Favors at a destination wedding?

Hello:

I am having a destination wedding as well this month on May 25th..For our party favors we decided to DIY Sea Shell that says, "Thank you for coming, May 25, 2023," and then it has the guest name on them. These are going to be used as place holders as well so the guests will know where they will be sitting.

Favors are always optional and most people don’t miss them. The consensus is that edible favors are best but that is a know your crowd thing since we have seen many edible favors that could not be given away at the end of the night.



Save your money and focus on the guest experience that people actually remember: great hospitality, good food, free drinks, great dj.
As far as thank you cards, send them promptly and mail out photographs later.

We had this exact same thought! In the end, rather than doing traditional favors, we invested in entertainment for our guests during their stay and then sent professional photos from our photographer printed out of each couple and sent them the photos with their thank you cards. Nearly every single person called or text us to say how much they loved the photos!

Destination weddings can be expensive for guests, requiring in many cases time off from work, too. In your place I would forgo unnecessary little souvenirs, and put any additional resources toward things like +1s for single guests, additional meals, covering traditional expenses like bridal party accommodations, contributing toward transportation, purchasing bridal party outfits, etc.

I had a huge dilemma about what to do for favors because about half our guest have to fly in (including us). I could not figure out something that wasn’t hokey but could also easily go in a carry on suitcase or survive a baggage handler. I lucked out in having a friend who’s trying to get a custom wood engraving business off the ground, so she jumped at the chance to help me make some wood coasters and personalized key chains. But two of the other items I considered were a mini bottle of sunscreen with a custom label (like the style that’s on a carabiner) or a bottle opener key chain with our names and wedding date on it. I think it’s a nice thing to do favors, especially after people have spent so much on travel costs. Just make it something useful.

Thank you all. Your insight has been quite helpful.
Certainly, taking care of our guests for a destination wedding is at the top of our list; transportation, food, beverages, and entertainment are all taken care of. Overall I'm more about the experience and memory created than the bauble. With that said, for now I'll focus on creating the experience and leave the idea open to creating photo keepsakes after we get back.

Cece - I like how the photo idea worked out for you. Deanna - the coaster idea is very original and a keepsake I know I would appreciate.
Thank you all.

We’re doing travel tumblers with the guests’ names, not ours. We found a design that matches our venue, and we’re hoping our guests will be able to use them out on the dance floor since they’ll have lids and straws. Plus with their names on them, they’ll be able to keep track of which cup is theirs all night. If anyone doesn’t want theirs, then of course we’ll just have to toss it. But we’re hoping that because they’re practical to use throughout the evening, they’ll be fairly popular. Other than that we’re also getting to go boxes for our cake slices in case anyone wants to save their slice for later or take an extra one.

In your situation I would have your photographer make sure take a nice photo of every couple/family/individual who attends and then have a nice photo printed after the wedding to send them. I know I always appreciate having decent photos of my family. I would not need my face on a coast though - that seems weird to me.

Our photographer went around during dinner and did that for most people (just to document who attended, not bc we aske her to). After I posted wedding photos on Facebook it was pretty amazing how many christmas cards I got that year that had a family photo that was taken at our wedding because it was the only nice pic of their family that year

ETA: also send them the proof so they can purchase copies if they want to!

I think your idea of a keepsake photo as a "favor" is a good one. I'm not familiar with destination wedding but as more expense and effort is involved, I agree that a "bauble" is not necessary. If anything, though I would go with something consumable like mini bottles of champagne, and a pack of special cookies. Or, bottles of bubbles. Which is what our young grandkids will get at our "wedding" in 2 weeks. We are having a Catholic "convalidation" ceremony because we couldn't have a Catholic wedding 38 years ago. It's a short ceremony during a regular Sunday morning Mass, followed by a wedding dinner for 8 in a nearby restaurant. I decided I wanted favors: I had small, personalized crosses made with our names and the date on them. The adults will also get heart-shaped magnets with our names and date too. Included with be Herseys Kisses with personalized stickers on the bottoms, and traditional pastel colored Jordan almonds. The 2 kids will get small bottles of bubbles. They'll be in small ivory gift boxes with gold handles and bows, and Thank You in gold on the front, and a marriage blessings sticker on the back. Everything except the crosses, which came from a Christian book store, came from amazon.com, Walmart & Ebay and I don't think I spent $70 for everything, but they are very elegant and appropriate, and will nice on the table.

I decided to do a small edible favor because our guest list is so small (20 tops) and it wouldn't end up being too much money spent. We are just doing "his favorite" and "her favorite" snacks - mini Reese's for hubby and Swedish Fish for me. Got labels that sort of matched our invites/colors from Zazzle, will get self-sealing bags and the candy. And if any are left behind, they'll be eaten because they're our favorites

View Quoted Comment Brittany, I've seen the his and hers candy bags. They're very cute. Tell me. How do you plan to distribute them?
Destination wedding. You are taking these items with you? You have someone putting them out at the reception or dinner?

View Quoted Comment

Our wedding is technically destination because it's out of state for everyone including us, but it's only one state over and a few hours away so we are driving and I'll just be packing them in the car with the rest of the stuff. We are putting one bag of each his and hers at each place setting at the long table. Either I will put them there myself or the woman who's handling the plans at the restaurant will put them out.

View Quoted Comment Thank you. That's helpful. If I go with an edible favor, maybe I can coordinate them being placed at each plate with my restaurant coordinator.