Donation Favors

So, I am really excited about our favors! Now, I am not saying this about all wedding favors, but have you ever gone to a wedding and the favor was some awful thing with the couple's name or wedding date on it and you thought, "when will I ever use this?"

Well, that is exactly what I did NOT want to happen when guests came to my wedding. I did not want to waste money buying and creating a favor that would just most likely end up in the trash anyway. So I decided to do a donation favor. What that is, is the giving of a donation in the wedding guest's names. So instead of spending $5-$15 per guest on a favor, that money is donated to a cause or a charity close to the couple's heart.
Mike and I love animals, we are practically cat hoarders and have three lovely darling kitties whom we have adopted from an amazing Shelter, Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.

Our kitties came to our home in great health and were clearly well cared for. The volunteers and workers at the shelter clearly took good care of every animal and were so kind and sensitive to everyone. While there I saw a young man who had to put his dog to sleep due to cancer diagnosis and the volunteers were so very compassionate.
Anyway, after seeing how wonderful the staff was and how great the shelter was, we knew we would return there to adopt a dog some day. So, when discussing which charity to donate to, we knew that Mohawk Hudson Humane Society would be it. I contacted the shelter and let them know what we would be doing and got an instant email back that was great. The woman gave suggestions on how to let our guests know and even provided a PDF image of their name.
Since then I have gone on Esty (LOVE) and used Esty Alchemy to put in a request for an artist or crafter to create something that would let my guests know what we are doing. Erica from Peacock Printing caught my eye with her thoughtful suggestions, ideas and her own love for adopted animals. (She has adopted two wonderful dogs) After much collaboration back and forth she has created a beautiful card that will be printed out and given to each guest telling them where we donated to. I am so excited. As much as I am truly tempted to showcase Erica's beautiful work, I want to wait until we have the design completely finalized. But it's gorgeous and she is such a talented woman. I cannot wait to see the final version.