With weddings become more and more glamorous and elaborate, brides are coming up with new and unique ways to give their wedding favors flare. Presentation and packaging can enhance the appeal of unique wedding favors multifold. Sometimes, the way a wedding favor is presented is what makes a wedding favor really unique and memorable.



Here are some ideas for presenting your wedding favors in a stylish way.

• The bride can carry a beautifully decorated basket full of long stemmed red rose candles. During the reception she can mingle with all the guests and pass out the unique wedding favors herself to each guest. Not only will she get the thrill of seeing the delight on the faces of her guests, but also she will feel like a Princess giving away wedding favors on her big day.

• Another idea for creating unique wedding favors is a take-off on Dayna Devon’s (of ‘Extra’ fame) idea of hanging velveteen cones trimmed with satin and filled with rose petals on the chair of each guest. You can create beautiful satin or organza pouches and trim them with antique lace or rope. Fill the pouches with rice or birdseed, which the guests can shower on the couple when they leave. Hang the unique wedding favors on the chairs, ala’ Devon and be the season’s most talked about bride!

• An absolutely fantastic idea for unique wedding favors presentation involves the wedding cake. If you can afford it, plan to have a mini wedding cake for each table and one grand wedding cake for the couple to cut. Then put personalized silver mini cake server sets at each place setting. When the couple cuts the wedding cake, all the guests get to cut the cake on their table. It is great fun for everyone present and of course! The guests get to take home the unique wedding favors.

• You could create air fresheners or potpourri and hang it in the guests’ cars. This was a unique wedding favor idea John and Rebecca Stamos used at their celebrity wedding. If your wedding reception has valets, have them put one in each car as they park them.

• Another great way to distribute unique wedding favors is to decorate the favors or place them on a center table in beautiful baskets or arranged in a fun design. Put a card inviting each guest to take one favor. This can be a part of your wedding decoration. Place one unique wedding favor for each guest, as well as for children. Also include a few extras in case of damage or double dipping.

Wedding favors can really be something special. Just put a bit of yourself into the presentation and you will have a hit your guests will talk about for a long time to come.

Andrea Britt is owner of CharmingWeddings.com where you can find elegant, unique wedding favors, bridal shower favors, and wedding planning tips for your wedding reception and bridal shower.

A wedding day is a very special, in fact unique, day for the bride and groom, and for close family and friends, especially those who play a part in the ceremony, such as the bridesmaids. In most cases, the bridesmaids do get a fair amount of attention as part of the supporting cast, and it is usual for bridesmaids gifts to be given as a memento of the occasion.

As bride and groom, though, you may want to say a big thank you to the bridesmaids and do something a bit special for them. So, you may be considering an unusual bridesmaids’ gift to show them their role was more important to you than they may have thought; and, that they are not and will not be forgotten.

Wanting to give an unusual bridesmaid gift is one thing, but finding one is a different matter altogether. However, maybe “finding” is not the right way to go about it. You want to thank the bridesmaids for their support on your special wedding day, so why not thank them by arranging something special for them, in which they, not you, are the focus of attention?

What you do will, of course, depend on budget, and what you think the bridesmaids will all appreciate. Here are just a few ideas for unusual bridesmaids’ gifts that you could arrange.

Bridesmaids’ Bash

On the wedding day itself, you probably had a reception and maybe a disco or some form of entertainment for the wedding guests. Again, the stars of the show were you, the bride and groom. One sure way to show appreciation is for you to stand aside and bring the bridesmaids to the fore, to feel very special and appreciated.

One thing you could do is to arrange a Bridesmaids Bash, a party arranged just for them. If you are going away for a honeymoon, would it not be nice to get back home, and a few days latter have a special party organised for the bridesmaids Of course, you can give them a small memento also, but as the main, and unusual, bridesmaids gift, a fun bash in which they are the focus, could go down really well.

