The Favor Debacle

I had mentioned in a previous post the issues I had had with the favors. I had gone back and forth if I really wanted to do them or not. James and I are more on the missionary-strain, so I was leaning initially to just doing a donation in leiu of favors.

But, the more aesthetic side of me won out and there was something I really liked about having something pretty and theme-oriented left on the tables. So, I decided to go with favors. And, really, I did want to thank my guests in some small way for coming.

That being said, I didn't want a favor that was useless or could be eaten or thrown away. After much thought, I decided on bookmarks. James and I had our first 'meeting' at Border's Bookstore while we were both there checking out CS Lewis books. We didn't meet actually that day, but a year later. Randomly. But we both vividly remember the encounter and truly believe God brought us together at the right time (for the full story, see here).

So, I thought bookmarks were perfect. Useful. Not overly feminine. Related to our story.

Trying to find a suitable bookmark was tougher. They either looked cheap or very girly. But then I found the perfect one:

I loved it for a few reasons. Number one - it didn't look cheap. Number two - it had a great folder we could personalize and have printed in our color. Number three - it wasn't too girly for the guys. And number four, I had already decided that I wanted crystal trees for some for the centerpieces, so I thought this was a great tie in.

Well, after all my agonizing indecisiveness, I took the plunged and ordered them only to find they were back-ordered EVERYWHERE. Until April 29.

I was so bummed. It had taken me so long to come up with that idea...now where to start all over again? I tried to go the tree route for bookmarks again, but most of them were fall-themed.

So, I tried my luck at Etsy.com, where artist sell their hand-made items. I hunted and hunted - and hunted - hours of previewing merchandise - and contacted a few vendors to see who could custom make 140 bookmarks. In 3 weeks. With a custom tree theme. And a Scripture verse. For about the same price.

I met a ton of great vendors but I landed on one who worked SO HARD for me - Allison from Allison Paper Crafts. She responded immediately and almost instantaneously, she was shooting me over samples, working within my price-range, adjusting the look to exactly what I was asking. She was amazing. And, I contacted her probably last Thursday or Friday and the bookmarks shipped this morning. She was outstanding. And it cost me less than the tree bookmarks originally would have. So, this is the finished product:

With a small spot for our initials and date on the back:

All in all, the favor debacle ended up being a really.good.thing.