Favors: Homemade Vanilla Extract

I wrote all about the favors before, but I wanted to include some pictures of the final product. They were a big hit with the guests. I think including a recipe made all the difference. Who wouldn't want to make honey chocolate chip cookies?

But the design of the label changed before the big day...

I abandoned the original label design...

...In favor of this one. But I didn't want to cut that out (too tedious).

...so I made the background transparent and added a round label.

Stickers for the bottles.

Bottling the vanilla the week before the wedding.

In action at the reception.

Wedding Favors Part 2

After my previous entry on favors, I presented the idea to my mom and fiance. Both thought vanilla extract was an awesome, unique idea. So, I bought 4 lbs. of vanilla beans in bulk and 108 amber glass bottles (12 8-oz., 96 4-oz.).

The larger bottles will go to some of the key players-our officiant, our parents, John's grandma-just as a way to show them a little more gratitude for all their love and support.

Following this tutorial on Ruffled, John, my dad and I cut up over 500 vanilla beans (!) and placed them in handles of vodka to steep. They are currently housed in the dark in my old mini-fridge from college, since they're supposed to stay out of the light. I go over and give them a good shake every now and then (once a week or so).

Next came the fun part: designing a label for the bottles! I started with a soap label (found on GraphicsFairy's amazing blog of vintage art) and massively cut it down:

 - all the excess border

- the text "Savon Olgalia au Muguet" 

+ "John & Dana's Vanilla Extract"

+ Border I cut out from another random label

=

Ta-da!

But, of course that wasn't enough. What is the use of extract if you aren't much of a baker? What ever will you use it for? That's why I decided to make a recipe card for one of our favorites, Saveur's Honey Chocolate Chip cookies. A hole will be punched in the top left corner and the card will be tied around the bottles with twine.

Front of card

Back of card

Though, depending on how much printer ink I want to buy, I may just print the recipe side and tie that on. We'll see how ambitious I get.

I love the mismatched vintage vibe of the paper goods. My goal is for things to be quirkily mismatched and yet cohesive in their aesthetic.

Wedding Favors

It is an interesting conundrum-do you have to give wedding favors? Wedding favors fall into two categories: useless trinkets that have their wedding date and names on them that will be thrown out by the guests, or something edible.

I think if you do one, edible is the way to go. But are these favors really necessary? I can barely remember any wedding favor I've ever received as a guest (and I've only been to a few weddings!). It's not that I don't want to acknowledge my appreciation for the guests; I am so glad they can be there to share our day with us. But will a cheap little box of candy really show them that appreciation?

I've seen some brides do incredibly creative favors, showing a true gratitude by making something themselves. I've seen brides who grew up on a farm make jars of preserves or apple butter for their guests (though of course this works best for a smaller wedding!). I love this idea of doing something DIY, since I plan on doing a lot of things myself for this wedding (and already have, like the Save the Dates!).

The best idea I saw recently was on the Ruffled blog. They're having a DIY contest right now, which always produces some lovely project ideas. I love details, and these wedding blogs are great for giving you ideas! This one? Homemade vanilla extract! Doesn't that sound divine?

Photo: Magpie Paper Works

My first thought though: won't this cost a ton of money? So, I started looking online.

150 guests=150 favors (not necessarily true with couples, but just for starters let's say we would have 150 favors)
1/4 lb of vanilla beans per 15 favors=2 1/2 lb vanilla beans ($55.40 on the website they recommended)
150 2 oz bottles= $87.84 on the website they recommend
10 bottles of vodka @$11.99 (on BevMo)=$119.90

=$263.14
Which comes to an average of $1.75 per guest if each and every guest got an individual bottle of the stuff. I don't know much about wedding favors, but that seems like a pretty good price, and less than I was expecting it to run.

What do you think? Would you be excited to get something like vanilla extract as a wedding favor? I think I would because it's so unique, but I can definitely see a lot of people thinking it's weird if they aren't into baking.