Wedding Favors

The history of wedding favors? Every bride and groom sends their guests home with a momento of the joyous occasion. Have you ever wondered why wedding guests are presented with favors and where this tradition comes from? Wedding favors are small gifts given as a gesture of appreciation or gratitude to guests from the bride and groom during a wedding ceremony or a wedding reception. The tradition of distributing wedding favors is a very old one. It is believed that the first wedding favor, common amongst European aristocrats, was known as a bonbonniere or as it’s called in Italian, a bomboniere.
The contents of these precious boxes were generally sugar cubes or delicate confections, which symbolize wealth and royalty. It was from these boxed and gift wrapped confections that today’s wedding favors are derived. As sugar became more affordable, bonbonnieres were replaced with almonds. For centuries, almonds were commonly distributed to wedding guests to signify well wishes on the bridegroom’s new life. In the thirteenth century, almonds coated with sugar, known as confetti, were introduced. Confetti soon transformed to sugared almonds, which later evolved into the wedding favor for modern day weddings. Traditionally, five Jordan almonds are presented in a confection box or wrapped in elegant fabric to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. The bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the coated candy exemplify the bitter sweetness of a marriage. These almonds were supposed to show luck for wealth, happiness, fertility, health, and a long life.
Encrypt from Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_favors