Archive for the ‘Gifts’ Category

10 Must Have Gifts Ideas For The Wedding Party

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

It is traditional for the bride to give the groom a gift on the wedding day. Although the wedding rings that the couple exchanges can be considered gifts, many brides choose to honor their groom with an additional gift that suits his personality.

One unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids is an evening bag to be used as an accessory on the wedding day. This gift can be a lovely gesture and will serve the purpose of keeping the accessories of the bridesmaids’ uniform and will free your bridesmaid from the burden of searching for an evening bag that matches the dress. In this case you may choose to give the bridesmaids their gifts early in the wedding planning so that they don’t purchase a bag specifically for the occasion of your wedding.

A photo album complete with a picture of you and the bridesmaid or the entire wedding party can be another unique gift idea for the bridesmaids. You could purchase photo albums with the date of your wedding engraved on the front cover and start the photo album with a picture of you and the bridesmaid. This is a wonderful gift idea because the bridesmaid can place her photos from the wedding day in the album and will always have a precious souvenir from your wedding day.

Gift certificates to a spa or a salon also make unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids. Your bridesmaids most likely spent a great deal of time and energy in helping you to plan your wedding. The week prior to your wedding was also probably especially hectic with a great deal of last minute details to attend to and errands to run. While you will have your honeymoon to relax and renew your energy your bridesmaids do not have this luxury so by honoring them by presenting them with a gift certificate to a spa or salon you are giving them the gift or being pampered and the gift of relaxation.

A few more unique gift ideas for your bridesmaids’ gifts include handcrafted or homemade gifts. For example you could put together a CD of some of your bridesmaids’ favorite songs. You could make the CDs different for each bridesmaid and include a photo of the two of you on the cover and include a heartfelt poem on the inside of the CD cover. You could also create a scrapbook for each of your bridesmaids. You could either make the scrapbook a memory of your entire friendship together and include photos and other items from your various adventures throughout the years or if you plan ahead and take many photos documenting your wedding preparations, you could create scrapbooks as a remembrance of the wedding planning that you shared.

Personalized cosmetics bags can also be used as unique bridesmaids gifts. You could purchase attractive cosmetic bags and have them embroidered with your bridesmaids’ initials and the date of your wedding. Another nice touch with this gift is to include a few items such as lipstick or nail polish that complement each of your bridesmaids’ style and complexion.

Another unique gift idea for a bride to give to her bridesmaids is a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Assisting in your wedding preparations was probably extremely stressful and time consuming for the bridesmaids and they certainly deserve a night on the town and the opportunity to not have to cook for a night. This simple gift lets your bridesmaids know that you appreciate their efforts and that you want to thank them for all that they have done to support you.

Unique gift ideas for the bridesmaids can also stem from the wedding theme. For example if you are having a beach themed wedding you might want to give your bridesmaids a gift of a tote bag, a beach towel and a novel to enjoy on the beach. This unique gift idea ensures that your bridesmaids will remember your wedding fondly the next time they are at the beach.

Although the tradition of the bride and groom exchanging gifts on their wedding day is beginning to fade, many couples still wish to honor this tradition. Many couples spend so much money on their wedding and reception that they feel as though they cannot afford the additional expense of buying gifts for each other. While it may be true that the couple cannot afford one more extravagant gift it is also true that a truly thoughtful gift for the groom does not have to be overly expensive. If the couple is partaking in this tradition it is advisable that they exchange gifts that truly reflect the personality of their spouse.

Selecting Wedding Favors

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

When selecting favors for your wedding there are a number of factors you should consider before making your final decision. Some couples do not give enough consideration to their wedding favors and this is quite unfortunate because the wedding favor is the one part of the wedding which your guests will take home as a reminder of your wedding.  A well chosen wedding favor can result in your friends and family members remembering your wedding day more fondly than they remember other weddings they have attended simply because they see or use your favor often and it automatically triggers memories of your wedding day. However, couples who do not put much thought or effort into the favors they distribute at the wedding may find their guests discarded their favors soon after the wedding.

This article will discuss some of the factors to be considered when selecting wedding favors. These factors should include price, usefulness of the favor and appropriateness of the favor. Considering each of these elements carefully will help the couple to make a wise choice when selecting wedding favors. Price is one of the most important factors a couple must consider when selecting wedding favors. This is so important because the price will often dictate the quality of the favors. While you can purchase some great favors at a very inexpensive price, there will likely be a great deal of comparison shopping involved to find the best deal on the favor. There will also likely be a great deal of research involved.  

For example you may find that items such as picture frames are out of your budget range but you may find other great items such as candles are well within your budget. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find out that although picture frames available from one distributor are too expensive, another distributor has enough picture frames in their closeout stock for you to purchase favors for your wedding. It is just important to remember to not be too disappointed about the items you cannot afford and to instead focus on finding the best favor you can afford.   Another factor to consider when selecting wedding favors is whether or not the favor will be useful to your guests. This is very important because favors which are useful are often much better received than favors which the guest cannot use. For example many guests will find items such as picture frames and candles to be useful but will be less impressed with favors such as figurines of a bride and groom. These may be very pretty but many of your friends and family member likely have a collection of similar items from other weddings they have been too and may simply not have room to display these favors. As a result the favor may wind up in a box in the attic or may be thrown out shortly after the wedding.  Finally, a couple should carefully consider the appropriateness of a wedding favor when making their final decision. This is very important because you do not want to give your guests a favor which they will think is inappropriate. Fortunately, when it comes to wedding favors just about anything is considered appropriate. From candy to office supplies and from statues to books just about anything is appropriate for the wedding as long as it reflects the theme of the wedding, reflects the underlying theme of love or is even just something which the guests can use and will appreciate. For example you can certainly give out dictionaries as wedding favors. Your guests will not likely be offended by this favor but some of them may think it is a little strange. However, if you give each of your guests a copy of a book filled with love poems no one will think it is a strange idea for a wedding favor at all. Perhaps the best way to determine whether or not a wedding favor is appropriate is to think about what you would feel if you were given that same item as a favor at another wedding.