Photos as FavorsI heard a great favor idea from another bride recently: giving every guest a photo from the wedding to take home at the end of your reception. There are two ways to do this.
The one I like best involves having a group photo taken that includes ALL of your guests (along with you two and the bridal party of course!). This can be done most easily if you have under 50 guests. If you want to do this, be sure to talk with your photographer about it ahead of time, because they'll need a ladder, a wide-angle lens, and a separate compact flash card or an additional roll of film to shoot only those group photos on. You'll also need an assistant, who could be the photographer's assistant or maybe a weddding coordinator or a friend that doesn't mind missing about an hour of the reception.
In order to do this, have your officiant announce at the end of the ceremony that you would like ALL of the guests to stay for a group photo. After the photographer shoots a few photos of the group, they can give the compact flash card or roll of film to your assistant. That person then runs the disk or roll of film down to Costco or another one-hour photo lab and has enough prints made of the best group photo for all of the guests. (Or one photo per family if that works out easier.) Then at the end of the reception each of your guests get to take one home to remember your wedding day.
If you have over 50 guests or aren't wild about the idea of a group photo, you can still do something similar by choosing a photo of you two together to have made as a favor instead. Either way people will have a personalized and unique favor from your wedding.
© 2004-2008 Jacqueline L. Beck. All rights reserved.