Supporting a Good Cause on Your Big Day
When it comes to wedding favours, more and more couples are choosing to forgo traditional items in favour of making a donation to their favourite charity.
Wedding favours are a way of saying thank you to your guests. Traditionally they were made up of five sugared almonds to represent health, wealth, happiness, long life and fertility, but over the years have evolved to include all kinds of trinkets, from cookies and miniature spirits through to candles, flower seeds and even wedding soundtrack CDs.
However, in recent years, more and more couples have decided to forgo traditional wedding favours, choosing instead to make a donation to their favourite charity.
Why Choose Charity?
There are a number of reasons why you might wish to donate to charity in place of providing wedding favours. The main one is obviously altruistic. If you and your partner have a cause that is close to your heart, using your wedding as an opportunity to support that charity and make a difference can give you a lot more satisfaction than handing out bags of personalised sweets.
Giving to charity instead of buying favours can also help to cut down on waste. A lot of wedding favours end up getting left on the table and ultimately being thrown away, so many couples feel that donating to charity is a more worthwhile use of their time and money, and it has the added bonus of being kinder to the environment.
Are there any Drawbacks?
Wedding favours are traditionally viewed as a kind of gift to your guests, so do be aware that some guests (particularly those who are sticklers for tradition) may object to you giving to charity in lieu of favours. However, it is your day, and if you would rather choose to donate to charity instead of buying wedding favours, there is no good reason why you shouldn’t go ahead and do so.
Top Tips
If you do decide to opt for charitable donations in lieu of wedding favours there are a few key things you should consider.
First things first, think carefully about which charity you choose to donate to. There are lots of worthy causes out there so try and pick one that is important to you and has some meaning to you or your partner – otherwise you run the risk of people thinking you are making the donation just to look good. You should also avoid donating to charities with a political or religious association; it could cause controversy and your wedding day is not the time to have those difficult conversations.
Another thing to consider is how to convey your decision to your guests. As we mentioned above, some people may object to the lack of a wedding favour so it’s worth letting them know that the money has gone to charity instead. There a number of ways you can do this. You could put a little card at each place setting informing your guests of your donation – many charities supply a pin badge or trinket for this purpose, so your guests still get some kind of favour. Alternatively, for something more low key try adding a sentence or two to your order of service, or placing an announcement on your guest book table.
Ultimately, using your wedding to support a charity is a very personal choice, and there is no right or wrong answer. At our wedding venue in Essex we make every effort to ensure your day is as special as possible, so, whether you decide to opt for charitable donations or wedding favours, you can be sure that your guests will be left talking about your wedding for all the right reasons.