Favors..... necessary or a waste of money?

donjoe2448

I am on an extremely tight budget for my wedding, as we are paying for the entire thing ourselves.  We are looking to trim costs where ever possible and my question is this..... are having something for the guests to take home really necessary? I know that in weddings I have been to, there have been the typical Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle but that just seems so blah....... Will it look bad if we dont have anything? And if I did feel it necessary, what are some cost effective ideas? I know I have seen things like a candy buffet with small boxes for favors...... any other ideas?

JoanE2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_favors_favors-necessary-or-a-waste-of-money?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:27Discussion:f619fb71-9cf0-492f-9e4a-facd49bb704fPost:f2784ecb-52af-4d1f-a7d2-9438ca8328b0">Favors..... necessary or a waste of money?</a>:
[QUOTE]I am on an extremely tight budget for my wedding, as we are paying for the entire thing ourselves.  We are looking to trim costs where ever possible and my question is this..... are having something for the guests to take home really necessary? I know that in weddings I have been to, there have been the typical Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle but that just seems so blah....... Will it look bad if we dont have anything? And if I did feel it necessary, what are some cost effective ideas? I know I have seen things like a candy buffet with small boxes for favors...... any other ideas?
Posted by donjoe2448[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Absolutely ok to not have favors!  The reception is your thank you to your guests, you don't need anything extra.  Save the money and put it elsewhere in your budget.  If you do decide you really want something, stick with something edible......anything else and it often gets left behind.  Good luck!

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MrsGandthebeag

No need to have favors.

wittykitty14

In Response to Re: Favors..... necessary or a waste of money?:
[QUOTE]In Response to Favors..... necessary or a waste of money? : Absolutely ok to not have favors!  The reception is your thank you to your guests, you don't need anything extra.  Save the money and put it elsewhere in your budget.  If you do decide you really want something, stick with something edible......anything else and it often gets left behind.  Good luck!
Posted by JoanE2012[/QUOTE]

This.  We decided against them too.  The entire reception is for the guests.  I've been to weddings with favors, and they were a big waste of money.  People take them home and chuck them, or leave them behind.  Edible is the only way to go for favors, but it's still an added expense that's unnecessary.  On the flip side, I've been to weddings without favors, and didn't even notice. If you don't want favors, that's perfectly ok!

mc4dj13

If you don't have the room in your budget for favors, don't stress. We are nixing the favors and making a small donation to a local charity in it's place. 

nicg2013

My fiance and I also chose to not have favours, and I think it's completely okay. The meal, open bar, reception gets so expensive that I think it's completely okay and understandable to not have favours!

AddieCake

mc4dj13 said:

If you don't have the room in your budget for favors, don't stress. We are nixing the favors and making a small donation to a local charity in it's place. 

I hope that just means that you are going to skip favors and just use the money you didn't spend on favors to quietly and privately make a donation and that you are not going to put up little signs or something telling people what you did. 

mc4dj13

I have been researching how to respectively handle this since it seems to be the latest controversy. We are going to make an announcement to our guests and say something like "Thank you all for coming and sharing our special day- today we have made a donation to the American Cancer Society"

AddieCake

Why? 

JoanE2012

mc4dj13 said:

I have been researching how to respectively handle this since it seems to be the latest controversy. We are going to make an announcement to our guests and say something like "Thank you all for coming and sharing our special day- today we have made a donation to the American Cancer Society"

Donate quietly, not publicly.  Announcing it looks like you're trying to show off.  "Hey, look fabulous we are....we donated money to charity!"

crutchessbu

My fiancee and I were talking about making a donation in lieu of favors, so I started researching the topic and came across some pretty stong opinions against the practice. And to be quite honest, I'm a little shocked. Now I can understand why people would be upset if we made donations to an extreme religious or political chairty that goes against their views entirely, but donations to ACS or St. Jude or Make-a-Wish...why would this upset anyone? And saying that it's okay to not have favors just isn't true. In theroy the whole reception is a "favor" to the guest, the food the drink the entertainment...but for some reason the most people expect something and will make comments if nothing is done. And honestly, would you really want to hear people complain that there were no favors at your wedding after all the time you spent planning and preparing and the money you spent? I know i'm rambling at this point, but I think this discussion is, in a nutshell, what is wrong with people today. Everyone wants something for free, they think their ideals are more imporant than everyone elses and apparently no one can do anything without people thinking they are trying to brag or showoff...it's sad actually

proudMrsG

I always felt favors were a complete waste of money. Every wedding I go to I see these left behind. So if you are in a tight budget or want to do a donation in lieu of favors I would highly recommend it. Another thing I would look into is maybe renting a photo booth (or DIY). People can take the pictures home as favors and they will last a lot longer.

Jen4948

There is absolutely no requirement that there be favors of any kind at a wedding and I don't think a single person minds if there are no favors. 

But the problem with "announcing" a donation at a wedding, whether or not in lieu of favors, is that it co-opts the event and turns it into an awareness-raiser or even a fundraiser for the charity.  It goes from being a "joyously celebrate the marriage of John and Mary with their family and friends" to "Cancer/diabetes/AIDS/Democrats/Republicans//heifers/whatever the cause is soooooooo tearjerking"-and that's not why people are there to attend your wedding.  It's a bait-and-switch.

It's also just not a gracious message that one is spending their money on someone else "in lieu of" giving something to guests that they weren't expecting or entitled to.

MuppetFan

No need to give favors.