Wedding Favors: A History
Wedding favors are little gifts, tokens or trinkets which are given to the guests of the newly wed couple after the wedding ceremony or during the wedding reception. They are often tokens that extend a sense of gratitude for the presence of the guests during the wedding day.
The giving of wedding favors is a very old tradition. It is widely believed that the first ever practice of giving wedding favors were done by old European aristocrats, nobles, and members of the elite and upper class. At first they called a wedding favor a bonbonniere, which is Italian for favors.
Centuries ago, bonbonnieres were always characterized by a little box, the size of a trinket or jewel box that was made out of porcelain, crystals, and rarely with additional precious gems and stones. These boxes often had sugar, sugar cubes, and other fragile confections. This was created to solely signify loyalty and wealth. The purpose for this was, because back then, sugar was a rare commodity because of its expensiveness, only the rich people and the nobles could have and could afford it at that particular time.
Thereafter, bonbonneries were being replaced with almonds because of the declining trend of sugar over the ages its becoming more reasonable in terms of prices. For several centuries, it was common to give almonds as a wedding favor to the wedding guest to signify the affluence of the new couple’s life together.
Sugar coated almonds known as confetti was soon introduced in the thirteenth century. Over time confetti then evolved into sugared almonds, and then became known as the modern day wedding favors that were distributed in weddings today. It was tradition to have five Jordan almonds to be presented in a confection box or to be wrapped in beautiful fabric. Each almond is meant to represent wealth, health, fertility, longevity, and happiness. One reason why almonds were used, aside from being a bit expensive, was because that the bitterness of the almond and the sweet candy coating represent the bittersweet union of marriage.
Nowadays, gifts to wedding guests are more commonly known as wedding favors and the giving of tokens of appreciation to wedding guests is a tradition shared amongst the different cultures of the world.
In today’s world, wedding favors are a part of a wedding reception plan, which is especially popular in the United States and in Canada. Sometimes these gifts come in different shapes and sizes depending on the theme or the season. Classic wedding favors come in sugared almonds, individual chocolates, to mini cakes, to candles. More contemporary gifts are now in style like tokens with the bride and grooms picture with their names and the wedding date engraved.
These are just to name a few. There are more types of wedding favors out there, especially in today’s modern world.
Weddings are such joyous occasion that everyone participating in the wedding entourage are excited to experience its preparation. You can begin with wedding favors that will display a stunning effect on this big day. Or you may want to try bridesmaid gifts.