Wedding Favours

 

The custom regarding giving favours to wedding guests goes back centuries and was to say "thank you" to guests for helping to make the occasion special.

 

In the past, aristocratic families, particularly those from Europe, would give each and every wedding guest a sugar treat presented in a fancy box. Back then sugar was rare and expensive and such a gift was regarded very well. Sugar symbolised prosperity and royalty. The boxes the favour was presented in were made of ceramic or metal and decorated with precious stones.

 

It was also regarded that the marriage ceremony of two individuals was seen as a lucky occasion, so the bride and groom would offer their guests a "Wedding favour" as a means of sharing this luck.

 

Gradually, sugar became less expensive and less of a luxury and ordinary citizens started to give favours at their weddings with 5 sugared almonds then becoming popular as an alternative. These 5 sweets were to represent health, prosperity, fertility, joy and longevity. The sugared almond was also said to represent the bitter and the sweet of marriage.

 

Some also say that today's favours also emanate from gifts given to the Bride's Maids at the wedding. In medieval times the bride’s maids would have been many – basically all her girl friends and hence a small gift was presented to each one from the bride as a last thank-you before the bride moved on to become a wife and "owned” by the husband. In a way, it was a sad memento as in many cases the new wife would rarely see her girl friends after she was married as she was beholden to her husband – but its changed a little since then! Hence the gifting of a memento of the occasion.

 

Here at Candlewarehouse.ie we like to think that wedding favours combine both above traditions and are a joyous, memento and small gift from the bride and groom to say thank you for sharing their special day and what better memento than a beautiful Wedding day scent votive with personalised label and organza bag for presentation for each guest or for each invite.

 

 

Next page>> Today's wedding favours | How do you present the favours?