Charity donation as wedding favor

This would be a pass for me - regardless of the charity.

A favor is a small gift for your guest. These are optional

A donation is a personal decision, not something to be forced upon anyone

So what you're telling your guests is "We took the money we were going to use to get you a small gift, and donated it to some cause in your name without your consent"

Now, I don't think anyone would oppose donations to an animal shelter, but the concept is the same. Donate or don't, but this is a private thing and shouldn't have anything to do with your wedding.

Friends donated to the Wounded Warrior Project and had a very very small card on the table about it - they also had some koozies as well

I'd suggest to donate and not brag about it. Do a simple favor like a bag of candy or a cookie. Donating to charity is great, but advertising about it is not my favorite thing to do. If you're really interested in having a philanthropic side to your wedding, set up an option for your guests to give to a charity of your choice instead of giving you a gift off your registry.

That is a really cool idea.

@Celia- can I please hug you for mentioning PBB? My mother works for them and FH and my dog is a former PBB service dog. Thank you for suggesting them - Gloria does great work with PBB and they could use all any and all attention

Sure thing! I actually preached about them a few years ago. It's a wonderful concept that benefits both the prisoners and the returning vets who are lucky enough to get one of these wonderful dogs.

photos please!!!

My cousin did this and I have no issue with it. I also think it helps bring attention to a charity your guests may not be aware of.

I know this is an UO around here but I like this idea. When my niece and her husband were married over Labor Day weekend in 2015 their favors were chocolate bars with a custom wrapper. On the back of the wrapper it mentioned that a donation had been made to the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.

Her husband passed away from this terrible disease last week, less than two years after their wedding. I will always remember the donation they made and it feel it was absolutely the right decision.

Celia - thanks for the info on PBB - never heard of them, but I seem to remember a show that used to be on cable that was similar.

I use Charity Navigator, which is similar to Charity Watch.

Ellen - FH and I want to do this - we have all we need (and then some!)

I'm doing this!! We're donating to the shelter we rescued one of our pups from

I agree with the donation, but I feel announcing it is showboating.

What ^ Celia said.

I can never say no to showing off pics of our baby. Sorry to hijack - but not sorry

Awwww!!!! that is an engagement pix if I've ever seen one!

@Wanda, you're right. That's the name of the site (and Wounded Warriors got a very good score,BTW)

Yup, part of our proposal/e-pic session!

And @Wanda/anyone else who wants to learn more, PBB did a documentary on the PTSD dogs last year (they train both PTSD and EDC (explosive detection canine) dogs) called Prison Dogs. Available on Amazon. It follows 3 war veterans who get paired with a PTSD service dog and the process of training the dogs.

My mom wanted us to do this for cancer research or children with cancer because her father died of cancer. But we don't know how we feel about announcing that to our guests on a day that's supposed to be filled with love and happiness.

I really don't like this idea. "Look how generous we are!" Ugh

There was a thread on this yesterday. Most people on here dislike the idea. Personally, I think it's fine.

I totally support your choice to donate to an animal shelter but really there's no need for favors anymore. Instead of rubbing it in people's faces, just save some money and donate out of the kindness of your heart, not as a were getting married so we're going to donate money now type of thing

I can see where guests might think it was kind of snooty to advertise that the B&G had made a donation to a charity instead of having table favors. However, most of the wedding guests know the couple well and likely know that they're good hearted people. I got a cutesy goodie bag with candy in it. Maybe the price of 150 of those might have provided medical care for a few sick animals or brightened the day of a wounded vet. Place a simple, discrete sign somewhere. I am totally okay with this.

My cousin did that, I thought it was awesome