What is a "bomboniere"?

Bombonieres are pretty little souvenirs that are handed out to each person attending a bridal shower, wedding celebration, christening, anniversary party, birthday party, or any other celebration.  They can be either filled with sweets and wrapped up, or included with the sweets in a little package all wrapped up.

Bombonieres are a candy coated almond nut used everywhere in Italy as a traditional wedding favour.  They symbolise good fortune and are a souvenir of the wedding. Packaged and decorated in various ways, bomboniere are presented by the bride to wedding guests and in thanks for gifts and congratulations.  The tradition of handing out favours dates back to the Middle Ages when it was customary for the engaged couple's family to exchange favours.  Since that time the bomboniere has evolved into an elaborate part of the wedding reception.

No matter how simple or elaborate the favour is there is one thing that you will see in every bomboniere.  That constant is confetti, which are sugar coated almonds.  The confetti represents the bitter-sweet union of marriage.  The number of confetti, which is always an odd number & usually five, symbolize fertility, happiness, health, long-life and wealth.

Attached to each favour by a piece of ribbon, which can match the colour of the bridal party, is a place card with the name of the spouses and their wedding date.  Bomboniere are not just for weddings. They are also given out at special occasions like baptisms and anniversaries. Bomboniere are also used to accompany birth announcements.

The confetti come in a variety of colours.  White, which is a symbol of purity/virginity, is used for weddings, blue for a boy and pink for a girl, are used to announce the birth of a child and silver & gold are used for wedding anniversaries.  The tradition of giving your guests something to remember the wedding by has been around for hundreds of years.  Most couples are familiar with the idea of sending a piece of wedding cake to any absent friends and family members or asking guests to take home the table centres or flowers.  However, some cultures take the favours a step further and gifts for guests become pivotal to the day!

Just like the ingredients of the British wedding cake, today, the tradition of giving your guests something to remember the wedding by has evolved to giving each guest five favours to symbolise fertility, happiness, health, long-life and wealth. Often enclosed in decorative net, shaped boxes, cones, fabric blooms, top hats or baskets that match your colour scheme. Brides from some Italian cities also include a piece of china or silver gift.  In Italy, it is traditional for the bride and groom to take around the basket of favours to hand out personally to each guest.  This is a good way of speaking to everyone but it can take up a lot of time.

During the late 19th century at high society weddings, guests could expect to receive favours such as scarves, garters and gloves.  Looking back further, an article in the Caldwell Papers (Scotland) dated 1750, reports:

"The bride's favours are sewn on her gown from top to bottom, and round the neck and sleeves.  The moment the wedding ceremony was performed the whole company ran to her and pulled off the favours; in an instant she was stripped of all of them.  The bride's mother then came in with a basket of favours belonging to the bridegroom; those and the bride's were the same, with the livery's of their families, hers pink and white, his gold and blue colour."

But why almonds?

It appears that the association of almonds with love goes back to Greek legend with the story of a young man called Demophon, who met and fell in love with a Tracian princess, Phyllis.

However, before the marriage ceremony could take place Demophon is informed that his father has died in Athens and he must return for the funeral. He promises to return by a certain date but errs on the time it will take him and does not return until three months later.  By this time Phyllis is convinced that she will never see her lover again and hanged herself.

The Gods, touched by her love, transform her into an almond tree.  The grief stricken Demophon offered a sacrifice to the almond tree, declaring his undying love. In response, the almond tree blossomed.  Impetuous youth and undying love were thus symbolised by the almond.

Also, in his writings on natural history in 77AD, Pliny advised that eating five almonds would prevent drunkenness, therefore maybe the giving of the five almonds to wedding guests was to ensure that celebrations did not get out of hand.