Greek Favour Ideas for Weddings Abroad in Greece

Today's post is a little different from the theme of posting weddings that SP Weddings has organised over the past in Greece. I thought I would showcase some ideas of how to use local products as favours. I have found that guests love receiving a small gift from the country that they have travelled to and if you use locally produced items, the favour becomes even more authentic and memorable to your guests

Small (or large) bottles of your favourite Greek wine, perhaps the one that you have chosen to serve at your wedding reception is a lovely keepsake for your guests to take away with them.

Consider customising the label with your names, the wedding date and location of the wedding for a more personal touch.

Greek coffee, this is the perfect favour for those that love coffee, easy to transport back home and a product that you will use again and again!

Consider providing personalised instructions on how to make the "perfect" cup of Greek coffee!

www.loumidisfoods.com 

Olive oil is of course associated with Greece and a very useful favour that all your guests will appreciate receiving and certainly use when they return home!

You could include a personalised note on where and how the specific oil has been made or a couple of Greek recipes that feature olive oil quite prominently.

Mastiha is a product you may or may not have heard of, grown only on the island of Chios, this is basically a delicious tree sap that has been made into many products, you can find beauty products as well as edible items. Mastiha in it's best known form is like a chewy, very sweet paste that you take a spoon of and dip in ice cold water, you then slowly consume the paste with the water!! Sounds strange but is actually very enjoyable!Of course I would recommend adding a note explaining how to consume this product!

www.mastihashop.gr

Finally most people are aware of the cool cosmetics company called "Korres", started by a Greek this is one of the most successful companies to emerge in the last few years and can be found around the world with high street stores in New York.

The products are made with natural Greek products and smell and feel amazing!

Consider giving after sun lotion to your guests or perhaps some body lotion with a smell that you love. If you are using herbs or olive leaves in your wedding flowers you can perhaps link this with the product that you choose as the favour for your guests!

www.korres.com

SP

A Stylish DIY Blog

I came across this blog today and am in love with it!  The mixture of personal posts with amazing DIY inspiration makes for such an interesting read.  Not only that, the array of vibrant photographs on the site are stunning!

There is also has a boutique shop, full of hand made produce to browse through on the site which is a new addition and certainly one worth a look.

All images from madefromscratch.co.nz

Check it out and see what you think madefromscratch.co.nz


NY

Pretty Polka Dot Favours

How cute are these?! You have got to love Etsy.com and its abundance of inspiring vendors.  I like the idea of using these as option for the bridesmaids favours,  especially if you are having children as your bridesmaids.  I think that little girls and young teenagers would adore them and it enables you to right a personal note on the chalk board side.

There are an abundance of colours to choose from and also different patterns.  For me the polka dot is the favorite.

All images from zelmarose @ etsy.com

Plus, as we know, anything that is easy to pack rocks my world!

NY

Add a Little Fun to your Favours

Caricatures make me laugh!  I have always enjoyed them and done well can make great mementos of a certain moment in time.  As I write this, I can see the caricature of my two cousins and myself that we had done in Recoletta in Buenos Aires and it still makes me laugh.  

Image from weddingsbymarius.co.za

The idea of having one at your wedding is great and can double up as your favours if planned right.  Having a stash of frames and some pre-cut mount board at the ready and all you have to do is designate a couple of people to assemble them and present them to the respective guest. I would be stoked to be given one for a favour, what an amazing memento of the occasion. I organised this idea for the 60th birthday party of my dad and it went down a treat!  The other great thing about this is, in Greece you can usually locate a cartoonist in any local tourist spot. For example, I know there is one who sets up camp every night in Chania harbour.  I cannot imagine they would turn down a great gig, like a wedding, to boost their income.

Simply, it is genius!

NY

Don't forget the Kids

A lot of your guests who are coming may have children and want to make a holiday of the trip.  I found that 90% of my friends who have children brought them with them, so take this into account and be prepared.  Kids party bags are a great idea to help entertain the kids at your wedding and will also enable the parents a little rest bite from their children.

There are a large amount of companies out there that will provide ready filled party bags for a reasonable price which could be an option for you but take into account you will have to ship them to Greece.  The other option is to make up your own, which also could be fun!  I have put together a moodboard for you to inspire you a little.

Images from  partydelights.co.uk &
paperchase.co.uk

Obviously if you are going down the DIY route for your Kids party bags, purchasing the fillers in Greece would make a lot more sense and there are numerous children's shops there that you could utilise.   You could always mix and match fillers from the two countries if you are worried that Greece won't have a specific product but cost wise it, would be best to reduce the amount you ship and also you could need that vital space for something else.

NY

Lucky Lotto

Every year I hold a Christmas feast for a bunch of my friends (yes I love the festive season!).  It generally involves a lot of food, drink and immaturity, I think this comes from us all knowing each other for between 17 years old to 20 years ( when did I get so old).  As any true Christmas bash should involve there is a secret Santa session at the end of supper and it is this that leads me to the inspiration part of this post (obviously cunningly disguised in all this pretty irrelevant information!).  

