Where do wedding favours come from? Who started the tradition and are they still important? Wedding favours might seem like a small thing but if you have a guest list of 100 plus people the cost can soon add up. So, are having wedding favours something that you can skip in order to focus your budget on other more important things? Or do they have a rich history and heritage that might make you want to think twice about leaving them out?

The Origins of Wedding Favours

Whilst it is hard to put an exact date on the origins of the wedding favour it is true that they have been around for many centuries, and it is believed they first came into fashion through the French aristocracy.

Small porcelain or crystal trinket boxes would be filled with sugar or confectionary and given out to guests. At a time when sugar was rare and expensive this was seen as a luxury to bestow upon one’s guests and was a symbol of wealth.

It has long been custom to use sugared almonds as the preferred wedding favour and this is a tradition that comes from Greece. Almonds are considered a symbol of good luck and the Greek tradition was to give each guest five Almonds. This was thought to represent:

• Fertility
• Longevity
• Health
• Wealth
• Happiness

The act of giving sugared almonds was seen as a way for the wedding couple to share their own good fortune with their guests and was also a mark of respect. 

Modern Day Wedding Favours

As times have changed and modernised, so has our approach to wedding favours. Whilst many couples still like to give them to their guests the choice of favour has changed somewhat over the years. Sugared Almonds are no longer the go to favour, having fallen out of fashion over the last decade or two. Now, although many couples still like to give out chocolates or other sweets, the list of items used for wedding favours is much more varied and includes:

• Chocolates
• Candles
• Soaps
• Sweets
• Photo Frames
• Bespoke Items
• Jewellery
• Cupcakes
• Alcoholic miniatures (for the adults)
• And more!

Wedding favours, if you choose to have them, really are something that you can be creative with. You can think outside of the box and do something a little different that makes them both special and memorable. Keep in mind that often the simplest of things can make the biggest impact.

Do You Need Wedding Favours?

The short answer is no, you do not need to have wedding favours. Wedding favours are not an essential part of your day, but they do have a lot of history behind them and are considered a nice way to show your guests that you appreciate having them in your life and that you are thankful they have been able to attend your wedding and share a memorable and magical day with you.

Wedding favours can ultimately be as big or as small as you would like and can be expensive gifts or they can cost next to nothing but have an incredibly personal and well thought out touch to them. 

Typically wedding favours are placed on the table setting at your venue ready for when your guests arrive after the ceremony has taken place. Depending on your theme and choice of favour they can be used to further enhance your place settings and almost be a form of decoration in themselves. Of course, the flip side of this is they could be taking up valuable space on place settings that you can’t afford to lose, and you could end up with reception tables that look messy and not well thought out and this is probably something that you will want to avoid.

It’s unlikely that anyone would take offense if you chose not to include wedding favours on your special day and they can certainly increase costs depending on the number of guests you have and the type of favour you opt for. Like many other things it’s down to your own personal choice. Do wedding favours feel important to you? If so, why? And can you create a unique wedding favour with an individualised touch that doesn’t take money from what could already be a tight budget? 

It’s another decision you need to make whilst you are planning your wedding, but it shouldn’t be one that you lose sleep over.