Are welcome bags a necessity?

Shannah...I do agree that these boards & wedding shows make us feel as though we HAVE to have some things. My bottom line in planning my own wedding and my daughter's was to do what is the norm in our culture.

Re the bags...we had a DW. We considerred them an extra thank you for schlepping to Vermont and staying two nights. The meals, the booze and the good time on the dance floor was the minimum we would do as hosts.

Are we doing them for my daughter's wedding? Yes, she has a great many guests who are flying in for the weekend from destinations as far as Hawaii and Europe. Yes, they can be done inexpensively.

I went to my cousin's wedding out of state and I didn't get a welcome back... and I wasn't offended one bit, wouldn't have even expected one ;P

They're definitely a nice option...but not a necessity. As a guest who has attended a number of OOT weddings, it was always exciting to receive a welcome bag. But I wouldn't expect one or feel perturbed if I hadn't received one. And you definitely shouldn't feel pressured to do anything that's not in your budget.

We'll be doing welcome bags, but about 50-60% of our guests will be flying across the country to come to our wedding. After a long flight, we thought it might be nice to give them a little treat. But they were one of the extras that we added on once all the big ticket items were taken care of.

My SIL had a destination wedding and she did provide welcome bags which were very nice. I think they are nice for destination weddings...

But I don't think they are a necessity. They're a nice added touch.

Are all of your oot guests staying at the same hotel?

Most of our guests were OOT but they stayed at hotels all over town, not just our blocked ones. We would have spent hours schlepping those bags all over the city. It was not logistically worth it. We just made sure they had goodie bags to take home candy/snacks/water bottle from the reception at the end of the night, and we put maps and "to-do" lists in our invitations and on the website.

I"m not doing the either...We're giving them the dinner and drinks at the wedding and the taking them out for a brunch the next day...to me that's more than enough...

Our local visitors' bureau provides bags full of maps, brochures, coupons, etc. for weddings and other groups coming to town.

If you have one or a Chamber of Commerce or tourism office, ask for bags.