Wedding favours are small gifts given by the bride and groom, to their guests, during a wedding ceremony or wedding reception. These gifts are given as a gesture of appreciation or gratitude, or a memento to remember the day. They have become traditional in some Western cultures.
As a wedding guest, you’ll often find one as part of your place setting when you sit down to eat the wedding breakfast.
The tradition of distributing wedding favours is hundreds of years old. It is believed that the first wedding favour, common amongst European aristocrats, was known as a bonbonniere, a small trinket box that was made of crystal, porcelain or precious stones. The contents of these precious boxes were generally sugar cubes or delicate confections, which symbolised wealth and royalty.
As sugar became more affordable, sugar cubes were replaced by sugar-coated almonds as this became the standard wedding favour for hundreds of years.
Today, gifts to guests are commonly known as wedding favours and are shared in cultures worldwide, having become an accepted part of wedding reception planning, especially in the United States and Canada but also here in the UK.
Modern favours are diverse and usually complement the theme or season of the event or are in some way connected to the personalities of the couple getting married. Classic favours can range from the classic sugared almonds originally distributed by European aristocrats hundreds of years ago; to individual chocolates or candles and scented soaps.
Modern gift trends include small personalised gifts or a charitable donation in the name of their guests.
For more wedding favour ideas, check out our related blog posts and browse our online store.
At Wedding SuperMarket, we have a wide range of wedding favours available to order online.
