Do Me A Favor.

Last night, I was having dinner with some family friends who are visiting for a few weeks from Sweden.  They had a lot of questions about the wedding, and somehow the topic of favors came up.  The mother of the family lived in America for a year (with my family, actually) and understands favors, and explained them to her children as being an American tradition.

I never thought about it one way or the other, but it surprised me to hear that American's are the only ones who give gifts to people who we host for parties.  After a little bit of research, I found that we aren't the only ones (apparently, it has history in many countries in Europe, Australia, India, & many other countries I didn't come across in my brief search, too). But there isn't a good source I could find quickly to confirm it completely.  All I know is that we give favors rather expectantly, and my family friends from Sweden think this is strange.

If you're interested in knowing WHY we give favors, I can give you a brief history based on what I read quickly in my search.  It dates back to medieval times, when sugar was a thing of wealth, and gifts of sugar and confections were given out to demonstrate the wealth of the hosts and as a means of thanking the guests for coming.  In a slightly more modern sense, in the 16th - 18th centuries, when sugar was still a measure of wealth, it became popular to give gifts of sugar in jeweled or porcelain boxes, at any party or event, again as a display of wealth.  As the price of sugar was lowered, favors trickled into the lower classes and became more of an every man's item. Here is where we have the inception of jordan almonds - the standard fare wedding favor that dates backs hundreds of years, where five jordan almonds were given as a favor to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health, & happiness for the couple (these five blessings are found in many cultures traditions).  Unless you are one of the few people who enjoy these almonds - the taste is not delicious for a reason - it's supposed to be a balance of the bitterness and sweetness that married life brings. This makes me hate those wretched candies a teeny bit less - but I will still never eat them!

I'm sure you all wanted that brief history lesson. You're welcome. :)

Anyway,  this brings us up to speed to today, where wedding favors are somewhat unnecessary, sometimes unappreciated, but much stressed over. If you're following with tradition, then today's favors that are sugar based are spot on.  And usually the most appreciated too.  We have never had a candy favor that got thrown out in this house (except Jordan Almonds)! Initially, a candy/food favor would seem the most appropriate for us.

Mini Cakes @ MOH Diane's wedding / Personal Photo

You all remember how my MOH is incredibly talented at her job? Well for her wedding, she created over a hundred mini cakes - in both chocolate and red velvet, covered in fondant, and hand decorated with sugar flowers and piped icing.  She did that on top of making her own 7 tier wedding cake.  Needless to say the guests (myself included!) were bowled over by her talent and has been by far the best favor I've ever received.  However, since we will have an over abundance of food at the wedding, not to mention two cakes, we will not be doing a food favor.

We then toyed with the idea of coasters. I really liked Future Mrs. K's DIY Coasters

DIY Coasters / Image via Weddingbee's Future Mrs. K

I even went as far as buying all the stamps.  But in the end, coasters are not "us" and while I love how cute these are, and Mr. Ly was totally on board,  it just wasn't the right fit for our favors. Also, I'm not all about turning favors into a labor intensive project for myself, although I do want to use those stamps for something!

Our final choice for favors was one I had been resisting, for very silly reasons.  I love photo booths, I have since I was in middle school. Any and every time I pass one, I am just drawn into it.When they started popping up at weddings, I was thrilled.  In 2007,  I experienced my first wedding photo booth and told myself that I would definitely have one at my hypothetical, far off wedding.  Flash forward to recently engaged me in 2011, where photo booths may be the jordan almonds of our time (not gross - I just mean you see them A LOT).  I told Mr. Ly that I did NOT want a photo booth because everyone has a photo booth.  This lasted about 3 months. There was an awesome photo booth deal, and I realized that it didn't matter if every single wedding I ever went to/will go to has a photo booth - I like love them.  So everyone else is doing it - SO WHAT?  I decided we couldn't pass it up, and when I went to buy it, not 24 hours after it went on sale - it was gone.

Just a few of the photo strips currently being displayed in our kitchen from weddings, bridal shows, & the shore
Personal Photo

I hunted LivingSocial deals, Groupons, Philly's Dealyo, Eversave, Saveology, any flash sale site you can think of for months - I was on a mission. I even would check as far north as NYC and south as D.C., I was prepared to pay the travel cost for a good deal! I had to stop myself short once from buying one in Virginia Beach, yes almost 300 miles away. Finally, a good deal came around, we snatched it up, and I'm sure you are all relieved to know that we will be having a photo booth at our wedding!

So far for the Lyre wedding we have Groupon/Living Social favors, nectar (mini) moon, & printing for our invites - do you think I'm obsessed much? What do you think of photos as favors? What are some of the best/worst favors you've ever received?