Wedding Favors - Personalized and Homemade.

Photo taken by Kimberly Ponthieux of Little Moments Photography.

I must apologize because this is one project that I did not document well. I have no idea why I didn't utilize my camera or blackberry to snap a few pictures of the project from beginning to end, but there are only photos of the final product(but I have included some stock photos to spark your visual interest).


From the beginning, Timothy and I knew that we wanted our favors to be something personal and unique. We brainstormed a few ideas and eventually decided on "Puff Stuff." 


Puff was Timothy's grandfather, and he had his very own blend of spices that he used on everything from beef and chicken to vegetables and potatoes.  Tim still makes this special blend at home and we use it all the time (it is fabulous on burgers, tater-tots and grilled veggies). We decided to make individualized jars of "Puff Stuff" for each of our guest.

photos copied from a Google image search for mason jars

We started with 120 half-pint mason jars. We purchased our jars online at Ace Hardware and had them shipped to our local store at no additional cost. We washed and dried all the jars, rings and lids.

Next, I created tags to be placed on each jar. The tags were secured on each ring using a small piece of navy blue ribbon.

photo copied from a Google image search for spices

Then, we used a secret mix of spices to create a large batch of "Puff Stuff." We were able to find many of the spices we needed at the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar. A great budget find!  We filled each jar with our secret spice mix.

photo copied from a Google image search for apple fabric

We cut squares of fabric just slightly bigger than the opening of the jar. 

We used an apple-green fabric that coordinated with our color scheme.
To finish the project, we placed a fabric square on top of the lid and then secured it with the jar ring including description tag.

Photo taken by Maureen Smith

The apple-green fabric in a picture from our wedding day. 
The fabric actually had apples on it!

The entire project took about three days. This included: wash and dry time for the jars,  cutting fabric squares, printing and cutting description tags, attaching tags to jar rings with blue ribbon, multiple trips to multiple stores in Asheville to buy large quantities of the spices needed, filling jars with spice mix, adding the lid, fabric squares and rings to create the final product!  Whew! That was a lot, but we had so much fun with this DIY project, and we were glad to include a little piece of Puff on our wedding day.

I have to thank Timothy's Mom and Dad . We decided to tackle this project back in April over spring break, and we did so while visiting Mark and Cindy in Asheville.  They helped wash and dry jars, tie ribbon and description cards, trek all over town for spices, mix spices and fill jars. The project would have taken forever without all their help, and we are super thankful they were able/willing to pitch in on this DIY-wedding project.


The biggest expense was all the different spices. However, compared to the pre-made favors that can be found on the web, we saved on our budget by doing these ourselves. And, our spice jars meant so much more to us and they were truly a meaningful favor that represented us and the theme/feel of our wedding day.

photo by Heather Watkins

Kelly Anne