Fortunately/unfortuntely, we’re reaching the point of wedding planning where most things have been done, but what’s remaining isn’t fun, colourful or exciting! The dresses have been bought, the cake is arranged, I’ve met with the florists, we’ve organised the food, most of the drink and 99% of the decorations. It’s getting down to the nitty gritty; working out whether we’ll need a generator for the band, where the caterers can organise themselves, how much space the DJ and his kit will take up… So, instead of boring you with stress and details I’ve decided to share something a little less taxing!
We weren’t originally going to have favours, David and I weren’t too bothered about giving everyone chocolates in a box or a bag of sugared almonds to thank them for celebrating with us, and we felt it had lost its meaning a little. I started googling “DIY favours” and “original favours” before coming back round to one of my favourite sites, Martha Stewart Weddings. I saw her seed favour ideas, and had seen them in some other places and quite liked the idea; you plant the seeds after the day to remember the couple’s wedding in the future, what a lovely sentiment!
I started looking into making it a possibility, I bought 100 glassine paper bags and enough packets of wildflower seeds to start a secret garden, along with some retro patterned craft card (in this case, to match the origami fortune tellers). I measured out the card against the glassine bags and cut it down to size; the scrapbook card was different on each side, and there were 8 different designs, but all colourful and I quite liked that they won’t match when they’re presented on the tables.
Now was the horrible task of sharing out thousands (literally thousands!) of seeds into 100 bags evenly! Eventually I did it, and even had to go and buy a few more packets of seeds after I found Vivienne rubbing them into the carpet one day, I assume she was trying to help… I stamped “S&D” with my Cox & Cox stamps on the front, and printed out a message for the back of the card using a typewriter font, tea-dying the paper to give it a rustic feel.
I then found my embroidery needles and some cream thread and sewed all the components together, tying a bow on the front. Yes, it took a horrifically long time, but I feel it’s worth it, I’ll be laying these when the tables have been laid on each folded napkin. I know seed favours are the ‘in thing’ at the moment but I hope they bring a smile to our guests’ faces and a splash of colour to their gardens!
Sally xx
P.S. I may even put some sugared almonds on the cake table.. for tradition’s sake!
