Wedding favors have become somewhat of a cliche, but are they really necessary? Will your guests miss them if they leave without their personalized matchbook? Why not considering giving your guests the gift of charity instead?
Many modern brides and grooms are electing to bypass the entire wedding-favor tradition altogether. Instead, they are choosing to denote money in each of their guest's names to the charity organization of their choice.
How to Choose the Right Charity
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams when it comes to charitable organizations. It is important that you do your research before deciding which charity to choose. Make sure that the organization is legitimate and well-established. Try to get as much information as you can about the history of the organization and Google it to see if there is any suspicious activity associated with the charity. Also make sure you know how much of your donation will actually be donated and what percentage will go to fees.
Think about what social problems worry you: if saving the planet is your thing, that you should consider an environmental charity. Is there a disease that hits close to home for you, you might like to consider a health or disease charity. Justgive.org has a great list of charitable organizations grouped by categories such as animals; art and culture; community; disabled; disaster relief; education; the elderly; the environment; homelessness; human rights; hunger and poverty, and substance abuse.
How to Donate
Now that you've decided on which charity you'd like to donate to, the difficult part is over. All you have to do now is make a donation in the amount of your choice in each of your wedding guests' names.
For an added touch, you can make a personalized card for each guest that can also serve as a place card. It can be any style you like, but a popular wording style is:
Lisa & Dan
June 8, 2007
Thank you for being a part of our lives
and for sharing our special day with us.
In honor and appreciation of our guests
we have made a contribution to
PETA.
Other Ways to Be a Charitable Bride
If wedding favor donations aren't your style, or if you are looking for more ways to show your charitable side here are some tips:
- Consider donating your wedding flowers when the ceremony and reception are over. Your leftover flowers can be distributed to the sick or elderly, and are certain to brighten their day.
- Think about donating your leftover food. Most caterers are only going to dispose of the remaining portions of food anyway, so why not request to have the leftovers distributed to local food banks?
- Your wedding dress and your bridesmaids' dresses can be donated to charity. These dresses can be resold at a fraction of the cost to a bride who cannot afford her gown, and the maids' gowns often get donated to underprivileged teenagers as prom dresses. There is also a charity called Making Memories that will happily accept your new or used gown, and then resell it, with all the profits going to Breast Cancer charities.
