Wedding favors are popular at wedding receptions or parties almost everywhere. Their historical origin is unknown but there’s evidence that they have been popular around the world for a very long time.

There are many theories about what generated the tradition of giving wedding guests a favor for attending the service. Some say the tradition originated with the Romans in the 8th century. Another states that the Romans, during 400 B.C. started the practice of throwing rice and giving wedding favors to guests.

Almonds have been a traditional symbol of good luck and assurances for successful marriages for centuries. Originally, only the titled families followed this practice and their favors were often made of silver or gold. When the custom filtered down to the other social classes, by the end of the 19th century, almonds were distributed in golden paper boxes.

Supposedly, when the groom gave his friends walnuts, he was saying goodbye to his bachelor ways. Walnuts were thrown at the couple during the ceremony and eventually evolved into today’s practice of throwing rice at them.
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