If you are holding a large wedding, that is one with a lot of guests, the cost of wedding favours can be quite significant, if you do not set a strict budget. One immediate method you could employ to cut the cost of your wedding favours is to give one to each couple or single, rather than one to everybody who attends. The first judgment to take is how much can you afford in total and then divide that by the number of guests in total and then divide it by the number of couples and singles.

This system will make it easier for you to make up your mind what you are going to do: buy for everybody; buy for couples and singles and save the rest for something else or give to couples and singles but get more expensive presents. If you still find that there is not a lot of money to go around, you will need to look for lower-priced wedding favours. I will give you a few thoughts below to get you started.

In January 1848, James Marshall was overseeing the building of a saw mill for his boss, when he saw an odd rock glinting in the upturned earth.

He was not certain whether it was gold or not and did not want to get people’s aspirations up. So Marshall tried to break the yellow rock with a hammer. It did not split, but it did dent. just like gold would. The woman who was cooking meals for the saw mill construction crew, tried another test by boiling the rock in lye.

They boiled it all day, but it did not change colour. So, they passed the rock over to the mill’s owner, Mr. John Sutter, who also conducted a few tests. Eventually, everyone agreed that this rock was indeed gold.

It seems that the Sierra Nevada Mountains held huge hordes of gold, but that over tens of thousands of years, erosion had loosened up gold nuggets and the mountain streams flushed them down to the bottom of the mountains. Sutter’s property was situated between two rivers and so was likely to generate great wealth.

There is a very large number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to choose from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good selection, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is very important that you take your time when selecting one. Maybe the enormous assortment of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to suffice, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even choosing not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so plain bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its characteristic two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, symbolizing eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

The Theobroma Cacao or ‘the food of the Gods’ is what we all know as the cocoa tree. It’s origin can be traced back to South America’s rain forests, particularly to Central America, although historians are still debating over certain facts with regard to this tree.

It is suggested that the Mayans first grew the cacao tree in 300 AD, although others point to inadequate evidence that it was grown or at least harvested in around 3,000 BC. The Aztecs also used the cacao, but from about 1100 AD.

The chocolate (drink) that we all know nowadays was called ‘xocoatl’. It was a very exclusive beverage that was made with cacao, chilies, anise seed, vanilla, corn meal and some other spices. It is said that only royalty were permitted to drink it and then only from golden chalices, which were to be used for the purpose only once.

The cacao tree is very sensitive to its environment and it most often grows in the shade of the rain forest canopy. If only for this reason alone, chocolate lovers should join forces with the environmentalists to save the rain forests so that the cacaos will continue to exist.