Wedding Favours

Wedding favours are gifts given to guests, who attend the wedding, by the bride or the groom. Though the tradition of giving wedding favours is a old one, however, lately this idea has widely expanded and the entire concept has given a growth scope to a large industry.

The traditional idea of wedding favours is said to have originated with bonbonnieres (small ceramic or porcelain boxes decorated with crystals and precious metals and stones), which was commonplace amongst European aristocrats. These boxes contained sugar cubes or other such sweat-tasting confectionary items, as in that era sugar was an expensive commodity and not freely available and as such was seen as a symbol of wealth and riches. With the increased availability of sugar the idea of bonbonnieres soon became usual even among the not-so-wealthy. Later when sugar became freely available its desirability as a gift reduced, and was replaced first by almonds coated with sugar and then with sugared almonds.

Wedding favours may include items like cards, tags, poems, candles, metal showpieces, small bottles of perfumes, paintings, glassware, crystal decorations, rings, vases, bags, rings, charms, chocolates, etc. Some couples also get their wedding favours customised by etching their names and wedding dates on the items.