Do you like to win things? Are you a bride or groom trying to find ways to save money in your wedding budget? Save some money and have some fun - enter our What's in a Name competition to be in with a chance of winning $100 worth of wedding bomboniere.  The top 10 entries, as judged by our team, will also win a set of 2 stubby holders.  We're looking for funny, clever names for our Bride & Groom characters.

For more details and full terms & conditions, check out our "What's in a Name" competition page. You've got nothing to lose, so pop on over there now to find out what you need to do.

Let's stay on the spring and garden theme this week. Who can resist such a wonderful time of year to get married. Summer's only just around the corner and there is much anticipation in the air for excited spring and summer brides.  So much to do, so little time, daydreaming about every little detail, stressing over every little detail.

How about adding a splash of fun to your wedding theme and wedding bomboniere. Who loves birds, bees, butterflies and ladybirds? A unique wedding theme could follow one of these trends involving our feathered and winged friends.  There are so many ways you could incorporate any, some or all of these into your wedding day.  Although using all four at once may be a bit OTT!  If you do, make sure to send me some photos :)

Bird wedding theme

If you have the time and inclination, you could cut out paper birds and use them as decorations, hang them as mobiles, place them on birdcages that are scattered throughout the reception.  The cut out birds could be used instead of a guest book.  Get your guests to write lovely little notes on them and pin them up with wooden pegs on a piece of string for everyone to read and for your to put into your wedding scrapbook.  If you have a creative flair, then you could make origami birds or cranes and have them scattered on tables and hanging from trees for a garden wedding.  The cut out birds could be coloured or printed to match your colour scheme.

Birdcages seem to be very popular these days.  They could be used to decorate your venue plus also double as your wishing well with paper cut out birds sitting atop them or on a stick inside the cage.  Think love birds smooching.

Doves are the symbol of love. Releasing doves during the ceremony may appeal to you but if you're worried about them doing their business on your lovely dress or perhaps on your guests as they fly off, then you could settle for some stunning Love Dove wedding bomboniere.

Bees/ladybird wedding theme

Think outside of the box.  Maybe a ladybird or bee theme is more your style.  Jar up unprocessed honey from a local honey supplier and cover with a cloth and string matching your colour scheme, give these as wedding bomboniere with a personalise tag attached.  Guests love edible favours and every time they eat it, they'll think of your wedding day.

Wedding accessories and stationery

In your hair and bouquets you could have fake butterflies, bees or lady birds.  Your hair piece could be made with stunning feathers, such as peacock feathers.  You could also decorate your cake with these lovely winged insects and animals.

Your stationery would look divine with a silohette of a bird, butterfly, bee or ladybird, the invite sets the scene for your guests.  Maybe hats will be the order of the day for your lady guests.  A garden wedding with a bird, butterfly, bee or ladybird theme would give a romantic and soft feel to the whole day.

Possible colour schemes

Add soft pinks for romance and bright yellows for spark and spontanaity, mint green for calming and subtle tones. Your colour scheme could be yellow and black if you're having a bee theme.  Yellow flowers with black ribbon or yellow bridesmaid dresses with a striking black sash would be bold and beautiful in spring. Of course, you'll need to make sure that yellow doesn't make your bridesmaids look washed out.  The groomsmen could wear black suits with a yellow tie.

Themed wedding bomboniere

The wedding bomboniere you give to your guests could also involve the themes.  Ceramic honey pots or beeswax yellow candles.  Ladybird fridge magents, butterfly bottle stoppers or a bookmark.  Perhaps you could mix and match these favours and give two types instead of the same to each guest.  This is a good idea for couples especially so they're not going home with the same gift.

Having a spring theme and incorporating some of the lovely insects and animals that are the epitomy of spring will give the wedding day that feeling of a new beginning.  If you're having an inside wedding, bring the outdoors in with lots of flowers and spring decorations to get everyone in the mood.  If you're having an outdoor wedding, well you're already half way there and you'll have an easy time adding your own personal touch to the decorations and accessories.

Share your gpring & garden wedding ideas with us!

Share your spring and garden wedding ideas with us in the comments section.  I'm sure other brides who are planning their spring or garden wedding would love to hear from you.

