Warm Wedding Welcomes

Last week, we had the pleasure of being a part of a cousin’s wedding in lovely Chicago.  All of the festivities gave me wedding fever and I had to reminisce on what fun (albeit stressful) planning a wedding can be.  Our hosts did an amazing job on a beautiful wedding, but one of the best parts for me was the treats they left for us at the hotel.  It seems like such a small thing with all that goes into a wedding, but the personal touch is not only welcoming in a new place but can also be comforting on a typically hectic trip.  Welcome bags are certainly not essential, however if you have the means within your budget, I guarantee your guests will appreciate them.

So, what goes in a welcome bag?  Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?  There are a few basics that really should be included in all welcomes, but the sky is the limit here, folks.  Customization is everything when it comes to your wedding.  So, start out with the essentials and build from there. 

The beauty is making it reflect you two as a couple or something you love.  Your guests will love seeing that intimate look at the two of you and being included as a part of this special time for you.  Themes are not necessarily important, but are a great way to build a clever mix of extras in your welcome.  I’m the type of person who, given a theme, can run with ideas like mad.  While that sounds great on paper, it can get quite pricey if not limited, so the above list is a nice guideline to have to refer back to.  You want to strive to represent yourselves, make your guests feel special and keep your budget in check.

For our wedding, I took a very hands-on approach with the details, since that’s what I thrive on.  So, obviously the guideline was something that I left long behind, much to the dismay of my wallet.  That said, the results were worth every penny and if I do say so, left our guests supplied with things they needed and lots of extras that welcomed them to the South and all it has to offer.  Here is a peek at what we included!

We were married in a gorgeous historic home in Roswell, Georgia and I wanted to really focus on the history of the area and our love for living in the South.  We started with a trip to the Chamber of Commerce there and came back with a wealth of supplies for our guests that included guides to the area, attraction information and maps.  The best part of using this resource, FREE items that guests could actually use!  Since our wedding had several events over the weekend, this was the perfect source for things to explore during down time.

To keep our guests aware of what event started when and where they’d need to be, the tags on the outside of each bag included an itinerary of the events, as well as a thank you note from us to let our guests know what it meant to have them there for our day.  I kept the bags very simple (white paper cub bags), as the tags were detailed, and to be honest, I wanted to put more inside!  And the sweet little photo stickers were a great way to personalize (purchased from Moo.com and only $12.99 for 52).

As the tags show, our wedding colors were gray and yellow and we had a vintage theme.  Our invitations reflected that and were exquisite.  What was really nice about the design (by Sarah Sorrentino of Foglio Press -ours is pictured on the main page list) was that she included a sweet little monogram that I incorporated in not only the favors, but several of our welcome bag items (shown above on the tissue pack).

Another personal touch was the Mason jar stamp that decorated the other items (water bottles and emergency kits).  Such a small thing, but tied in to the vintage theme and some of our décor on the actual day! 

For our snack portion, I wanted to have local treats that would represent the South and was blessed by a talented sister who was able to whip up the 50 or so pralines when my candy making skills failed!  Grits Bits turned out to be an addictive problem for me that I discovered at a local wedding show.  They are crunchy, cheesy goodness made here in Atlanta in several flavors and the perfect salty snack!  The owner is a gem that lives locally and is as sweet as you’d expect any Southerner to be!  As for the packaging, they may look complex, but they were so simple to put together and the results were darling.  The water bottles were also easy to personalize on waterproof sticky paper.   I added a peach tea packet to each of them too, to pull in the Georgian theme.  And, a Georgia napkin for keeping things tidy.

As a favor to our guests, and since I ADORE crafting, I made custom-scented Mason jar candles for each welcome bag.  Ok, that probably sounds daunting, but candle-making is actually fairly straight forward if you are using a melt and pour base, so don’t be that impressed!  Each candle was in Southern Magnolia fragrance and complete with two matches, sand paper to strike them on, and hand-stamped fabric tags on coordinating seersucker fabric (to match our groomsmen’s suits).  Again, I tend to get carried away with a theme.

Finally, and probably the most used item in our welcome bags were the emergency kits.  These were little bags that I put together of odds and ends that our guests may have forgotten to pack or didn’t think they’d need during their trip.  It’s amazing how many things you don’t think you need, even as a guest at a wedding.  Our wedding was over three years ago, but to this day, I still have people tell me that they keep this in their travel bag in case of emergencies.   And if you visit us at our house, you may or may not find one in our guest bathroom!  Believe me; your guests will thank you!  I will be posting a follow up to this with the details on how to put together one of these for yourself with insight on where to get the best deals on the fillers, so stay tuned!

Your welcome bags should reflect you and your partner and each little detail will help to do that.  Sometimes people include toiletries, hangover kits with do not disturb signs or even personalized koozies.  Our cousin’s welcome bags included lots of essentials and were personalized with tags from the couple.  The extra step they took, were personalized bags for the little ones in their wedding.  Our son and his cousin were the cutest ring bearers ever, and upon check-in at the hotel, were given their very own bags.  You can imagine what their own bag of snacks and books did for two almost two year olds!  What a great little touch that probably didn’t cost much extra, but really made those little guys feel special.

The last piece of advice that I would give is to be sure of your delivery.  This seems like something fairly trivial, but after a horrible experience with this at my sister’s wedding at a certain historic hotel in downtown Atlanta across from the Fox Theater, please be sure you do this.  Give your hotel specific details on what bag goes to what room or just keep them general to avoid confusion.  If your guests’ accommodations are at a hotel where they are charging for “delivering” your welcome bags upon check-in, I have two pieces of advice.  One, do not pay them to do this.  This is an added expense that is completely unnecessary.  Find a friend or relative who has volunteered to help with something and assign them to drop them off at each of your guests’ rooms.  If you’ve blocked rooms, you should have a complete list of who is where.  Otherwise, distribute the bulk of them at your rehearsal dinner, as most of the guests there will be out of towners.  Two, if you have room in your budget to pay the hotel to distribute, label each bag clearly and point out that they are labelled.  This will avoid errors and make distribution run more smoothly. 

Guys, your wedding is meant to be one of the happiest days of your life, but what a nice idea to make it one for your guests as well.  Welcome them warmly and keep them happy throughout your celebration.  Check out our Pinterest board  for more great welcome bag ideas, or come back once we have our marketplace open and we will help customize them for you!