How many weddings have been to where you brought home a wedding favor and kept it in some drawer or box until you threw it out during spring cleaning? I have every wedding favor that I have ever been given but I am just a strange bird.

Usually, wedding guests, “oooh” and “ahhh” about the reception and comment briefly on the choice of wedding favors but they forget about them and so will most of your wedding party after the big day is over. That being said, pick a wedding favor but don’t make it as important as looking for a wedding photographer. If you think I am kidding, you haven’t been around many brides. I know how you think. Spending $10 on each wedding favor isn’t going to make your wedding reception any nicer than the person who spent $1 per favor. They are still going to collect dust and end up in the trash – unless I am invited to the wedding and in that case they are prominently displayed. But the chances of all 250 of your guests caring for your wedding favor a month after the wedding day is slim… slim to none.

Everyone likes a little souvenir or something free. Ever see those celebrities on TV talk about how they love going to awards shows so they can get free stuff? Well, although it’s not necessary to have wedding favors, your wedding guests will appreciate a little souvenir of your wedding. Take this as an opportunity to be creative. Please don’t use Jordan almonds wrapped in tulle as your wedding favor. I beg you to think of anything else. And I know that five Jordan almonds are an Italian wedding tradition but if you are Italian there are plenty of other wedding traditions you can incorporate into your wedding ceremony and reception.

I had two different types of wedding favors at my wedding. One cost about $2 per wedding favor and the other cost $7 per wedding favor. No one knew the difference and the wedding guests loved them both. The wedding favors I choose were unique because they represented the first trip my husband I took as a couple and the wedding toast.

When choosing unique wedding favors think of special moments in your relationship with your fiancé for the wedding favors to represent – the first outdoor date you went on, the first song you really both enjoyed, the first dessert you shared with each other, the season you met, the candy both of you hate to share with anyone (except for each other), your profession, the first trip you took together, the first meal you made for each other, your favorite beverage or the town you were lost in when your fiancé refused to ask for directions.

And just one last comment about choosing unique wedding favors, once you have found them, there is no need to order them in size large. Wedding favors are supposed to be small tokens of appreciation. Please remember that when you consider buying 10 cases of your favorite merlot or 150 box sets of U2’s Greatest Hits. I promise you won’t look cheap if you don’t give all of Shakespeare’s comedies. Trust me.

Have you started thinking? Now you see there is life beyond Jordan almonds.