Let’s face it – I am going to be a wedding guest sooner and more frequently than I will be a bride. And while I’m happy to help inspire brides for their wedding details, I am also a tad selfish. So today, I’m picking out the wedding favors for this week’s orange wedding. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to convince anyone to give away Marc Jacobs bags and/or mini cheesecakes as favors. I thought it was worth a shot.

martha always has great ideas

But I’d be happy with either of these cute little orange favors. I am a sucker for good packaging and these little boxes are adorable. And they’d look great sitting on the tables at your reception. These windowless boxes also allow you a lot of freedom – you can put anything you’d like inside and they’ll still look just as cute. I highly recommend you fill them with dark chocolate covered raisins or yogurt covered pretzels, but that’s just my opinion. Or you can get personalized, pre-filled boxes of bright orange jelly beans. They’d add a great pop of color to the table and are a little more fun.

wedding day jelly beans

Thank your guests for travelling to Georgia by giving them a gift that highlights these juicy regional gems – peaches. Check out these adorably wrapped little peach pie favors.

i love that packaging

If the thought of incorporating must-need-to-be-prepare-last-minute baked goods in your wedding makes you nervous, give customized jars of peach preserves – they have a much longer shelf life and can be prepared way in advance.

homemade preserves mmm mmm

If you can’t actually whip up these treats yourselves, support a local shop in Georgia. A mom-and-pop shop is bound to use the freshest peaches and have better flavors.

I was visiting my friend’s Etsy store, Noey’s Papers, last night and I was found something that would make a fabulous bridesmaids gift!

Fill with meaningful photos of you and your maids, and voila! - awesome bridesmaid gift!

What I found were mini chip-board photo albums - the perfect way to create a personal and meaningful gift for your bridesmaids (and not too pricey either - $28 each and they are handmade!).

The albums are really neat.  They are created out of thick chipboard so that they have a very sturdy and handcrafted feel.  Each “page” of the album is completely covered in designer paper, ribbons, buttons, trinkets, etc.  Every page is different, making these albums super unique.

The point of the album is to add personal photos as each page has photo corners already built in for holding your favorite pics.  I thought that placing meaningful pictures of you and your bridesmaids would make a *perfect* gift, especially since the album itself is handmade.  You just can’t find albums like these in stores!

*Remember the post I did a few days ago on those amazing handmade, scrapbook inspired wedding details?  I got the go ahead from Noaillese to do a post of the entire wedding, so here it is!

The Bride: Noaillese, 25, Software Engineer

The Groom: Warren, 25, Computer Science PhD Student

The Location: The Villa Antonia in Austin, Texas

Wedding Colors: Apple Green and Eggplant Purple

What made this wedding modern: A modern color combination mixed with squares, bold flowers, and the use of hand made paper projects made Noaillase and Warren’s big day stand out.

Where they splurged: Once Noaillese and Warren saw the Villa Antonia in Austin, they couldn’t say no, and their biggest splurge automatically became the venue and the food.

Where they saved: Noaillese made all of the stationery herself, including invitations, programs, menus, and table numbers (yes, she’s a crafty gal - complete with her own etsy store!).  She also priced out doing the flowers herself and then found a florist willing to match her calculated price.  This is a bit of wedding vendor negotiation we could all learn from - great idea!

The outdoor ceremony - no wonder they fell in love with the venue!

The best part of the wedding:

“My favorite part of the wedding was sitting down at the sweetheart table with my new husband and just taking a deep breath.” It’s these quiet moments that we remember the most about a wedding.

Looking back, what they would have changed:

Noaillese and Warren had a no regrets wedding -  When asked what she would change Noaillese replied “Nothing really.  I remember spending the whole day smiling and that’s all I could ask for.”

Some of the "negotiated" flowers - wait till you see the rest!

Cymbidium orchids decorated the cake

Told you they were amazing!

Her Advice:

” Enjoy the planning process but don’t worry about it too much.  And on the day of the wedding don’t let anything bother you.  Just enjoy the time spent with family, friends, and your new husband.“

A flower embellishment on one of the many paper projects

To see more of the handmade goodies Noaillese used in her wedding, check out this previous post which mentions quite a few of them.  Also, definitely check out her esty store, Noeys Papers, her stuff is amazing!

Submit you own wedding to the guide…