Donation as wedding favor

Hi, ladies! We are planning on doing OOT bags, but in lieu of favors at the wedding we would like to make a donation to a fund established in the memory of a friend of our's who passed away this summer. He was supposed to play guitar at our wedding and because he won't be able to be there we would like him to be there in spirit and this is the best way we could think of. (The fund distributes money to a research foundation he was working for. He lived for and loved his work - studying sea turtles - and he died on a dive off the coast of Florida in August.)

 

I have two questions for anyone who has done or is doing this:

 

1. We are expecting about 40 guests. Should I make one lump sum payment and say it's in honor of our wedding guests or should I make individual donations in honor of the name of each person who will attend? Of course it would be easier to do one lump sum, not only for me, but for the fund that would have to process all 40 donations.

 

2. We would like to put something at each place setting indicating the donation was made on their behalf. What wording have you used or seen other people use? We'll probably place each one in a small picture frame or something.

 

Thanks!

Thats such as nice idea! I would do individual donations

Sarah

First of all I am sorry to hear about your friend. Secondly I love your idea and I think it is a wonderful way to celebrate your friend's life and his memory. I would make one large lump donation to the research foundation. It is easier for both you and the foundation. Then I would make individual gift cards that explain to each guest that a donation was made on their behalf. I went to a wedding where they donated to a children's hospital. However, the hospital gave them the gift cards so they just wrote in each person's name. Maybe the foundation has these? If not, I would look for wording on the internet and place one at each setting. Good luck.

I want do to the same thing, make a donation. So, I am interessted in hearing what others have to say to this question. I think the place we are making a donation does have cards though, so that will be a lot easier.

I went to a wedding this past weekend and they had this scroll type thing wrapped up with ribbon, I don't know if they made them or what, but it basically thanked all their guests for coming and in lieu of favors, blah, blah, blah, in memory of.

 

It's a great idea and I'm so glad you brought this up!!

 

My FI's little brother died in a car accident about 5 years ago, he was 17, and FI still has a really hard time with this, which is understandable and also one of FI's best friends was killed in a whitewater rafting accident two years ago, which has also been really hard for him and his friends. So, I think doing a donation to his brothers scholarship fund and a donation to the animal shelter (ralph loved animals) will be a great thing to do.

 

I'm so happy you mentioned this, I'll have to talk to FI!!

I'm sorry to hear about your fiance's brother and best friend. I think it is important to remember those who can't be with us at weddings, but also keep it on a positive note and not in a funereal way. I think the donations are a great way to do this and also good for DWs because people don't have to cart home a favor. We are still doing OOT bags so they will be getting other kinds of gifts from us as well.

I am leaning towards one lump sum for the sake of ease for the foundation. I believe they do provide announcements, but I thought it would be fun to make them myself using the stationery and logo from our invitations which I made myself. I am thinking I will say something like:

"In appreciation of your presence here today, a donation has been made to the Boyd Lyon Sea Turtle Fund on your behalf. Thank you, Melanie and Matt"

What do you guys think?

I have always loved the donation thing, my aunt died this past May and I know my family would get too emotional if we put this out there, but I say you shoudl speak to the foundation and find out how you can do this easily but still make the donations in the names of the guests.

sounds great and doing it on your matching stationary is a great idea.

I think this sounds great and my other suggestion (don't know if this is cheesy or not so I take no offense) is to make the card in the shape of a sea turtle. I have seen beautiful stock cards in sea turtle shapes that have light bluish and green coloring on them. And then you can write the words on the back. And you could place the sea turtle card with the words face down on the plate with a ribbon around the card if you like.

Not cheesy at all! I thought about doing that actually. I might do that or use my stationery and print a picture of a sea turtle on it. I don't like my handwriting so writing the words might not look so good, and I don't know how to laserprint on turtle-shaped paper.