Wedding Favors: Skip Them. Here's Why.

The Favor Math

Wedding favors for 100 guests cost $500-$2,000. That's $5-$20 per person for something that 80% of guests will leave on the table or throw away within a week.

This is not an exaggeration. Ask any wedding planner or venue coordinator: the number of favors left behind at the end of a reception is consistently 60-80%.

The Case for Skipping

Nobody who loves you will remember whether you had wedding favors. They will remember the food, the music, the vows, the speeches, and how you made them feel. Favors contribute none of these things.

The $500-$2,000 you'd spend on favors is better spent on: better food, better photography, a contribution to your honeymoon fund, or your emergency fund.

If You Want to Do Something

If you feel strongly about acknowledging your guests, here are alternatives that cost less and mean more:

• Charitable donation: Make a donation in your guests' names to a cause you care about. Include a card at each place setting. Costs $200-$500 and actually does something.
• Edible favors: A small bag of local honey, a packet of seeds, or homemade jam. Costs $1-$3 per person and people actually take them.
• Nothing: Genuinely the best option for most couples. Nobody will notice.