  As far as seating goes I'll do assigned tables but not assigned seats. I have seen a lot of cute ideas for how to do the cards.  I have also heard though that you can be changing around the seating plans until the last minute (when people cancel and so forth). How do you handle this?   I have also thought of just doing a cute board that has everyone's name listed with their table number. Anyone have something cute and easy they did or are doing?

Is everyone doing favors? I have gone back and forth on this. I mean I don't think everyone wants something with our names and wedding date on it. So we were thinking something edible. I don't think we want to do a candy buffet. I saw these ( <--- clicky) that I thought were really cute. I just have to see if I can find the jars for a good deal.

Hmm making decisions is so hard sometimes!

NcsuPsych

dawn - Cdreison - did the board with guest's names listed with their table number beside their name. It was a great idea and she did a awesome job with it. I also think it was really easy for guests because it was right where the guestbook was, so as we were waiting in line to sign, we could find out where we sat.

IMO I think that's the less stressful route too because I think it would be easier to re-arrange guests and what not because you wouldn't be printing individual guest cards.

Love your favor idea!! Too cute )
We made chocolate suckers and everyone loved them. My MOH is the one that started it and so we just rolled with the flow and continued to make them.  I agree with your idea that not everyone will want names and dates.  While it's a nice idea and momentous occassion, I personally, perfer something a little less personalized.

Beth0882

We did individiual cards, printed on normal paper, glued onto cardstock, and then stuck in corks that we had cut slits in, and glued pennies to the bottom of to keep it stable.  We had the corks all ready about a month before the wedding, but I waited until about 2 weeks after the RSVP date (which we put a month ahead) to finalize the seating chart and print out the names.  At that point I figured it people canceled, oh well, we'd just have empty chairs at tables, and if someone would rather sit in that spot and move, I didn't care.  We did this mostly because we liked the cork idea and wanted to carry out wine theme out.  My best friend did the board thing, and she took her file into Kinkos the day before the wedding to have it blown up and put on thick backing board which they did in no time, so that is also a way to be able to change things up until the last possible second.

As far as favors, I was planning to do a candy buffet but got tired of doing projects in the last month or so before the wedding, so I just took the chinese takeout boxes we had ordered (I think I spent under $20 for 250 boxes); ordered free address labels from Vistaprint with our name and wedding date on them; and bought bulk bags of candy (it was halloween time so that was easy) and put candy in each box.  People seemed to love them and there weren't many left behind at the end of the night.  Plus it was cheap. 

amandaandkyle

I am thinking about doing some type of board for our table assignments too (I as well have been trying to come up with a cute idea for the individual cards that is also secure outdoors) but I like the boards and I think it's something a little different.

As for favors, we are going the edible route -- hopefully something I can make a little ahead of time at least.  I make truffles and I've tossed around a few other chocolate type "dessert" things but nothing is final yet!

pirategal03

We didn't do table assignments.  So I have no suggestions there.  We used these as our favors:




We ordered them from Etsy seller 2birdsinlove (clicky) and they were amazing!  People are still telling me how much they liked them, or how much they enjoyed watching the birds eat them when they hung them in their yards.  Ours were an H, but she can do any letter of the alphabet, or a bird, or a heart, or a couple other shapes, I think.  I liked the idea of edible favors, but couldn't find any that I liked especially for us, bu these were perfect.

TinyTRex321

Thanks everyone!

Mary - I love those bird seed favors. I just need to convince FH on it now. They are such a good deal too!

pirategal03

She likes about 8 weeks notice on an order, just FYI, and she times it so it arrives just a couple days before the wedding. (as if you need more wedding stuff taking up space in your house before then ya know?)

BridetobeJenG

We're going place cards for assigned tables, but not actual assigned seats at the table. We're using the second half of our response card (we cut it in half to use one half for the response card and one half for the place card).

We are renting a photobooth so our favors will be the pictures people take in the photobooth. The fiance wants his favorite mints so those will be on the table, but not technically a favor.

laurenes

Luckily we're doing a cocktail and heavy appetizer reception,  so no name cards required! hurray!

As for favors, call me silly, but I think these things are dumb. Brides always worry about them, and guests either a) eat them in less than a minute and forget about it, or b) don't want something with you name and wedding date engraved into it and will throw it away in a week.

That being said, since they are a staple of wedding, FI and I knew we had to do something. We're donating money to the SPCA of raleigh in honor of our guests. Walmart has little collage photo cards for a few cents that we're going to put pictures of us and our (six) pets on, and we're going to distribute them at the wedding (we're not sure if we're going to put them in the programs, near the guest signing frame, etc yet). We figure it's more personalized than food (well,  except for those creepy m&ms you can put a picture of your face on), and a better use of our wedding savings than pet rocks engraved with our wedding date.