Essential or Extra - Welcome Bags

Fun and a great way to welcome guests, but def not essential. They’ll appreciate it, but probably wouldn’t expect it.

Extra, but I will be leaving some informational printouts in an envelope for OT guests

Essential! But our venue is 2 hours from where we live (nobody we know is from the town but it is a gorgeous resort!) and 97% of our family is from our of state

Extra! Although I'm doing a bit more personalized version for the main women in my family. It's a destination wedding so I'll have a bag for the moms, grandmas, my sister and my best friends. I'm not having a wedding party and these chicas are still helping me out huge.

Essential. I think it helps guests feel welcome, it's a great way to set the stage and make sure they get an itinerary, along with info about the destination. Also, if you're in a hotel that has a mini-bar or water for sale, it's nice to offer these to your guests free of charge. I love a good Welcome Bag!

I was thinking about handing these out at the Rehearsal Dinner rather than having them at check in. I think check in is always a hassle (even if it goes smoothly!) and I hate having an EXTRA bag on top of my luggage that I almost always struggle with.

Thoughts?

This is what we're planning to put it our bags:

2 bottles of Zephyrhills Water (Florida Spring)

2 Navel Oranges

1-2 pkts Advil ???

1 pkt sunscreen

Coconut/Lime Patties

Mini Kind Bar

Chocolate Candy Minis

Breadstick minis

Itinerary for Weekend

Do Not Disturb Door Sign

Welcome Tag

Tourist Map

Recommended Restaurants

For Bridal Party- Do Not Call the Bride / Wedding Party Itinerary

Maybe – depending on numbers:

Candle with a Sticker for the wedding as a label

Mini Bottle of Scotch or a local craft beer

Essential. Whenever I go to a wedding OOT and stay at a hotel, we munch on the yummies in the welcome bag to hold us over until dinner, which is usually 4 hours or more away when we check in. Bottles of water and advil are also appreciated for the hangover. My wedding will be in a hotel, so I expect most of my guests to stay overnight for convenience. I will definitely be giving them a welcome bag of food, but won't include any gifts or things like that.

These are a total extra!

Extra, I dont think this is necessary

Extra -- something I may consider, but something I'm currently opting out of.

Essential but we are making them very inexpensively. We are only doing them for people that have traveled a long way to get to us, and we are getting most of the stuff free from the Tourism bureau - brochures, maps, the city's monthly activity guide and then we are making a very detailed diagram of one of the insane intersections (basically a series of forks with each lane branching off one at a time and if you are in the wrong lane you are in trouble). Then we are going to throw in some local goodies (there is one bakery whose cookies are to die for) and that is it.

Extra we don't need to do .... waste of money

EXTRA... for any wedding style. I think it is nice, but an itinerary can be shared via a wedding website for cheaper and a majority of other items can be picked up at the concierge desk.

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That's awesome, a great way to thank them for their help!! Where is your destination wedding going to be?

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I think that's a great idea!! I feel the same way, check in is always a lot, I feel like it'd be easier to hand them out when everyone has already settled and don't have their luggage with them! As for your bags, I think that list looks great! It has a little of everything as well as the wedding info they need!

Essential. I have never stayed at a hotel for a wedding and not received one. It would feel rude to to do the same for my guests. Plus, it is great to have that little bag of popcorn when drunk in the room at 1 AM. Just a little bit of starch to start to stave off the hangover.

It's extra but we did them. We made sure the stuff in there was meaningful and local to DC except since FH is German we put in some German chocolate. We skipped things that people will definitely and obviously already have with them. We don't have a ton of OOT guests coming so we didn't break the bank on them.

I always appreciate a welcome bag or hangover kit. Of the 20 or so weddings I’ve gone to - I’ve had to drive or travel several hours and she’ll our money for a hotel on top of other normal costs. When I get a back with water and snacks I am so thankful! Pretty much everyone is traveling over an hour to our wedding so instead of traditional favors we are doing Thank you/hangover bags in a reusable bag (that doesn’t have our names on it) We will hang out half at the Rehearsal Dinner and the rest at the wedding.

Extra and a money waster in my opinion.

I'd say an extra, but a nice touch. I'm going to do small ones to give them information about the brunch we are hosting the next morning.

Extra. I had never even heard of this before I started wedding planning. Its not a thing in my area.