We Be Jammin'

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No, not that kind. This kind:


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Originally I wasn't sure if I wanted to give out favours. As a bride on a budget I have to be pretty careful about how we spend money. I've been to a few weddings where they didn't give out favours and I didn't think it took away from the wedding at all. Similarly, I've been to weddings where I've received favours that I have no use for and aren't particularly creative or related to the couple in any way and it just seemed like a waste. I knew if I did decide to give out favours they would have to be something special (in my opinion anyway!).

However, after scouring the Internet for a while I realized pretty quickly that I really wanted to give our guests homemade jam for three reasons.

1) I think jars of jam are adorable.

2) My dad does all kinds of canning all the time and I thought jam would be a great homemade and very personal product to give our guests.

3) If we did the canning in the summer we would be able to use all local produce which really appealed to me.

Anyway, this past weekend the first jammin' (haha) session took place and like the dedicated and involved bride I am, I didn't help at all. Nope, I let my dad and 87 year old grandfather do all the work.

Here's how the first jammin' session went:

These are the most of supplies all lined up. My dad actually picked all the rhubarb himself at a relative's farm:



The yummy looking strawberries my grandfather picked in Woodstock, ON:



The aforementioned grandfather:



My dad mid jammin':



Jam!





and 5 hours later half the jam was done:



As you may have guessed this batch was strawberry rhubarb jam. Since then my dad has also made another 40 jars of rhubarb ginger jam, which is kind of the yummiest thing ever. And yes, my dad is totally awesome for doing this for me.

The thing I have to figure out now is how I want to decorate/label these jars. I've been searching the Internet, but I haven't figured it out yet.

What's your favourite way to decorate a jam jar?