Essential or Extra - Welcome Bags

I do have some out of town guest but they wouldn't use anything I put in a welcome bag so not doing them.

An extra that I think can be skipped. Half of the stuff is wasted!

Extra! I personally think they are a waste of money. A welcome dinner or brunch the day after the wedding would be much better spent money if you truly wanted to do something.

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Makes sense, no point in spending money if the things won't be used!

I've always considered these extra as I've only been to one wedding that had them (and I've been to a lot of weddings). That being said, I am considering having them for our guests since all of them are coming from out of state and I want to be able to provide them with information about things to do in the area.

Definitely extra. I also dont have many oot guests, so maybe that's why I feel like that lol.

Extra! I think these are such a cool idea, and if it is in uou budget go for it! But this is just more money and time spent on this. I don’t want to worry about more stuff

Extra. We decided against these even though we had a lot of OOT guests. Getting them the bags would have been the hardest part because none of them stayed at the same hotel. We got everyone together at a welcome dinner the night before the wedding and I figured by then they wouldn't "need" the stuff I would put in the bags (snacks, recommendations for restaurants, etc). So we had a little favor at the dinner instead.

Extra. Too expensive! Would cost hundreds of dollars if I put in the stuff people normally do, and I'm sure it won't all get used. A weekend trip for a wedding is a majorly exhausting whirlwind for a lot of people, and just getting from place to place is going to keep them busy!

Extra, and can be skipped. I feel the welcome bags a little more for us then our guest. I mean we put in what we think people will like, but really, we don't know.

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THIS! I work at a hotel and a lot of the time the staff ends up using more of the stuff than the guests. Yesterday in my down time I emptied 20 bags from a wedding we had weeks ago. Now there's a mountain of hershey kisses and mints on my manager's desk along with a box of water and pretzels.

I also want to note that these extras weren't because we didn't hand them out!

So extra, I don't even understand why people do this.

Extra. It's an added expense for things OOT guests will most likely bring themselves or have provided by the hotel they are staying at.

Extra, the few out of town guests that are coming will be staying in ours and family members homes so that is taking place of welcome bags for us

I wanted these, but at the end of the day, we didn't feel like we had enough OOT guests to do them. We chose to have baskets filled with essentials in both restrooms at the venue for all our guests.

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That's a great idea! I think it's a nice gesture to give highlights of the area as in food and activities to do before or after the wedding!

It's a toss up. Essential for our out-of-town guests that will be staying at the hotel with us as most of them live over 500 miles away. Extra for those that live in state and decided to stay at the hotel with us.

Definately not essential but really a nice treat when you are staying in the hotel. I've gotten one for every wedding I've traveled to and extended the same courtesy to my guests.

Extra. A website can tell guests Every thing they need to know about the area. And favors to take after the wedding are much more sensible.

For us it's an extra. We won't be doing them! Most of our guests are not from out of the area where we're getting married so I don't think they'd utilize anything in the bags because they'll know all the fun activities to do around town!