Bridesmaids’ Beauty Binge

There is no doubt that almost every bride and groom goes to great lengths to look their best on the wedding day; the same is true of the bridesmaids. There is also no doubting that girls and young women across the bridesmaid age group do feel special when they are having a lot of attention being paid to their health and beauty.

For an unusual bridesmaids’ gift, how about negotiating with a local parlour for a group beauty session for all the bridesmaids? It would be fun for them to go together a couple of weeks after the wedding, and have a makeover, pedicure, manicure, new hairdo, massage; whatever you can afford to make a fuss of them for an hour or two, or three.

Bridesmaids’ Bloat Out

Another bridesmaid gift idea that is a bit unusual is, rather than the full Bridesmaids’ Bash, take them all out for a special meal a week or two after the wedding. This idea is not for those on a diet, but as they are all young and probably in good shape, some sort of feast, a Bridesmaids’ Bloat Out, could be a good idea. It is best to sound them out in advance, so you can choose a venue they will all be delighted with, whatever their age.

To make it special, you could arrange for a local florist, or the establishment manager, to deliver flowers, or some other gift, to the table. A little bit of imagination could make this a fun occasion to all and give the bridesmaids the special attention they deserve.

This bridesmaid gift article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner author of the Gifts For Xmas website.

It is widely spoken that jealousy and the swinging lifestyle do
not mix. I was once told that I had two choices for dealing with
my jealousy. 1. Get out of the lifestyle or 2. Dismiss my
jealousy and continue swinging. Certainly, I did not want to
give up on living the lifestyle. My desire did not leave me
because of my jealousy. I chose to dismiss it. This lead us
blindly into 3 bad swinging encounters. Let’s face it, we are
all human and we face and deal with jealousy issues outside of
the lifestyle.Why should the lifestyle be any differsnt? We had
our first awesome swinging encounter once I was able to admit my
jealousy. Not only did I admit it to myself but I also admitted
it to the couple we were planning our next encounter with.
Surprisingly enough, they were very understanding and willing to
help. Always be honest about your desires and feelings. Hiding
jealousy does not make it go away. Face it, deal with it and
allow prospective swinging partners to help you work through it.

Children of divorced parents are also more sceptical about finding true love and settling down. Before you decide that this article is trying to spoil you from enjoying your big day, this is just to make you aware of the facts so you are more equipped to enjoy your married life fully, even though you may not have grown up in successful marital surroundings.

As child of divorce, it is important not to lose hope by thinking that you are going to commit the same mistakes your parents did. You will have to be a little optimistic and think that you have learned from the mistakes of your parents to make sure history does not repeat itself.

Here are other key points to help you: You will have to learn to forget and forgive the past. A successful marriage is difficult enough to maintain without bringing all your old laundry to it. First, make peace with your parents and forgive them. Do not blame their divorce for everything in your life. This will help you make peace with past and concentrate on the future with a fresh prospective. Remember that you are not your mom- remember that you are a different person and stop worrying about committing your parent’s mistakes. Remember that you control your fate and you make your own decisions. Also, accept that your spouse is not your dad or think that he is going to make the same mistakes as your dad did. Do not equate his mistakes to your father’s and think of the worst-case scenario. In order for you have a successful marriage, think of him as his own person, and place your complete trust on him. If he makes a mistake, be quick to forgive and enjoy each other’s company.

You are at an advantage when it comes to making mistakes. You have witnessed a failing marriage first hand. You just have to make sure that you do not perform the same mistakes in your married life. You can also look at your friends’ parents or relatives who have had successful marriages for pointers and talk to them.

Concentrate on your unique future. You should not define the path you are going to follow and base it on your parent’ union. You start by trusting your husband and placing complete faith in your relationship if you truly love him and like his company. Start building a better future with him by talking to him about your issues so he can understand you better.

As we look at today’s modern world and we can easily ask ourselves where we went wrong. However, you are not your past– remember that you are not bound to make the same mistakes unknowingly. Enjoy your married life.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Women’s Issues