If you want to incorporate some type of dessert favor into your wedding, consider creating a cookie bar. Cookies have such warm, nostalgic connotations that a freshly baked batch immediately puts people in a happy mood.  Childhood memories of twisting apart Oreos, dunking a chocolate chip cookie into a tall glass of milk and licking the unbaked batter off a spoon are all part of our innate love of cookies. By creating an old fashioned bakery-style cookie spread, guests will be taken back to a simpler time when life was savored and calories were left uncounted. It’s such a sweet way to end an evening and is sure to make your wedding favor one of their favorites.

Creating the Cookie Bar  

To create an old fashioned bakery setup, begin with a long 8 foot table. You can either have it covered in linens that correspond to your color scheme or purchase a few yards of patterned fabric at the local fabric store to add color and character to the table.  Next, you’ll need a selection of cake platters, dessert stands, large glass jars and long serving trays to mimic the look of a traditional bakery.

Play around with the cake stands and platters to create the perfect layout at home, and take a picture of the final placement of all the items to ensure quick, accurate setup on the day of the event. If you have hired a wedding planner or coordinator, be sure to give her a large printout of the layout picture so she can set it up correctly.  Finally, order a wide selection of cookies, and order enough that each guest can taste four to five cookies (unless they are very large cookies, in which case you will probably only need about two to three per person).

If you’re feeling very ambitious (read: masochistic), or have a large family of talented bakers, we strongly recommend buying the cookies for your cookie bar.  Baking batch after batch of cookies in the days leading up to your wedding is a recipe for a super stressed out bride.  Either choose a local bakery that you know has a wide selection of yummy cookies, or order from a national bakery online.

One of our favorite cookie bakeries, Mrs. Beasley’s, delivers their unbelievably tasty cookies across the U.S.  If we were crafting a cookie bar for 100 guests, here’s what would be on our order list:

• 2 Orders of Mrs. Beasley’s 100-mini cookie assorted mix – $132
• 2 Orders of Mrs. Beasley’s dessert bar box (36 large bars; cut into fourths to make bite sized) – $76
• 1 Order of Mrs. Beasley’s brownie crate (24 large brownies; cut into fourths to make bite sized) – $75

Grand Total for Cookie Bar Favors: $283 for 100 guests; $2.83 per favor per person.

Write the names of each type cookie on a tented place card so guests know what they’re eating, order glassine bakery bags in bulk from an online gift wrapping store. Add mini shot glasses filled with milk to wash down the cookies and you’re all set. A beautiful bakery setup that will add charm and character to your wedding, and a delicious, useful favor that guests will adore.

*Top image via Martha Stewart

But unless you are baking or cooking the favor, making the favor itself is trickier than making other wedding related details.  For this reason, we’ve rustled up a few themed soap favors that are cute, clever and pair well with different wedding themes, including one for a beach or seaside wedding, a garden wedding and a vintage French inspired wedding:

Beach Themed Wedding Favor

Beach-themed favors can look a little kitsch, but this one is just plain adorable.  Two French-milled white soaps shaped like a star fish and a sea urchin sit atop a bed of mini seashells, all nestled within an uber-cute beach inspired box.  Each beachy favor box comes adorned with one of twelve metal wedding charms and a tag with the couple’s name and date of the wedding.  Cohesive, theme-friendly and also a steal at under $4 per favor.

Garden Themed Wedding Favor

Garden weddings are the epitome of Spring and Summer – light, airy and full of beautiful flowers.  Honor the natural, outdoorsy feel of a garden wedding in style with these gorgeous boxed honey bee lotion bars (seen at top).  Not only is the packaging to die for, but the soap (made from beeswax, jojoba oil, shea butter and other top spa-quality ingredients) comes in a lovely keepsake tin. The only downside to this favor is the higher cost, but if you love it you can always use it as part of your bridesmaid gifts instead.

French Themed Wedding Favors

Give your guests a beautiful luxury that fits in perfectly with your French themed fete – rose scented French Pre de Provence square soaps. They come simply packaged in a clear box with your choice of ribbon and a personalized label. Did we mention they’re also a steal at under $3.50 per favor? Ooh, la la!

For vintage or English garden theme weddings, rummage through garage sales, second hand stores and online auctions like eBay to find amazing deals on old patterned teacups.  The beauty is in having a wide assortment of mix and match styles so each guest takes home a unique, beautiful keepsake they can use.  Winter weddings can provide guests with a cozy mug holding fudge brownies and tea bags, warm comfort food for a snowy evening.

Finding enough cookies, mugs and tea bags for your favors is as simple as buying in bulk at discounted prices. Even the finest cookies and organic tea bags can be purchased at wallet-friendly prices when you  buy in bulk.  Warehouse stores like Sam’s Club or Costco are great places to find gourmet cookies, but are lacking in the gourmet tea department.

Instead, try heading online to Mighty Leaf. The company is well-known for their super high quality, organic and delicious teas, perfect for gifting.  100 bags of their organic artisanal teas cost under $50, which breaks down to only 50 cents per 100 favors. Plus, their Marrakesh Mint flavor (a tasty mint green tea), is now on sale for only $34 per 100 tea bags – a virtual steal for quality organic tea. Each of their teabags comes individually packaged and is made up of little silken pouches.

