Give your centerpieces a little bit of thought and planning. You don’t want the flowers wilting or chocolate melting. I once even heard a horror story of someone who decided to combine votive candles under a tiny goldfish bowl-you can just imagine how that turned out.

You can get very creative with your centerpiece ideas, make them match your theme, make them simple, or the most talked about part of the day.

One of the greatest ideas is to combine your wedding favors with your centerpiece. My girlfriend gave out miniature feed bags filled with candy at her cowboy wedding. They looked adorable in the center of each table, were a great conversation piece and fun to take home. Another great idea is votive candles holders lighting the center of the tables, or you can even fill each one with a small flower.

Remember to take into consideration your wedding theme, location and your personal style when choosing your favor. Favors and centerpieces don’t have to be combined that if they are the results can be gorgeous and affordable.

Wedding favors are small gifts given as a gesture of appreciation or gratitude to guests from the bride and groom during a wedding ceremony or a wedding reception.

The tradition of distributing wedding favors is a very old one. It is believed that the first wedding favor, common amongst European aristocrats, was known as a bonbonniere. A bonbonniere is a small trinket box made of crystal, porcelain, and/or precious stones. The contents of these precious boxes were generally sugar cubes or delicate confections, which symbolize wealth and royalty. (In this era, sugar was an expensive commodity and was treasured only among the wealthy. It was believed that sugar contained medical benefits).[citation needed] As the price of sugar decreased throughout centuries, the tradition of providing gifts to guests reached the general populace and was embraced by couples of modest means.

As sugar became more affordable, bonbonnieres were replaced with almonds. For centuries, almonds were commonly distributed to wedding guests to signify well wishes on the bridegroom’s new life. In the thirteenth century, almonds coated with sugar, known as confetti, were introduced. Confetti soon transformed to sugared almonds, which later evolved into the wedding favor for modern day weddings. Traditionally, five Jordan almonds are presented in a confection box or wrapped in elegant fabric to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. The bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the coated candy exemplify the bitter sweetness of a marriage.

Today, gifts to guests are commonly known as wedding favors and are shared in cultures worldwide. Wedding favors have become a part of wedding reception planning, especially in the United States and Canada. Wedding favors are diverse and can range from the classic sugared almonds to small metal items. Some gifts may be personalized with the couple’s names and the wedding date.

The importance of and demand for wedding favors has created a new category of business in the wedding industry where thousands of sites compete selling just wedding favors. Wedding favors have surpassed the term ‘trend’ and have become commonplace among today’s weddings. “Wedding favors are no longer a niche market in the wedding industry. In fact, many wedding favor retailers would probably agree that it is become an industry of its own.”