By PEGGY SCOTT

(CNS) – Just as good things come in little packages, so can special memories. Simple or extravagant, whimsical or sophisticated, small favors can play a big role by giving guests a little wedding-day magic to take home with them.

Many brides favor the traditional touch for their favors, adorning their guests’ tables with small net bags containing chocolates or other candies, small bud vases with a flower, small packages of premium coffees or teas, fragrant soaps or sachets or even packets of heart-shape homemade cookies. Whatever the offering, each parcel or item is usually tied with a decorative satin ribbon bearing the names of the bride and groom and their wedding date.

Small plastic swans, hearts, slippers (a la Cinderella), top hats or champagne glasses filled with a sweet something, are also romantic remembrances popular at wedding celebrations.

Other couples opt for a more lighthearted memento. One seafaring pair who exchanged vows aboard a boat in San Diego Bay gifted their guests with sunglasses that bore the couple’s name and special date on the earpiece. Another fun-loving couple in Tampa, Fla., distributed insulated drink holders emblazoned with their names.

Still another bride and groom, in keeping with an Asian theme, had chopsticks stamped with their names and wedding particulars. And one Encinitas, Calif., couple who married in December, gave their guests a seasonal souvenir of their big day - clear blown-glass holiday tree ornaments decorated with their names and wedding date.

"Wedding favors say, ‘welcome, thank you for coming,’" explains Joan Whalen, owner of The Brides’ Maid wedding consultant service in Coronado, Calif. "And some favors, like bubbles, are also entertainment."

Whalen goes on to explain that for many, favors have come a long way since the day of Jordan almonds in tulle netting. She points out that, usually, the smaller the wedding, the more elaborate the token of appreciation. She recalls one bride who gave her guests small silver champagne buckets with mini white chocolate bottles.

Whalen notes that small, framed pictures of the happy couple are also a popular choice, but also believes that brides with a smaller budget can still present their guests with an elegant memento.

Carol Smith, owner of Favorable Impressions in San Diego, agrees.

"If you have more time than money, you can still have a lovely wedding," Smith says, explaining that brides and their families or wedding parties can assemble the favors themselves, saving the cost of paying someone else to do it.

"Elegant doesn’t have to be expensive," she adds.

Smith also feels that there’s no right or wrong way to approach the favor dilemma, but advises brides to keep the overall theme and style of their wedding in mind when making plans.

She recalls one bride who considered placing personalized Pez dispensers on the tables at her otherwise elegant, rather traditional event. Smith helped her come up with something more sophisticated.

Whalen, who has almost two decades of experience in the industry, has seen ideas go astray and basically flop at a wedding, and has also been in a situation where a bride needs a little guidance.

"I never dissuade (a bride)," Whalen explains. "Every detail of a wedding is important to them. I gently make little suggestions." Whalen advises couples planning a wedding to keep their guests in mind when deciding on any offbeat or unorthodox trinket. She notes that while the wedding party may find great humor in edible underwear, elderly aunties may not be quite so amused.

Bubbles are possibly the front-runner in the favor popularity contest, possibly because they serve more than one purpose. As Whalen points out, because of the cleanup and environmental issues, bubbles have pretty much replaced birdseed, rice and confetti as the "thrown" favor of choice.

She also notes that blowing bubbles is entertaining for many, and that they look nice in pictures (Lawrence Welk would be so proud).

And speaking of pictures, disposable cameras are also quite "in" as table decorations/favors/amusements. (It’s probably a good idea to use these before too much champagne is consumed or the resulting snapshots can end up being unsuitable for family viewing.)

Another current trend is toward favors that honor a wedding as a beginning by looking to the future. Decorated packets of flower seeds, small plants or bulbs are growing in popularity.

"A wedding marks the closing of the door on one life and celebrates the opening of a (door to a) whole other one," Whalen notes.

The right favor can be a little to-go order of that "from this day forward" sentiment.