21st Guru

Relatives and friends join with the bride and groom to make the wedding a special celebration. The planning involves a lot of excitement with choosing the wedding outfits, transport, flowers and reception places that the bride usually needs some extra help from her friends and family to get everything done. Friends and relatives will be happy to help you.

There are extra duties for the members of the wedding party – matron of honor, bridesmaids, best man and groomsmen. It is their job to make sure the bride and groom have all the arrangements made and to help them in this. the bride and groom need their help to get ready and they need to see that everything runns smoothly as well.

The tradition of giving small gifts or wedding favors to wedding guests and attendants dates back to early European times, when aristocrats and the wealthy would give each other sweets to celebrate marriages. These were known as bomboniere, which means, quite literally, small box of sweets. Boxes made of gold, crystal and precious stones were the early bomboniere. These gifts were confined to the rich upper classes because of the intricacy of the box and the cost of sugar at this time in history.

During the 13^th century, the tradition of giving sugar-coated almonds developed as sugar became more affordable. The number of five almonds represents the wish for health and wealth, happiness, longevity and fertility for the couple being married. The symbolism of the sweet coating and the bitter almond was intended to mirror the bitter-sweet personality of marriage.

As time went by, guests started giving more varied and practical gifts to the happy couple and the gift of five almonds was made to the guests by the couple. In the past wedding brides made family trips very long distances just to acquire wedding favors. This tradition remains today, although the bomboniere may be called wedding favors or guest gifts. Several European countries still have the wedding tradition of giving the five almond bomboniere, often in lace or net bags that are decorated with lace and ribbons.

Most couple give a more elaborate guest gify these days, with modern brides often forsaking the tradition. Popular amongst modern brides and grooms are champagne glasses, pens, scented candles or small picture frames with the couple’s photo. A former bride would be a great individual to ask about for advice about bachelorette party invitations or bridal shower invitations. Adding the names of the happy couple and the date of their wedding makes the gift more personal. The gifts are intended as a reminder of the wedding, as well as a way of saying thank you for being part of the wedding celebrations.

You can find many different ideas for your wedding favors that don’t necessarily have to be expensive. Do a search on the internet and you will find websites that specialize in bomboniere and wedding favors in all price ranges. You will possibly get some great ideas from these website, even if you don’t end up buying from them.

You might also like to make your own wedding favors, as some brides do. Wedding stationers often also stock co-ordinating boxes for bomboniere. Before putting some chocolates into the box, you might want to decorate the outside, using your wedding theme for inspiration. Select the color of the ribbons to match your wedding theme, attach a gift tage for the guest’s name and tie it all closed and you will have created wedding favors that will both look greaty and be appreciated. You can even make the chocolates at home, or get a friend to do this for you.