Today we feature my favorite kind of wedding favors.

I feel very strongly that wedding favors need to be useful – they should be more than a useless knickknack. I love wedding favors that are edible or wedding favors that can be planted in your garden.

But most of all, I love wedding favors that serve double duty – they are perfect for the budget conscious bride. What do I mean by double duty? I mean favors that also serve as a place card or, when displayed on the table, become the centerpiece. Here are some of my favorites:

Picture Frame Favor – Place Card

This pink rhinestone frame from hotref.com is used as a place card for guest seating and also functions as a cute wedding favor that guests can take home.

Bamboo Wedding Favor – Centerpiece

Group these individual pots from natureperfect.com together on each table to make a unique centerpiece. Guests get to pick one and take it home afterwards!

Shot Glass Wedding Favor and Special Toast

Serve filled shot glasses, like these ones from favorfavor.com to the guests and ask them to participate in a special toast. Perfect fun for a destination wedding where you can use the local specialty (tequila, grappa, jagermeister…). Then they get to take the glass home as a wedding favor.

Custom Dice Wedding Favor and Reception Ice Breaker

A cute favor for the Las Vegas wedding or geeky couple who love to play yahtzee. Create custom yahtzee score paper and include a cup at each table so that your guests can have some fun getting to know each other while the wedding party is off getting photos taken. Provide prizes to the winner at each table or reward them by forcing them to sing a song or share a story about the happy couple!

In the 1950’s people really knew how to throw a cocktail party (or at least in the movies they did, anyways!).

Finger Foods, Mixed Drinks, and Party Games

A Classic Cocktail Party (fifties theme) is the perfect setting for a bridal shower, engagement party, or jack and jill party.

And, here’s a great  idea: carry the 50’s theme a step further by focussing on that famous 50’s married TV couple: Lucy and Ricky Ricardo!

Copy the heart from the TV series credits but replace “I Love Lucy” with the names of the engaged couple. Play your favorite episodes of the show on a TV set (this will give party guests something to talk about – a bonus if your guest list is made up of lots of people who are just getting acquainted).

You can even buy a CD of Desi Arnaz performing his hits – aptly named “Cocktail Hour”.

amazon.ca

Games

Lucy and Ricky VS. Fred and Ethel

Seat the engaged couple together against the Best Man and Maid of Honor. Print out the faces of Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel and either make them into masks or use them to label the contestants’ spots if you are seating them behind table. Or, better yet, make them wear t-shirts with the character’s head printed across the chest. Explain that you will be asking questions to see who knows the bride and groom better – the fiance/fiancee or the best friends? Ask the party guests to take sides – who will win? Ask a series of questions. Give prizes to the winning couple and party favors to the guests standing on the winners’ side of the room (jello shots perhaps?).

Party Prizes

Get party prizes straight from the source – you can shop at the I Love Lucy online store. Purchases help support the Lucy-Desi Museum and the Desilu Playhouse in Jamestown, New York. They have a whole line of salt and pepper sets based on household items (vacuum, washer/dryer, toaster) all very 50’s housewife and reminiscent of classic wedding gifts. Other ideas from their store: a set of Lucy coasters or a tin of of Lucy’s Predica-mints!

Refreshments

Time to stock the bar and buy a cocktail recipe book! Designate a bartender for the evening (or several, to work in shifts). Another option is to select two or three cocktails to offer – or one signature cocktail for the couple and a big bowl of fancy punch. You can read more about cocktail party drinks at our previous article about Jack and Jill parties.

Costumes

Cocktail Party Clothes

A cocktail party also gives you the perfect excuse to wear a party dress and a cute pair of shoes!  Check out a list of top ten Retro Dresses at thefashionpolice.net.

You can get your whole cocktail costume at starletsandharlets.com –

Their rock and roll retro looks put the cocky into cocktail.

starletsandharlets.com

Don’t let winter confine your wedding ideas to the indoors – you still have plenty of opportunity to make big plans for the great outdoors. A blanket of snow or frost can provide the perfect backdrop for some stunning decorations outside the place where you get married or celebrate afterwards (or both). The white sheen of snow or ice bounces back light to draw attention to focal points you create.

In the last post (Winter Wedding Wonderland) I gave some examples of how you can use Winter to your advantage: twinkling lights, a dramatic fur cape, bright flowers for contrast – go back to the article to see all of the great ideas there.

Big Wedding Plans for the Great Outdoors

Bright Ideas for Winter White

Imagine these vibrant petals scattered on the snow along both sides of a path to your chapel – or in your outdoor wedding photos. If the canvas is white, you can literally paint with the petals.

Creative use of dance lights to paint a white landscape would also be effective for a nighttime event (or late afternoon – it can get dark quite early, another advantage to winter weddings!).

www.partylights.co.uk

Paper lanterns can also be beautiful (and budget-conscious) as long as they are needed for only a brief time (rain or even mist will damage them very quickly).

www.justartifacts.com

White on White

For an elegant look, you can avoid contrast and accentuate the whiteness by decorating with transparent or white objects – excellent for a clear, bright winter day. If your event is at night, you can use accent lighting to draw the eye.

tripadvisor.com

You can add your own icicles to nature to emphasize the season. For example, you could decorate with icicles made out of glass or handcrafted snowflakes.

www.glassicicles.com/

These snowflakes are larger than life at 4 feet tall.

www.shindigz.com

While you are bringing big ideas to your winter wedding – you can also incorporate it into the details at the same time. This really pulls the whole event together. Here is an example:

A beautiful snowflake headband

www.flutterbyweddings.co.uk