Personalised wedding scratch card favours: a complete guide

A wedding favour has one job: to give a guest a small moment of delight before they have even picked up their fork. A scratch card does that better than a sugared almond ever has. It sits at the place setting with the guest's name on it, they scratch the panel some time during the meal, and a few of them win a little prize. It gets a table talking. We make these by hand in our Hessle studio, printed with your names and your wording, and they start at 60p each.

What a wedding scratch card favour actually is

It is a small printed card, roughly the size of a place card, with a scratch-off panel like a lottery ticket. We personalise it with the couple's names and the wedding date, and you choose the wording under the panel. Most couples make a handful of cards the winners and leave the rest as a thank-you message. So every guest gets a keepsake and a bit of a game, and a lucky few walk away with a prize you have chosen.

The designs we make

There are four favour designs in the range, all at 60p a card: a plain design, a thank-you design, a soft eucalyptus design that suits a green-and-white or sage colour scheme, and a heart design. Each one is printed with your names and the wording you give us. You can browse them all in the wedding favour scratch cards collection. If your stationery is already leaning a certain way, pick the design that sits closest to it rather than trying to match it exactly. The names and date do the personal work.

How to plan the prizes

The game is only as good as the prizes, and the prizes do not need to be expensive. A bottle of wine for the winning table, a box of chocolates, a round of drinks at the bar, or a small experience you have arranged all work well. Decide how many winners you want before you order, so you know how many cards to have printed as wins and how many as thank-yous. A common approach is one or two winners per table, but there is no rule. Fewer winners makes the reveal feel bigger; more winners spreads the fun around.

• Keep prizes small and plentiful, or few and memorable. Both work, they just feel different.

• Tell your toastmaster or a bridesmaid when to cue the scratching, usually between courses, so the room does it together.

• Have the prizes visible or ready to hand out, so a winner gets their moment there and then.

How many to order

Order one card per adult guest, then add a few spares. Spares cover the last-minute plus-one, the card that gets a splash of prosecco on it, and the guests who want to keep theirs unscratched as a memento. At 60p a card, a handful of extras costs very little and saves a headache on the day. If you are working to a tight budget, scratch cards are one of the cheapest favours you can give that still feels like an occasion, which is why they turn up in a lot of budget wedding favour round-ups.

Asking your bridesmaids with a scratch card too

The same idea works for the question that comes before the wedding. Our bridesmaid proposal scratch cards hide a "will you be my bridesmaid?" or "maid of honour?" message under the panel, so she scratches to find the question. They come in designs like eucalyptus, sage green dots, silver confetti and a heart choice, and they are £6.50 each. It is a nicer way to ask than a text, and she gets to keep the card.

If you want something with a bit more weight

For a head-table gift or a thank-you for parents, our foiled reveal tickets are a step up. They are printed to look like a luxury ticket with a real foil finish and a scratch panel, at £10 each, and you can see the range in the foiled tickets collection. If you would rather give a framed keepsake than a card, the wedding prints collection has date-and-location prints and hand-print designs from £8.

How ordering works

Every card is made to order in Hessle. You give us the names, the date and the wording when you order, and we send you a proof to check before anything is printed. Nothing goes to print until you are happy with it, which matters when a spelling or a date has to be right. Because they are personalised, the cards are not returnable for a change of mind, so the proof is your chance to catch anything. Order early enough to leave time for the proof and the post, especially in peak wedding season.

Start with the wedding favour scratch cards, pick the design closest to your colours, and tell us your names and wording. We will send a proof back and get them made.