Don’t Leave Wedding Favors Until the Last Minute

I’ll be honest, wedding favors usually get pushed to the bottom of the wedding planning list, which is why figuring out when to order wedding favors is so important. It makes sense. You’re dealing with invitations, seating charts, final RSVPs, dress fittings, vendor details, and about a hundred other things that feel more urgent. Then suddenly your wedding is less than two weeks away and you realize those perfect little personalized matchboxes you wanted at every place setting won’t arrive for another three weeks.

Wedding favors may be a small detail, but they’re also one of those finishing touches that can make your reception feel complete. And if you’re planning on ordering anything personalized, this is definitely not something you want to save for the week before your wedding.

Key Takeaways

• Start looking at wedding favor ideas about six months before your wedding.
• Order personalized wedding favors about two to three months before your wedding.
• Custom favors may require time for proofs, production, and shipping.
• Give yourself extra time for mistakes, shipping delays, or last-minute changes.
• Ordering early means more choices and one less thing to worry about as your wedding gets closer.

When Should You Order Wedding Favors?

For most personalized wedding favors, I recommend placing your order about two to three months before your wedding.

You don’t necessarily need to buy them six months ahead of time, but that’s a great time to start shopping around. Save ideas you love, compare prices, figure out how many you’ll need, and decide whether you want your favors personalized with your names, wedding date, monogram, or another detail.

By the time you’re two or three months away from the wedding, you should be ready to order.

If you’re buying something completely ready-made with no personalization, you may be able to wait a little longer. But I still wouldn’t leave it until the last minute. Products can sell out, your perfect forest green color might go out of stock, shipping gets delayed, and those few weeks before your wedding have a funny way of becoming much busier than expected.

Why Personalized Wedding Favors Take Longer

Custom wedding favors usually aren’t sitting on a shelf waiting to ship.

Depending on what you order, your favors may need to go through a proofing process before they’re printed or made, which can take up to 1 week or longer. And remember, personalized products are made just for you. Take, for instance, foil stamped matches. Besides making the matches, there are metal printing plates that need to be crafted even before any printing takes place.

That means a favor advertised with a two-week turnaround may actually require more time from the day you place your order to the day the finished favors are sitting safely in your house. And don’t forget the shipping time, which can be an additional 4-5 days.

And if there’s a typo, a damaged shipment, production delay, or something you simply don’t love when it arrives? You’ll be very glad you gave yourself a buffer.

Don’t Make Your Wedding Week A Favor Week

This final week before your wedding can be quite a busy time. Honestly, mine was so packed I pretty much blocked it out and don’t remember. But, yours doesn’t have to be a time of refreshing a tracking number and hoping 150 personalized favors make it onto your porch before you leave for your big day. Or even worse, having them shipped directly to the venue the day before your wedding because you ordered them too late and, now, you’re hoping they arrive before 5 pm on Friday, for your Saturday wedding.

There will already be plenty to do so ordering your favors can greatly help make this week more magical than mayhem.

Ordering your favors early gives you time to receive them, look everything over, assemble or package them if necessary, and put them away until the wedding. And it also gives you time to set aside some favor keepsakes just for you.

It also gives you more freedom to choose the favors you actually want instead of settling for whatever can arrive fastest. Not every adorable favor shop ships as fast as Prime.

Wedding Favor Tip

Pinterest is your best friend here. Start a Pinterest board or two with your favorite wedding favors as soon as you set your wedding date. You don’t have to make any decisions yet. Just save what catches your eye.

As you start pinning, you’ll probably notice a theme emerging. That is your wedding favor style. Run with it.

Around six months before your wedding, go through your favorites and narrow them down. Then aim to order any personalized wedding favors about two to three months before your big day.

It’s a tiny bit of planning that can save you a whole lot of unnecessary stress later. And honestly, it’s a lot of fun.

Quick Reference: Wedding Favor Tips

• 6+ months before: Start saving wedding favor ideas and inspiration.
• 4–6 months before: Narrow down your favorites, compare prices, and decide how you’ll use the favors.
• 2–3 months before: Order personalized wedding favors.
• 1 month before: Check your favors when they arrive and complete any assembly or packaging.