finishing the favors.

Early on in the planning process, we decided on our wedding favors. With a serious disdain for knick-knacks and a guest list of 325, we knew we wanted our favors to serve a purpose and come with an affordable price tag. Being a professional wedding guest myself (I should really count how many weddings I've been to in recent history) I thought back to the types of favors that I appreciate the most. The edible variety have always been my favorite. They are enjoyable and useful and don't collect dust on my shelves. They make my tummy happy after a few hours of drinking and dancing. Really, what's not to love? Edible favors were the clear winners in our book.

Since my family has always been quite proficient in the baking department, the type of edible favor was a no-brainer. We would have to bake some sort of cake. But what kind do we give as a favor if we are serving wedding cake at the reception? Oh yes, the most delicious kind of cake ever...my mother's cardamom cakes. Delicious and dense, resembling more of a coffee cake than wedding cake, they can be made in cute little bundt cake pans, glazed, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They also freeze well, which was important since there was no way we'd be waiting until the last few days before the wedding to knock out 325 of these babies. We made a few test cakes, froze them, and ate them after one month and two months. They both tasted fine after thawing, and we sold on the mini cardamom cake favors.

Mama Mascara and Future Mama-in-Law Mascara graciously volunteered to make the cakes (bless their hearts!) and I bought them each the cake pans they'd need to make them. When mid-July came around, I sent out an email reminding them it was time to start baking! They both went to work, and in the past two weeks they baked up a storm. I kept track of how many each of them made, and I got the call yesterday saying the last cake was baked! They've got about 350 cakes stored in their respective freezers, just waiting to be packaged up in these little boxes and set at each place setting!

I am so thankful for our mothers for taking on this task, and hopefully our guests will appreciate the delicious home-baked goodies (and the pretty packaging).

Did you opt for homemade favors? Did you make them or did someone else do you a favor?