Wedding Favors 101: Choose The Perfect Gift For Your Luxury Indian Wedding

By Sultana | 01 Jun 2022 | 9 min read

Luxury Indian Wedding Gifts For Guests To Take Home

Planning your desi wedding can be exciting but also overwhelming. From choosing a venue to picking out an engagement ring, there are so many details to consider that it's difficult to know where to start. One of the most important aspects of planning a wedding is purchasing favors for guests. Wedding favors are the small gifts given to guests at the end of a wedding and they can be anything from candles and key chains, to personalized photo frames and potted plants. As a South Asian couple, you can rely on these desi brands that reflect your personalities as well as your taste in design, and make guests feel delighted with their gift. In the past, we've shared guides for luxury gifts for your groomsmen and inspirational gifts for your bridesmaids. Today, let’s take a look at some of the brands that work well for favors for your Indian wedding guests and what they specialize in!

Simply Mithai

Sweets or ‘mithai’ is a traditional wedding favor, which guests can never get enough of. To treat your guests with innovative, luxurious, and fusion Indian mithai, check out Simply Mithai.

Simply Mithai, a dessert catering company based out of Chicago, is devoted to creating exquisitely perfected sweets combining India's most gorgeous flavors with the American palate. A honey coconut saffron individual cake is a classic example of their specialties, which is made out of a layer of coconut cake, a layer of honey saffron whipped cream frosting, another layer of coconut cake, and a honey saffron whipped cream rose.

Madhu Chocolate

Chocolate is another favor that never goes out of style. Like all of the brands on this list, Madhu Chocolate from Austin, Texas is another brand that is all about being inspired by Desi flavors. Madhu Chocolate not only creates chocolate, but what truly distinguishes it are the Indian-inspired flavors, with a dozen various chocolate bars varieties such as Masala Chai, Rose Pistachio, and Lemon Coriander. The chocolate company provides unique flavors that are guaranteed to impress your guests’ taste buds. Madhu Chocolate products come in stunning packaging inspired by Indian textiles, making them an ideal wedding favor for Indian weddings.

Tagmo

Delicious and authentic cuisine and confections from the Indian subcontinent, Tagmo is a restaurant by award-winning chef, Surbhi Sahni.It prepares all its treats with care in a packaging with vibrant jewel tones, exotic flora, and unique textures. Located in Manhattan’s Seaport District, Tagmo is the restaurant and sweets shop, where you can buy elegantly presented boxes of sweets, including vegan and nut-free collections, that make fabulous gifts.

One of their collections of mithais, the Seasonal Collection has a wide variety of some of their most popular treats. An unexpected blend of delectable tastes, this collection comes in boxes of 9 pieces, 16 pieces, and 32 pieces, and there’s something for everyone with nut-free and vegan alternatives. Nut-free options include Rose Coconut Barfi, made with khoya, coconut, rabri, white chocolate and cardamom, and Chocolate Barfi, a delicious combination of dark chocolate, cane sugar and cardamom. On the other hand, Adraki Akhrot Katli, made with walnuts, pecans, jaggery and ginger is one of the vegan flavors.

Paanwalla

A mouth freshener, digestive, and a sign of Indian hospitality, Paan is an after-meal treat that is popularly consumed in South-Asian countries. It was originally considered a symbol of royalty and desi people are so crazy for paan, that we have a song about it (“Khaike Paan Banaras Wala” from the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Don”).

The Paanwala is a team of avid paan lovers, led by Ankit Narula, who create exotic flavors of this much-loved delicacy because no event is complete without a paan. Blending a touch of tradition, a hint of our culture, and a good number of authentic flavors, the Paanwala offers an enticing experience fit for desi weddings. The timeless Calcutta Meetha Paan and Lucknavi Saada Paan are two of their specialties and they bring 20 other delicious and unique flavors such as Ice-Cream and Gelato for those who are looking to enhance their taste palette.

One Stripe Chai Co.

One Stripe Chai Co., based in Portland, Oregon, is a beverage brand influenced by Indian flavors. The founder of the brand, Farah Jesani, is a chai lover and on her quest to find the authentic taste of the Indian chai in Portland, came up with One Stripe Chai Co. The brand, while offering the real traditional chai to the city, also supports Indian farmers along its journey.

Perfect for chai lovers, spice up your desi wedding by adding One Stripe Chai Co.’s Gulab City – the Rose Chai Blend. A tribute to the brand’s hometown, Portland, known for their love of growing roses and also hosting the renowned International Rose Test Garden.

Sama Tea

Sama is a lifestyle tea brand founded by the author and life/purpose coach, Jay Shetty, and his recipe-creator and fitness enthusiast wife Radhi Devlukia-Shetty. Sama is focused on finely created adaptogenic teas that not only taste great but make you feel good too. With this idea in mind, the founder couple partnered with 100.co, an AI-powered consumer brand group to create Sama's functional tea blends. These blends have been backed by millions of retail data and consumer drinking patterns. Having the Sama tea blends as wedding favors will give your guests a much-needed healthy and relaxing break after the hustle and bustle of an Indian wedding.

Cardamom & Co

Cardamom & Co. is a tea and spice delivery service based in Toronto. The founder couple, Seher and Saad, came up with this idea during the pandemic and since then, haven’t looked back. They wanted to help others brighten the day of their friends and family during the hard times by gifting care packages, spice and chai kits, and loose tea leaves.

One of their products, the South Asian Spice Kit is a special spice kit that also includes two recipes. This kit is perfect for beginner cooks as it guides as well as encourages cooking delicious South Asian recipes which require essential spices including turmeric, cumin, garam masala, red chili powder, coriander powder, and brown mustard seeds present in the kit.

Arjuna Design Studio

A South Asian-inspired décor and lifestyle brand, Arjuna offers a wide range of décor items and accessories that are timeless, elegant, and compliment a modern home. Believing in enhancing your everyday experience, there is an understated elegance in the brand’s collection. From art pieces to cushions and masala dabba, Arjuna aspires to become the epitome of South Asian aesthetics.

Their Lotus Masala Dabba 2.0 is a remodel of the masala dabba that Nani and Dadi used to and still have. Be it the brass base, or the shining katoris, the product retains the dignity and nostalgia behind the original dabba and makes for a stunning gift to your wedding guests.

Papreeka

Dhanya Balasubramanian is the founder of Papreeka, a shopping destination for mindful and ethical businesses. Dhanya launched Papreeka after becoming intrigued by Indian companies that make a difference in the world via true traditional craftsmanship while sustaining a flourishing society of craftsmen. Papreeka's collection was also shown during New York Fashion Week 2021, where it displayed objects created completely of natural materials, from clay and repurposed metals to recycled silver, glass, brass, and sustainably sourced leather.

Handmade by skilled craftsmen of Punjab, this brass teapot by Papreeka is finished manually with a tin coating inside and polished with organic materials. With a capacity of 4 servings, this teapot can be an incredible gift and a proud tribute to the Indian history your guests are sure to cherish for years to come.

Final Thoughts

While wedding favors are just a token of appreciation for your guests for being there on your special day(s), favors should be viewed as more than an afterthought - they are a way for your wedding guests to take a piece of your wedding and the amazing memories home with them. Selecting the right wedding favors requires careful thought and consideration.

The bespoke brands we have curated speak to the modern South Asian.

There are some great options for you to choose the ideal vendor as well as the ideal Indian wedding favor. And, for those of you still looking for other vendors in Texas, make sure to check out The Desi Bride’s website for vendors, venues, and all the trending ideas on planning a South Asian wedding.

Happy wedding planning!