Wedding favours and gifts

(This is the 11th post in my wedding series.)

Our wedding favours and the gifts to the wedding party were a detail that was important to me, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what would capture the sentiment we wanted to convey.
xx

Wedding favours

As readers of this blog know, Brad and I love food so edible favours were a no-brainer. Originally I planned to make jam, until my mother did some mental math and helpfully informed me that this would consume the better part of two precious weekends.

Instead, we ordered honey from a local producer whom my mom met through work. We provided the mason jars, the producer canned it for us, and I then added the lace fabric and labels. Tip: A elasticized string like this gold one will make your life a lot easier than ribbon!

We designed and printed the self-adhesive labels to match our colour scheme: 'Meant to bee', 'Thank you for bee'in here', 'Sweet as hunny', 'Miel fois merci'.

I had the idea to print a family recipe that incorporates honey on the back of the menu at each place setting. (The recipe was one of the first to appear on the blog, click here for the link). A couple of guests wrote to us to say they'd made it the very next day, and loved it!

Ushers' gifts

We gave two of our ushers books: 'Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life' for an aspiring writer, and 'The Essays of Warren Buffet' for a finance/investment buff. Our third usher travels frequently for work, so we gave him a travel document holder. 

Groomsmen's gifts

Brad gave his groomsmen monogrammed flasks and a bottle of their favourite spirit.

Bridemaids' gifts

I wanted to get my bridesmaids individualized gifts. Some ideas came to me right away; in other cases, I turned to wedding websites and pinterest for gift inspiration. Hopefully this list will give other brides-to-be food for thought!

Josée loves three-panel art and is still furnishing her apartment, so I gave her a set of canvases depicting a maple tree in the fall, plus a jump rope for on-the-go exercise. I got velvet slimline hangers for Madelaine, a new homeowner. Laura has classic, refined taste, so I bought her a grey cashmere scarf. Sara cares deeply about the world we live in, so I made a basket of local foodstuff from an organic grocer. Kayla and I have bonded over shopping and work travel (among other things), so I got her accessories and a travel document holder. Rachelle is a recent grad with a job interview overseas, so I got her a toiletries holder and the same travel document holder. And finally Olivia is the artist of the bunch. I got her a statement necklace and art supplies. 

Father of the groom's gift

Brad's father is difficult to shop for, but he's a man who enjoys his routine. When he comes to Ottawa, we know exactly where he'll stay, eat and play, so we bought him gift certificates for each of those places.

Parents of the bride's gift

I gave my parents a coupon to spend a day helping them prepare their garden for summer, plus a gift certificate for a professional photographer to come shoot the garden at its peak in June. 

Couple's gifts

Brad and I decided not to exchange wedding gifts but I still got to spoil him a little...since we got married on his birthday :) An avid gym-goer, I got him Bose headphones to amp up his routine. Happily, he loves them!