Say that 5 times fast! A wedding welcome bag is a nice personal touch to make your guests feel extra welcome and ready to celebrate your big day!
First of all, what is a wedding welcome bag? Welcome bags are a great way to greet your guests when they arrive for your wedding, because chances are, with everything going on leading up to the big day, you might not see them in person right away. These are more commonly given out when you are planning a destination wedding or are for those out of town guests who are traveling for your wedding.
So what goes in these wonderful, wedding bags?
Determine what sort of carry item you want
Before we can fill said bags, we need to decide what kind of bag, tote, basket, or carrying item will be used to hold all of it’s goodies. A canvas tote can be a wonderfully simple and popular option. When picking out what you are going to use, this about how it can be reused after the wedding.
As a general rule of thumb, for anything wedding related, think about staying away from those one time use phrases. Sure, this is a wedding related gift, but having it monogrammed or personalized with names, pretty much guarantees that it will only be used for that one wedding occasion. If you are going to spend the time, energy and money on a wedding welcome bag, make sure it can be used again!
If you do want to spice it up, pick a funky, or silly catch phrase to put on it. Or your favorite movie quote. A few suggestions,
- “My scone! My scone!”
- “I don’t even have a pla”
- “Paper! Snow! A Ghost!”
- “Oh I wish I could, but I don’t want to”
Those are just a couple, and if you know of them, hello! We are new BFF’s.
Something to wet their whistle
If you have guests coming in from out of town, they have probably traveled long and hard to get to your wedding day. They may have even missed the family dinner or are arriving on a red eye. When they finally make it to there hotel room, make sure they have something tasty to drink inside their wedding welcome bag to keep them from rushing to that overpriced mini-fridge or down to the gift shop for a $6 bottle of water.
If you have a favorite local beverage, this is a great thing to include in your welcome bag! You have the chance to share something from your home town with your out of towners to make them feel extra fancy!
You can also get creative and add in things to sip or snack on in the theme of your wedding. If you are getting married in a vineyard, grab some small bottles of you fav wine and maybe some cheese and crackers. If you are getting married on the white sands of Hawaii, maybe through in some rose or coconut water and a container of SPAM. The options are endless!
Give em the details
Everyone likes to know what is going on through out the wedding weekend, especially if they are from out of town and are planning on sticking around a few days before or after your wedding.
Write up a cute note or letter for your guests and create a breakdown of activities that may interest your guests to include in their welcome bag! You can also add your wedding website as a way for them to find more information about timings, who to contact if they can’t reach you, or any other specifics.
Your hangover cure
To any of you youngins out there who can party with no consequence, let me tell ya, I miss those days!! Now two glasses of wine will leave me reaching for the bottle of aspirin and my sunglasses in the morning.
If you are going to be serving alcohol at your wedding, and you know your friends and family will be partaking, include your best hangover cure in their welcome bags! They will be eternally grateful and fully able to enjoy the rest of your wedding weekend with you and your new spouse!!
Pour in your gratitude
The wedding welcome bags you create and give to your guests is another opportunity to say thank you!! These are your close friends and family, coming together to share in your love and happiness. Pass along your gratitude and love with a handwritten note with that extra personal touch. Maybe even go as far as to add in a little gift that is unique to each person.
As with all things wedding related, take your time and put the effort into it! You will be happy you did when you finally get to see your guests and see how thankful they are for your generosity and thoughtfulness!