Also, check out these links for more inspiration and ideas for your spring or garden wedding:

Nature Inspired Indoor Wedding

Spring Inspiration Photo Shoot

Spring Ranch Wedding

Beautiful Blooms Spring Wedding

Birdcage Inspired Wedding Ideas

DIY Spring Wedding

Bird Wedding Theme

Quirky, Rustic Wedding Table Ideas

Photo credits and product links (from left to right)

Birds & Ladybirds: Love Birds in the Window Salt & Pepper Shakers, Love Songs Birdcage Tea Light Holder/Place Card Holder, Love Dove Scented Soap, Love Bird Chrome Bottle Stopper, Love Dove Bottle Opener, Flickr - Strange Ones, Flickr - MSVG, Love Bug Ladybug Magnets, Flickr - Vibragiel, Flickr - @ly$ in Wonderland

Bees & Butterflies: Flickr - sub_lime79, Meant to Bee Honey Pot, Flickr - Paul Stein, Butterfly Silver Metal Bookmark, Meant to Bee Honey Scented Beehive Candle, Flickr - Schristia, Fluttering Heart Butterfly Chrome Bottle Stopper, Butterflies Laser Cut Favour Box, Flickr - Armando Maynez, Flickr - Paul Stein

Spring = "new life" and it's such an exciting time of year.  It's also very popular among many brides and grooms taking the leap into their news lives.  Statistically, spring is the most popular time of year to be married.  In Australia, our spring runs from 1 September to 30 November.  This doesn't always mean the weather will behave itself but overall the temperature is starting to warm up and the weather is a lot more stable than it will become in the summer months.  Plus the haze of winter is starting to clear and the flora and fauna are literally blooming!  It's like a new beginning - for nature and for lots of couples in love.

Wedding season is now well underway for this year's spring brides who are busy adding the last little touches to their weddings which are just around the corner (or perhaps laying on the beach with a cocktail on their honeymoon!).  But if you're just starting out in planning your spring wedding for next year, I hope you find some inspiration for your spring or garden wedding here.

Spring Wedding Theme Ideas

There are so many wedding themes you could choose for a spring wedding or garden wedding.  It will be hard for you to pick just one!  I'm going to focus on two themes in this post - a pear wedding theme and a cherry blossom wedding theme.  Both fresh, fun and full of great ideas for your wedding bomboniere.

Pear Wedding Theme

When I think of pears, I think - fresh, crisp, clean and green.  There are many ways you can integrate pears into a garden wedding. First off, include a motif of a pear on the background of your green stationery.  You could use pears as part of your wedding decorations by filling a large glass vase with fresh or fake pears as your table centrepieces or you could have a floral arrangement with pears scattered through it on the bridal table.  Pears in your sweets with ice-cream is a lovely idea and peopl e's taste buds will be delighted by the freshness in contrast to the creaminess of the ice-cream.  How about giving your guests pear themed wedding bomboniere?  They're fresh, fun and inviting, and your guests are sure to get a kick out of them. If you're a lover of the colour green, as I am, then you could take it a step further and use it as your colour theme, dressing your bridesmaids in a splash of green or even in full green dresses for that shock factor.  It would be a bold statement that people would remember long after the day.

Cherry Blossom Wedding Theme

The cherry blossom is quintessentially Japanese and a symbol of spring.  It is a beautiful flower that is produced on, you guessed it, cherry trees!  Their blooming season is over very quickly - they come into full bloom within a week and a week later, they're falling off the trees.  Cherry blossom viewing and festivals take place the world over where people sit back and take in the beauty of the blooming cherry blossoms while enjoying a picnic or a walk.  It's a celebration of new life, just like a wedding.  Now, close your eyes and imagine your wedding day.  Celebrations are well underway in a spectacular garden setting. There are soft pink and white floral centrepieces decorating your crisp white table linens, you and your bridesmaids are carrying small bouquets of flowers that resemble cherry blossoms and your guests are admiring the wedding bomboniere you've given them to match the cherry blossom theme.  Guests are relaxing on picnic blankets enjoying a glass of champagne. The whole day has a soft, romantic feel to it and there is definitely love in the air!

Wedding Bomboniere as Wedding Decorations

There really is so many ways you can integrate a pear or cherry blossom theme into your spring or garden wedding.  Be inventive and your day will be memorable for all.  And remember, if you can match your wedding bomboniere to your wedding theme then they can become part of your wedding decorations and essentially you'll be saving yourself some money.

Other wedding theme ideas...

Now, brides to be, go and "blooming" well find some great inspiration for your spring wedding in our Spring Wedding or Garden Wedding categories. Even if cherry blossoms and pears aren't your "spring thing", then there will be other themed ideas that you're sure to fall in love with for your wedding fling.

Join us in the comments below and tell other brides about your experiences in organising a spring or garden themed wedding.

Cas

Photo credits and product links (from left to right):

Cherry Blossoms Wedding Theme

Cherry Blossom Vellum Wine Glass Shade, Photo by Oakley Originals, Photo by dz~bng, Cherry Blossom Elegance mini pillar candle, Topiary Photo Holder/Place Card Holder, Photo by Melissa P, Cherry Blossom Frosted Glass Coasters, Photo by Ryan Somma, Cherry Blossom Scented Soap

Pear Wedding Theme

For the Lovebirds Elegant Icon Favour Box, Photo by Percita Dittmar, The Perfect Pair Scented Pear Soap, The Perfect Pair Pear Timer in Wooden Gift Box, Pear Wedding Cake photo by Jennifer Dontz - Sugar Delites, The Perfect Pair Ceramic Salt & Pepper Shaker

Having difficulty pronouncing bomboniere?  Don't worry, you're not the only one! You can pronounce it a few ways, it is even spelt a couple of different ways.

