Choosing wedding favours your guests actually keep

A favour is the smallest gift at a wedding and the one most likely to be forgotten on a banquet table. The difference between the two outcomes is rarely budget — it is judgement.

Choose an object with a second life A brass diya is lit again at Diwali. A ceramic trinket dish holds rings by a bedside. A scented candle is relit on an anniversary. Ask of every shortlist: where does this live after the wedding?

Respect the journey home Guests travel. Favours that are heavy, fragile without protection, or awkwardly shaped get left behind. Keep pieces compact, wrap them properly, and choose a box that can be carried in one hand.

Personalise with restraint An engraved initial, a printed sleeve in your invitation palette, a hand-tied ribbon — these read as care. Full-colour photographs and dates on every surface read as merchandise.

Order for the real guest count Add ten per cent for family, vendors and the people who arrive unannounced. It is far easier to have a few spare than to reorder mid-week.