Fun Friday poll: Does anyone give away matches at weddings anymore?

It was a de-clutter day in my house several weeks ago and I came across a small bowl of matches tucked into a kitchen cabinet. I rely on my clicky-flame-thingy most of the time to light candles, my grill, and occasionally a pilot light, so there's not much need for the few boxes of matches that remain.

Still, there is something lovely about the nine or ten that sit patiently in that bowl. I think it is because they are all restaurants I've gone to with a certain someone special, a hotel from a great trip, a bar that my girlfriends and I used to frequent long before there were kids and husbands and commitments that kept us from happy hours.

But there are also two books of matches from weddings I attended. A long time ago. Like, early-90s long time ago.

Seeing those matches, the ones embossed with the dates and names of two couples who are no longer married but once set these out on tables at their wedding reception with such promise, made me wonder if these favors have gone the way of those marriages.

In the years and at the many weddings I've attended since those two, I've pocketed perfumey soaps, tiny bottles of bubbles, big bottles of wine, candles, candies, wildflower seeds, and many other goodies. In addition to the favor, many brides and grooms I know still sit out some classics for their guests -- sugared almonds, pastel mints, and tinny-sounding bells. But I cannot remember the last time I saw books of matches printed with that sweet and corny saying, "the perfect match" or hearts or initials to mark the day for years to come.

Maybe there's something to those matches. That's what I thought when I took out one of the wedding books, pulled out a match to start a spark after all that time. I struck and I struck and I struck that match -- and the five remaining matches -- but no luck. No flame. Not even a glimmer of light.

No one should expect a sixteen-year-old book of matches to produce a brilliant, burning flame. Still, I tried to be hopeful that the sweet little favor could strike up something big. It seems that fire has been snuffed for good. At least for those gifts.

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