February 10, 2012

A Brief History Of Wedding Favors

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.

It is a very ancient tradition when the giving of the wedding favors is tackled. Throughout the history, the first ever practice of giving a wedding favor was done by old European aristocrats, nobles, and members of the richest group of the society. Bonbonnier was the first term for the wedding favor and such is an Italian word.

Way back, bonbonnieres were often characterized by a small box, the size of a trinket or jewel box that was created from porcelain, crystals, and rarely with the addition of priceless gems and stones. These boxes were often in a form of sugar, sugar cubes, and other fragile confections. This was intended to mean wealth and royalty. The rationale for this was because, way back, then, sugar was expensive and a product difficult to find. And only the wealthy, nobles, and the elites had access and could afford it during that time. However, over time, as sugar became a basic commodity and more common, couples belonging to lower classes were able to afford it. Hence, the tradition of distributing wedding favors and other priceless gifts of gratitude was spread to the populace, to couples of either upper or lower class.

Soon bonbonneries were being replaced with almonds due to the prices of sugar decreased over the ages and became more affordable to everyone. For many centuries, it was common to distribute almonds as wedding favors amongst wedding guests to symbolize the prosperity 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.

Today, gifts to wedding guests are more popularly called as wedding favors and the distribution of these tokens of gratitude to guests is a long tradition shared by different cultures across countries around the globe.

Nowadays, gifts to wedding guests are more commonly considered as wedding favors and the giving of tokens of gratitude to guests is a tradition continuously existing for the longest time and is shared by different countries around the world. More importantly, a wedding favor is included in the reception plan of every wedding that is particularly popular in the United States and in Canada. Sometimes, these gifts have variety of shapes and sizes depending on the motif or the theme. Classic wedding favors usually come in sugar coat almonds, chocolates, small cakes and scented candles.

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.