Image from dottiecreations.com

Last year my dear friend and Maid of Honour wrapped up a bunch of scratch cards.  Genius!  Whilst at the modern bride show I came across a company called Dottie Creations that had taken that idea a little further and had favours of lottery tickets.  I love this idea.  Buying a batch of Greek lottery tickets ( may as well get in the spirit of the country you are getting hitched in) and packaging them beautifully would make such a cool favour.  Budget wise, it would be damn reasonable too as well as something they may actually enjoy and appreciate.  Think about it....it is awesome!

NY

Let's go Green!

I have just come back from a wonderful weekend in South Devon.  It was my god daughter's christening and whilst all the god parents were hovering around the font, I got chatting to her uncle who runs a re usable wrapping company.  I know you are probably asking yourselves why am I sharing this fascinating piece of information with you all, well because it gave me an idea for favours and welcome packs!

Images from evergreenwrap.com

They make beautiful wrapping out of fabric, which of course, can be re used afterwards.  What I love about their product is how beautifully designed the fabrics are and their versatility.  They have thoroughly thought through the whole process and have a special section on their website to show you how to tie the knots/ bows in a variety of different ways.  What struck me as a great idea would be to use them for wonderful, colourful packages in the rooms of your guests or a simple way to package the favours, whilst adding striking colour to your table.  If you are having a beach wedding they can also double up as a sarong, how cool is that!

Images from evergreenwrap.com

Unfortunately Hugo and Bella are taking a well earned break for a week before the Christmas rush ensues but on their return they are going to make up some welcome parcels and favours for us to look at.  Until then, check out their website to see how gorgeous their wrapping is. Don't forget to look at the techniques page to see the variety of uses the wrapping has! www.evergreenwrap.com


NY

Pomegranates: Traditions & Inspiration

Images from marthastewart.com,
 thelisaportercollection.blogspot.com & dipity.com

For thousands of years pomegranates have been symbols of fertility in Greece.  They are an important part of Greek wedding rites and have been since ancient times.  It is believed that the many seeds in a pomegranate promise children and the red colour of the fruit signifies the soon to be non-existent virginity of the bride.  The Greeks are known to shatter the fruit on the threshold of the newly weds home to increase their fertility and also break them on the floors of their own house at New Year to bring good luck.

Images from greekshops.com, byappointmentonlydesign.com &
michaelaram.com

Now Sara can confirm my slight obsession with the joy that is the pomegranate.  Every time I am in Athens or Crete I buy myself a new pomegranate trinket, whether it be a Christmas decoration, a glass pomegranate or a bit of jewellery.  I love them!  They make cute favours as well.  Anyway, enough of my over enthusiasm, have a look for yourselves.

NY

Sometimes DIY is Best

….  It really is!  With the previously stated problems with hiring, DIYing some aspects of your Greek wedding is really the easiest way to handle the problem.   Now I am not going to say it is all a bundle of fun, because some of it isn’t but the end rewards make up for it!  I found it very hard to stomach that 200 tea light holders were going to set me back at least £400 and that was without any candles in them. So I decided to make my own! It may have taken a little longer than expected but I got them done!  I found an online site where I could buy 200 small Jam jars for £60…perfect. Next I bought some fine wire from Homebase and some raffia!  After getting comfortable on my sitting room floor in front of a good movie I set about constructing the rustic tea light holders.  It took me about 2 weeks (don’t worry, I wasn’t sitting there solidly, only 1-2 hours an night) and too be honest they were perfect for what I needed).

The other detail that gave me a lot of jip (and Sara will definitely agree as I dragged her halfway round Athens looking for them) was the Bombonieres.  My god!  It was so painful.  I looked everywhere, changed my mind about 100 times and still wasn’t happy.  I have drawers of these things from all my family’s weddings and for me it was important not to waste a lot of my budget on something that I did not deem as hugely important.  In the end I put my mother and 2 family friends to work and made up some cute little packages with an evil eye and the Koufetta inside.  There was also an explanation of what the Koufetta stood for inside, for all the non Greeks.  My father did have some issues with this area as it is traditional to have something made of silver, for the family at least but in the end he caved and for me it was the best decision.  Most of the young (or not so young) were just happy taking away the hats and wigs.

NY

Jam Jar Heaven

OK so I have mentioned I used Jam Jars for tea lights at my wedding and I thought I would share some inspiration ideas I found whilst scouring the net.   I loved these ideas below.  Jam Jars can look amazing and so handy for a wedding in Greece as they are easy to find and all you have to do is recycle them on your way out.   

Photos from pastthemoon.com 

My Favorite ideas are the light bulb and using jam jars for drinks, I think they look great.  I can’t believe I didn’t think to use them to serve the Pimms out of at mine.  Damn it!  The light bulb, quite frankly is just cool and I am thinking I deserve some for my back yard.  Now what are your thoughts on using these really cute jam jars as place settings?  They would be so easy to make; all you need is jam jars and a pot of blackboard paint.  They could double up as either their water glasses or they could be favours with the koufetta in them.

Photos from epting events & Etsy.com

Photos from Etsy.com & Crazyagnus

I love the flowers and candles hanging in them.  It looks wonderful and also very practical with the temperatures in Greece to enable the flowers to have water.  They would look great in a beach wedding as well as a more traditional venue, modern or rustic theme.  Loving the jam jars!

NY