To package your favors, simply add your chosen dessert inside the teacup and then place a teabag or two tucked in next to the cookies. Add cellophane wrapping on top and tie with a ribbon that coordinates with your wedding and a tag that says “Thank You.” Guests will love the thoughtful favor, and they will love using it as well.

“Mint to Be”

If you and your fiance were meant to be, this cute tin of heart shaped mints is a clever favor option. The mints meet a whole slew of criteria for a great wedding favor: they can be easily be wrapped with a bow or in a box to match wedding colors or theme, they are budget friendly (only $1.80 per favor if you have over 100 guests), and every guest will enjoy receiving one – especially if any part of your meal includes garlic or onions.
“Apple of My Eye”

A charming wedding theme that has been popping up recently is apples. Apples have been used as a design element, as place card holders, as centerpiece decor, and as symbolism for an overarching school / bookish wedding theme. Brides who love apples will adore these
“apple of my eye” candles (pictured at top) that look identical to the real thing.

Wrapped in a pretty, customized box, we think they’d look lovely doing double duty as place card holders. Either use a pearlized pin to affix a place card to the apple candle itself, or add another tag to the box that includes the guest’s name and table number. These apple candles would look great lined up on a place card table as well as sitting in the center of a plate. And for only $1.50 per favor (for over 100 guest weddings), you’ll have a beautiful, simple solution for both place cards and favors.

“Hugs & Kisses from Mr. and Mrs.”

Beautifully wrapped soaps are another unique wedding favor. Unfortunately, many companies who sell pre-wrapped fragrant soaps are pricey, putting the idea out of the price range for most brides. However, we found the chicest X and O soap favors for only $1.70 each. The pretty black and white damask box the soaps come nestled in are ideal for damask weddings, which are another popular decor trend. Brides can also replace the pre-tied black ribbon on the box with a ribbon that matches their wedding color (or colors) for a customized look at a bargain price. Slip on a holepunched nametag before retying the matching ribbon, and these can double as place card holders too.

There have been many adorable do-it-yourself twists on the edible favor theme, including heart-shaped marshmallows in a little baggie paired with hot cocoa mix for the perfect winter treat. Another huge trend in the edible favor department are the now-ubiquitous candy bar, cookie bar, and cupcake bar. They work because guests really do adore being able to pick and choose amongst their favorite treats, and will love you for sparing them from another useless 2″ x 2″ picture frame.

For brides who don’t have confidence in their crafting skills, or those too busy to take on time consuming DIY tasks, The Knot has a respectable selection of unique edible wedding favors. One of the more unique items is the Personalized Hot Sauce bottle, which begs for cute puns on hang tags like “Keep It Spicy”, or “Turn Up the Heat.”

Another edible gem is their Personalized Bloody Mary Mix that also comes in a cute personalized glass bottle. It’s a unique, substantial looking favor that your guests will appreciate much more than a candle.  If you really want to spoil your guests and have a group that likes to party, add in a few packets of Personalized Cocktail Mixes. These would also be a great item to put in a welcome bag for out of town guests with a mini bottle of vodka.

More benign, but equally cute, are the Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider Mini Bottles that come with a custom label. Everyone loves Martinelli’s, which makes this a great favor for dry weddings.

What’s the best edible wedding favor you’ve ever received? We’d love to hear about it!

Pick from over 25 colors, including My M&Ms new shimmer colors in golden, platinum, and pearl–then simply enter your personalized message and upload that perfect couple picture!

The customization process is about as easy as it gets too–you can create your design in minutes, choose from different packaging options and quantities and you’re done!

Also perfect as a cute personalized wedding announcement!

Storing your Personalized M&Ms

My M&Ms recommends storing your personalized M&Ms in the storage packing they come with. Ideally, they should be stored at 65-70 degrees (but they don’t recommend refrigerating them). So ideally, cool room temperature would be ideal.

Backed by a 100% Satisfaction Policy.

My MMs website states:

“MY M&M’S® is committed to a quality experience with every order we produce. If you are not 100% satisfied with your order, we ask that you please contact our customer service representatives and we will be happy assist you.”

Visit My M&Ms to get started!

Wedding Cameras on Sale

Everyone knows how necessary disposable wedding cameras are around your table; there’s something so much more authentic and interesting of pictures taken by your own friends at family at their tables during your reception than the professional, highly polished–albeit beautiful–photographs taken by your professional wedding photographer.

TheKnot.Com makes shopping for your disposable wedding-themed cameras convenient and extremely affordable–with prices starting at $1.99 per camera to $4.99 per camera, depending on your design and imprint selection.

Their standard cameras come with 27 exposures (even the ones that are on sale currently for $1.99)! And they have about 50 different styles to choose from, including personalized, metallic, silver, and specialty cameras (which go up to about $7.99).

We all, by now, know how important budgeting can be when you think about all of the very high-end things most people buy for weddings and how quickly it all adds up! It’s refreshing to have such a memorable and fun option at your wedding, and have it all cost a few bucks.

TheKnot.Com’s reliability and fast-shipping makes it easy and safe to purchase–and you can check one more thing off your Wedding To Do List!