How to pronounce wedding bomboniere?

You may have seen it spelt "bomboniere" and "bonbonniere".  You can say "bom-boh-naire" or"bom-bon-yaire" (as in care) and you could say "bom-boh-nair-re" (pronouncing the "re" on the end) or you could try "bom-boh-nee-yaire".  I've recorded how each one sounds. Have a listen to these sound bites to see which one rolls off of your tongue the easiest.

Bom-boh-naire

Bom-boh-nee-yaire

Bom-boh-nair-re

Bom-bon-yaire

If all else fails you could just say wedding favours.  It virtually means the same thing!

What on earth is wedding bomboniere?!

If you're searching for wedding bomboniere, you most likely already know what it means, but in case you don't, I'll fill you in.

A bomboniere is a small gift given to the guests at a special occasion, in this case a wedding. Traditionally in Italy, five jordan almonds were given as wedding bomboniere and each almond had a special meaning - health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life.

What do you think wedding favours represent? And what does it mean to you to offer a gift to your guests on your wedding day?

Also, how do you think bomboniere is pronounced?  Let us hear it in the comments.

Image by Jessica Higgins

Why is it so popular in these modern times to give wedding bomboniere to your guests on YOUR wedding day, the day where it's meant to be all about you? Back in the day (in Italy) it was tradition for the couple to give almonds as a gift, and even long before that, sugar cubes were all the rage for the wealthy and noble.

Why wedding bomboniere is a given

I'm sure there are many different opinions as to why couples choose to give wedding favours these days, here are some of my thoughts:

• I think that couples want to make the guests feel extra special and involved.

• They want to show their love and appreciation to the special people in their lives (for putting up with them over the last year!)

• There may even be couples who simply want to impress their guests and give the best, most expensive gift they can afford. Oops, did I say that out loud? Don't worry if this is you, this is a great thing for your guests! People love receiving gifts (and people love giving them too, which is why this extra extravagance on wedding favours will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy).

• There are probably lots of couples out there who also want to follow tradition but want to shake things up a bit with a new style of fun and unique wedding bomboniere.

• Guests have come to expect wedding bomboniere... Uh oh, it's like when your dad went away for a work trip and you expected a gift on his return. You would fight your siblings to get to his bag first. Poor Dad, he didn't like the disappointment he saw on your faces when he returned home empty handed. Let's hope your guests are more civilised than that!

• The wedding favours will match your wedding theme and add a lovely finishing touch to your wedding decorations.

• So your guests can remember the night they made a real fool of themselves and threw up while dancing to Bon Jovi all over your grandma, then punched out a waitress for telling them they have no pants on. So why not have a constant reminder they can take home with them?

• Focus on the Favour Let’s focus on Olive You. A very practical wedding bomboniere for your loved ones…

Gift giving is therapeutic - right?  Look at us over the Christmas period, madly trying to find that perfect gift for our loved ones.  Hang on, that sounds more painful than therapeutic! Anyway, after all the hard work of planning a wedding, you'll need a little therapy.  Treat yourself to a mani, pedi and massage, and treat your guests to a special wedding bomboniere, just for them.  And the good thing is, you only need to pick out one or two wedding bomboniere for all of them! They'll be so happy that you've thought of them, when the day is really all about you, the bride and groom.  Gifting your guests with wedding favours is a great way to show your appreciation for all the love and support they've provided in the lead up to the wedding (and through certain stages of your lives).  No doubt they've helped make you who you are today, don't they deserve a little something in return?

Let me paint a picture for you...

Your wedding guests arrive at your wedding reception venue after a beautiful, teary ceremony.  Everyone is in high spirits and there is anticipation in the air.  Your wedding guests are excited about the evening ahead and are looking forward to celebrating with you both.  The venue is decorated in a wedding theme that reflects your personalities to perfection.  Guests are gushing over the fine details you have tirelessly worked on since the glorious day your now husband proposed.  Your wedding guests gravitate toward the tables - they admire the wedding decorations first (after all, they are eye-catching and absolutely fabulous!) and then notice a lovely little gift behind their place cards.  Each guest delicately picks up their precious gift and turns it around and around, admiring it from every angle.  It is the perfect wedding bomboniere and they will treasure it always as a reminder of this day.  Aaahh, warm and fuzziness.

But seriously, why don't you show your guests how much they mean to you?  And at the same time you're adding a sweet and personal touch to your wedding decorations.  So, find that perfect wedding bomboniere to match your theme and one that your guests will be talking about long after the event.  It will make you feel great!  So will the pre-wedding pampering, so don't forget to do that too.

Cas

Photo by Wedding Photography by Jon Day

More related articles and information:

• Focus on the Favour Let’s focus on Meant to Bee… a unique wedding bomboniere full of quirkiness…