Rhiannon’s “Talking About Weddings”

Reader, Shana, asked, “I am looking for information on making favors with Jordan Almonds and how far in advance they can be made without the almonds going bad. Any advice?”

I did some research on Jordan Almonds and ways to package them for fun and beautiful wedding favors. I found some great websites and learned the history behind Jordan Almonds as wedding favors.

Brief History

Fresh almonds are naturally bittersweet in taste, which is symbolic for life. By adding a sugar coating it makes them more sweet. So candy covered almonds (Jordan Almonds) are symbolic of the hope for the newly married couple: That their life be more sweet than bitter.

Italian weddings traditionally have five Jordan Almonds (in tulle, bags or pretty boxes) at each place setting. There are five almonds symbolic of five wishes for the bride and groom: Love, Long Life, Prosperity, Happiness and Fertility.

Greek Weddings serve bags with odd numbers of Jordan Almonds. The odd number, being indivisible, is symbolic of how the bride and groom will share everything, undivided.

Favor Ideas

Most people do not know the history or symbolism of Jordan Almonds, so printing out a brief statement to place with or attach to your favors would be a nice touch.

You can place five or an odd amount in a small decorative box. Craft stores, like Michael’s, sell small boxes. I found some pretty boxes online at confettiflowers.com. You could decorate them with bows, pearls, flowers, ribbons, etc. You could also print out the history of Jordan Almonds on pretty paper and glue it on each box. You could do the same with a note from the two of you thanking your guests.

You can place them in an organza bag. Your guests can enjoy the almonds and keep the pretty bags. Using pre-made organza bags will make this a quick favor to make. The shimmery material of organza always looks great next to candle light. Several website sell organza bags. This may not be the best deal, but it was the best one I found in my brief search was the site americanbridal.com.

You can cluster them in tulle tied with a pretty ribbon. Start by cutting a circle or square of tulle, placing the almonds in the middle and gathering the tulle edges. Tie a bow around it to close it. Play around with the size and look you want. Once you make one you are happy with, undo it and use the tulle as a guide for cutting the remaining tulle squares or circles. Use the ribbon to measure off the remaining strips. Once you have everything cut you can have a friends and family help you make them. A fun and easy way is to use large ice cube trays to place the tulle and almonds in while you tie them.

A very beautiful and unique idea is to package your Jordan Almonds in a flower! I found the site confettiflowers.com that sells five-point flowers that you put an almond in each “petal”. Your guests can eat the almonds with out ruining the flowers. They are very pretty and would make great favors. Check out the site. They have a lot of ideas and styles for packaging your Jordan Almonds.

Durability of Jordan Almonds

I could not find anything about how long Jordan Almonds would keep fresh, if made ahead. I called some candy companies and I’m waiting to hear back. I will update this once I have an answer from the experts! Not an expert, I would say they can keep fresh for quite some time. The hard candy coating protects the almonds. If you make your favors ahead of time I would try and store them in a cool, dry place. If possible, store them in Ziploc bags or Tupperware containers to keep them fresh. See comment # 4 for the update!

Websites to Help

For unique Jordan Almonds, not just in the typical pastel colors, visit candydirect.com.

To buy Hand Decorated Jordan Almonds visit ceciswoodentreasures.com.

To learn more about the history behind Jordan Almonds visit candywarehouse.com.

NEW! In a wedding forum I found a thread about this Ebay vendor. She has cute wedding favor things for sale and out of 338 votes, she has a 100% satisfaction ranking! The poster of the wedding forum thread said she has had terrific service from this woman. Visit her site, All-Weddings-Related-By-Karen.

Here are two pictures from a wedding we did. Notice the Jordan Almonds on the table in organza bags.

A bit closer up…

Tomorrow I’ll post an entry on another sweet favor idea!

Technorati Categories: weddings, wedding planning.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 at 11:30 am and is filed under General Information, Wedding Planning, Receptions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.