Wedding dress, invitations wedding, wedding cake

It is as important to set a budget for your wedding favors as much as it is for your wedding dress & your flowers. Those darling little gifts have a way of sucking you in & before you know it you have spent the equivalent of your wedding dress on candles, chocolates, boxes, ribbons & tags, because you just couldn’t resist!

Now you may take a quick look at a wedding favors website & decide that $2 per person is more than enough for your favors. But is it? Have you added in shipping costs, taxes, the packaging, decorations & thank you tags. Chances are you haven’t & so the actual cost will probably be closer to $4 per person, double your original budget.

Many of you will actually leave your wedding favors till the last minute, assuming that they will be easily purchased & ready to go a week before the wedding day. This is a common mistake & along with under estimating the budget, can be a recipe for disaster.

However, ordering your wedding favors too early could mean spending too much on favors that are not required because not all your guests could come, or not having enough because you invited more guests after you had ordered your favors.

So how do you go about setting your budget & making sure it is realistic?

Firstly you will need to know how many wedding favors you will need. Usually they are given out only at the wedding breakfast, to those guests that have attended the ceremony beforehand. If you have sent your invitations out early enough then you should have responses back with plenty of time left to order your favors. As a guide it is usual for about 85% of those invited to attend.

Take a look at your wedding budget. How much money have you got left in the pot & what other items are still to be purchased or paid for? Remember to take out sums for those things that have been booked & are payable at a later date. $4 is a fair estimate for wedding favors for each guest. Of course it is very possible to bring the cost in under this but in terms of setting an adequate budget assume this figure per head.

Where do you intend to purchase them from? Mail order & online stores will probably have more choice & deals to choose from, but you should take note of the costs of shipping, the time it will take to be delivered & any applicable taxes. Your local bridal store may carry a line of wedding favors or you may choose to take a look around the dollar store. However, you may find their prices higher as unlike online stores they have higher overheads which they have to pass on to their customers in their pricing. Shop around for the best prices so you can make a fair comparison on both cost & service times.

If you are shopping for a large number of guests then look for bulk purchase deals or wholesalers as you will probably make significant savings compared to other vendors.

It is also helpful to have some idea of the kind of wedding favors you want to give. Your wedding theme or style will help you here but you don’t need to make a definite choice until you are ready to buy.

Work out when the final date for purchasing your wedding favors is. Remember you need to allow time for shipping & putting them together if you need to package them & decorate. With this date in mind you can follow vendors’ sites/stores to take advantage of any special offers or packages they might have which will lower your overall costs.

To recap you should:

· Set a realistic budget per head

· Have some idea of guest numbers

· Have some idea of the type of wedding favor you want to give

· Not forget about extra costs such as shipping & taxes

· Not leave it till the last minute to order

· Shop around for best prices & deals

Wedding favors are an integral part of your day & you shouldn’t spend any less time on them as you would your wedding dress or wedding cake. Setting a realistic budget to start with could end with you actually saving money in the long run.

It is a fact that the majority of brides will have to curb their enthusiasm & accept that their wedding budget just won’t stretch to everything they want! This includes wedding favors. Whilst you may think that these little gifts won’t cost much, you may be surprised when you reach the checkout to find that the total cost is more than you spent on your bridesmaid’s dresses!

That is why it is so important to include wedding favors in your budget, but how much do you allocate? What is too much & what is too little?

You will find pretty much the same wedding favors in many stores, both on the high street & online. You will probably discover that the prices don’t vary an awful lot either. In terms of setting your budget this is a good thing, particularly if you have a good idea of what you want. But there are other costs that you need to take into consideration:

· Shipping

· Taxes

· Packaging – favor boxes, bags, gift wrap, decorations, tags etc

Failure to count these into your sums as well could spell disaster for your budget! So as you cruise around the various shops & online favor stores, it is worth noting down the extra costs. Your final consideration should be how long they will take to get to you. If you are ordering with plenty of time before your wedding day (which you should) then this isn’t vitally important, but if your wedding day is only a couple of weeks away, then speed of delivery will be of the utmost importance.

Check out special deals, package prices, discounts & closeouts. Competition is fierce for wedding favors so many vendors will have deals on offer on a regular basis.

If you are being a creative bride & are making your own wedding favors from scratch then you will need to budget for the raw materials you will need. Again don’t forget to factor in shipping costs & taxes, as well as any packaging you may need.

There is little doubt that making your own wedding favors is often cheaper than buying ready made equivalents. For instance, custom made cookies can cost upwards of $5 each, making your own at home will cost you less than $1 each, including the packaging. But what you need to ask yourself is if you have the time & the know how to make your own. Sometimes buying ready made, even if more expensive, can prove more worthwhile in terms of time saved & not mention stress!

For a larger wedding with many guests to cater for I would suggest looking for wholesale favors. Whilst a small intimate wedding is perfect for creative types who don’t need to produce many wedding favors.

What is important is that your wedding favors reflect the style or theme of your wedding, your tastes & your personalities. By considering these factors you will narrow your choices down & be able to arrive at a decision much easier. What you should remember is that the cost of wedding favors will vary according to your choices & wedding type. Do not be tempted to use the figure your best friend spent on her wedding favors as a guide, chances are her favors will not be suitable for your wedding & the prices may well have changed since she purchased them.

Do your research, be realistic & you will find it easy to set a sum for your wedding favors that will be more than sufficient.