We’re used to thinking we have to sort the big things out first when planning a wedding. But actually, you can do it the other way around. Instead of making big calls, such as deciding on a time of year or dress, you can zoom in and let the smaller details help you shape your big day.
Which is where rustic wedding favours come in. These delightful, country-chic themed gifts for guests could be the key to unlocking the feel and themes of your special day.
While wedding favours have taken many forms over the years, rustic wedding favours really return these gifts to their roots. Wedding favours are a present from the happy couple, a way for them to say thank you to their guests for their company, presents, love and support.
We know the tradition of the bride and groom sharing small tokens of their affection dates back to at least the 1500s. These “favours” were gifts that were all about showing kindness and goodwill. In simple forms these gifts could originally have been lace or ribbon tied in a lovers’ knot.
The rich meanwhile gifted miniature elaborate porcelain or jewelled boxes. Or sugar cubes – a precious commodity in centuries past, being able to afford to give sugar as a gift was a sign of great wealth.
This sweet history can feed into the rustic wedding favours you give today. Over the decades those early traditions of gifting sugar evolved into almonds coated in sugar. And sugared almonds are still a popular favour today, especially in a rustic basket, pouch or mini box. Other popular sweet treats include home-made cookies, jams or marmalade.
Some couples or their families even make these themselves, often weaving in personal preferences or relevant references to their lives together – perhaps honey from the area where they met, or miniature bottles of wine, spirits, oil or preserves from the special places they’ve holidayed in. Beautifully-boxed, bespoke French macarons are a popular favourite too.
Rustic wedding favours can also be used to match, enhance or set your theme – especially around feel, tone, colour, style and season. Might your wedding have a home-made vibe? If so, hand-crafted favours will work – perhaps miniature copper-framed pressed flowers. These could also reflect the flowers in bloom at the relevant time of year.
If your wedding could be a rustic but elegant affair, then personalised vintage silver spoons would be a supremely stylish, if pricier, option. If it’s a Christmas wedding, bespoke mistletoe crackers, each with a name tag and personalised gift, can look stunning. Pouches of spices for mulled wine or cider can add to the festive feel.
Using flowers as rustic wedding favours is a great way to enhance the floral effect of your big day, and also provide guests with a beautiful, fragrant echo of the event to take home. The trick here is to display them in ways that both work as an overall table display and can be easily transported.
Which means that as well as blooms and stems, you’re also thinking about the vessels they’re in. A perfect, and perfectly rustic, solution is to use mason jars of flowers, of whatever size you choose. Or opt for miniature bud vases or taller, slender, elegant vases to add colour, texture and fragrance to the tables. Or you can opt for miniature pots of personalised succulents, pretty sachets of dried lavender, or bundles of dried flowers.
Many couples want to think about sustainability as they celebrate their love for each other and their pledges for the future – caring for the environment their family will live in makes all kinds of sense. So more and more couples want these themes to filter through to their wedding favours as well.
Which makes rustic wedding favours a great match. Often made from sustainable materials, rather than plastic, they tend to have that natural, crafted, country-chic vibe. Things like beautifully presented selections of country-garden flower seeds – often with a reference to love ‘growing’ – symbolise the love between the happy couple, and the affection they feel for the environment and their guests. Forget Me Nots are another popular choice.
One of the easiest ways to be sustainable is to gift your guests something that can be used time and again. The trick here is to create rustic wedding favours that they’ll want to love, use and keep. Ideas include handmade or crafted candles, perhaps with different characteristics, colours and fragrances to suit different guests. Or pair less elaborate candles with beautiful holders – the kind of attractive wooden blocks that you know will work well in friends’ homes.
Another option is guest place cards where the first letter of their name is made out of a scrabble letter. Superbly personalised, rustic and easy to make, guests are likely to keep ‘their letter’ as a memento of your big day.
So that’s the rustic wedding favours sorted. Which can lead into the slightly bigger issue of finding the perfect wedding venue. Luckily, there’s Donnington Grove – an utterly romantic wedding venue near Newbury. Donnington is an absolutely magical place to get married. This luxury Berkshire wedding venue teams a country house hotel with 500 acres of gorgeous grounds. With bewitching settings, history-rich rooms and expert, friendly, attentive staff – at Donnington wedding photos, and rustic wedding favours, look spectacular, whatever the weather.
Donnington is also just made for rustic wedding favours. The feel they create matches our values. Crafting a personalised, bespoke experience. Being deeply traditional but also supremely stylish at the same time. Of caring about our environment. Of thoughtful, professional attention to detail teamed with wit and warmth. In fact, Donnington and rustic wedding favours are a match made in heaven. All they’re waiting for is you.
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