Wedding farewell favour: tell guests on the link

It's 1 a.m., the lights come up, and there's a stack of small paper bags on a side table by the door. Nobody mentioned them. Half the room is already outside looking for a taxi. The bags travel home with the couple, along with the cake.

A wedding farewell favour usually fails for one boring reason: guests didn't know it was there. Fix that in the invitation, before anyone leaves the dance floor, and the rest is easy.

Hand the farewell favour over on the way out, not at dinner

Timing decides whether the bag gets picked up or left behind. Bring it out at 10 p.m. and people tuck it in a bag and keep dancing. Bring it out at 1 a.m. and half the tables are empty. Size matters just as much: a small bag with two sweets and a tag with your names fits in a clutch or a jacket pocket. A box doesn't — it stays on the chair. Put the table by the exit, not between the plates.

• A small paper bag with two sweets and a tag printed with your names.
• One table by the exit, not the tables where people ate.
• Brought out after the last dance, when guests start to leave.
• Counted per couple or per guest, children included — decided before you order.

Say it in the invitation link so nobody asks at the door

Without a line about it, someone taps the group chat at 11:40 asking whether there's anything on the way out. One sentence in the last scene of the invitation settles it: 'A small farewell favour waits for you on the way out.' It sits next to the time, the map and the dress code, so it reads as part of the evening rather than a set of instructions.

That also covers the guest who never opens WhatsApp. And if the party ends earlier than planned, you change the time in the same link and the notice changes with it — no reprints, no second message, no empty table by the door.

A farewell favour only reaches the people who know it's there. Say it in the invitation, not at the door.

Word it like an invitation, not a checkout

'A little something waits for you on the way out' invites people. 'Don't leave without yours' sounds like a till. Skip the word 'gift' if it isn't one: a farewell favour thanks people for coming, it doesn't settle a bill. And if children are invited, say whether it's one per guest or one per family — a parent with three kids shouldn't find out there's a single bag for all four of them.

One person, one box, one spot

Pick someone reliable and give them a fixed post: the box by the photo corner from 1 a.m., handed out by one person. Four friends walking the tables between courses is how bags end up forgotten on chairs. Check that the time in your notice matches the real end of the night. If the DJ swaps the last song, it doesn't matter — the link still says what's happening.

Choosing the bag is half the job. The other half is making sure every guest knows it exists and when to collect it. With the notice inside your digital invitation, the farewell favour goes home with the people it was meant for, and you don't spend the morning after counting what's left.