When I was planning my wedding, I couldn’t figure out why my mother was so obsessed with all the tiny details. After the reception, though, I understood: It’s the details that make a wedding reception memorable. One small detail that can make a big difference in helping your guests enjoy and remember your reception is the wedding keepsake.
If you have a little bit of extra money in your budget, giving a small keepsake to your guests is a perfect way to thank them for their presence and friendship. It’s a way they can take their memories of your reception home with them.
Looking in wedding magazines is a good way to get ideas for keepsakes you could use. But keepsakes can get expensive, so be creative! Search for ideas in unexpected places, like trading company catalogs, gardening catalogs, and school supply stores. Maybe something will catch your attention and give you an idea of something that you could give to each of your guests.
Here are a few creative ideas that will catch your guests’ attention and help them remember your wedding reception:
1) Candy. Traditionally, people have given Jordan almonds and chocolates as wedding keepsakes. Candy stores and catalogs often have great ideas for how to give chocolate. I’ve seen tiny boxes that contain truffles, and small cellophane bags filled with mints. Candy is always a popular treat to send home with your guests!
2) Seeds. For our wedding, we gave our guests shakers filled with wildflower seeds and attached to each one a label (in our wedding colors) with our names, wedding date, and quotes about marriage and gardens. All our guests had to do was shake the seeds out in the garden and wait for the wildflowers to bloom! You could create a less expensive version of this keepsake with packets of seeds.
3) Goldfish. I have a friend who bought a goldfish for each family that attended their reception, and placed them in tiny clear goldfish bowls. The goldfish bowls made lovely place settings. You could enhance the effects by adding tiny artificial rocks in your wedding colors.
4) Bubbles. Bottles of bubbles are very inexpensive in trading company catalogs, but with a personalized label they make a fun gift. You could give them to all your guests, or to the children in your wedding party. They also create a light-hearted effect if you tell the children to blow bubbles throughout the reception.