Sharing recipes with your guests

Brides offer advice on favour ideas with a ‘homey' factor

With a cup of love, a dash of chemistry, two tablespoons of forgiveness and a pinch of patience you're on your way to perfecting the recipe for a happy marriage. Sure, other newlyweds might appreciate this advice, but how can singles relate? And old married couples practically invented these recipes; so give your wedding guests a recipe they can all enjoy - a little piece of yourself as a wedding favour.

Not literally, of course, but a recipe that you and your new husband love to make together, a family favourite or even a drink you both enjoy - something that lets them into your world.

It all started with an article in a magazine... one of The Ring's staff members came across a reality wedding story where the bride and groom gave guests recipes for the food that was served at their wedding. And since our ongoing mission is to find the coolest and latest tips for brides, we were so excited to come across the idea of sharing recipes as a way to say "Thanks!".

Of course, simply giving a recipe doesn't really have that ‘wow-factor' that brides want; and what better way to find ideas on how to present these favours in a cool way than to ask those who are in-the-know (we're talking about brides and veteran brides, in case you hadn't figured that out). So, we went on a hunt through The Ring's chat forums and came out with these treasures...

Cristine and her FH, who are getting married in October, are making Peach Chutney for their guest favours and putting it in little mason jars with a ribbon, a label of their wedding date and the recipe for the chutney. "I have a recipe that everyone loves and so we're canning it. It looks like a nice 'amber' colour once it is made which will go nice with the autumn feel of the wedding." Plus this way, guests can have their chutney, eat it and make it too!

This is similar to another idea we came across to give guests a bag or jar of dry ingredients with the recipe on the outside - just like those ‘cookies in a jar' that became popular a few years ago.

Delilah_81 also had an idea like this for her wedding. "FH and I make cookies together with a recipe that I altered to make it super-fantastic. There have been numerous times that we've made them together, we give tons away and people always comment on how fantastic they are... so we're making a bunch and wrapping them in cellophane." Plus, if hors d'oeuvres aren't in your budget this could be a little something for people to snack on while they wait for dinner and they don't have to worry about remembering to take anything home. Or, why not dig deeper and give out samples of family favourites with the recipe attached so that guests can enjoy a piece of your childhood.

If you don't have the time or the means to make food for guests to enjoy, you could at least share the recipe so they can make it later and think of you and your wedding every time they do. Like Bellavella who made homemade recipe books with all of her and her FH's favourite recipes to give out to guests.

This idea would also be good for a multi-cultural wedding - to give out recipes from both cultures so that the two sides of the family can learn about one another. Another idea we came across in our travels was to give out drink recipes and print them on a coaster - and we just love the idea of having dual purpose (and functional!) party favours.

As far as how to efficiently and elegantly display the recipes - we think that laminated cards, magnets or stickers could work. Just ask your stationery guru for help there, and who knows, maybe they'll let you package these extras in with the rest of your stationery needs.

While you and your FH might have the happy marriage recipe down pat, you might not be well-versed in the area of cooking and need some advice, so you could have blank postcards (already addressed and stamped) waiting at your guests' place settings and ask them to mail you their favourite recipe so that you can build your new life together with recipes from family and friends. This is also a great idea for a bridal shower gift. After all, food has been a part of celebrations for pretty much as long as it has existed and is an element that's used to bring people together. Thanks to these awesome ideas from brides in The Ring (and a few from experts in the industry), you can keep this tradition alive and add some modern twists and your own personal touch to thank your guests for sharing in your celebration.

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