Welcome Letters?

We're doing welcome bags and including a printed (from our printer. not a fancy one.) note that says thanks for traveling to support us and a list of recommended places to eat/go, directions to our ceremony and phone numbers of MOH/BM in case they need anything.

I never understood the need for welcome bags. Went to an OOT wedding in Florida and in the bag was water, Tylenol, suntan lotion and tissues, I think. The hotel had all of that (besides suntan lotion which is had brought with me). Since you're at the breaking point, just skip them. Like programs and favors, no one will miss them. On the other hand, a nice note at check in is a great idea. "Thanks for coming to share our day with us" and sign your names. To me, that's much nicer than a welcome bag and more thoughtful too!

Yes. And while Robin is right, you can conveniently get most of those things, our guests really appreciated the local coffee, local cookies, and the hangover water we included. Our guests really appreciated having the information for local restaurants, attractions, cab companies....but we were in a downtown atmosphere and no one had rental cars.

I was thinking about attaching the welcome note to a bottle of water or something like that. I don't think we are going to do full blown bags.

I was thinking about saying thanks for traveling, and including info on what is supposed to be included in the room block pricing (we swung free breakfast and discounted parking with our reduced price) and maybe phone numbers, but I am not sure if I should be adding something more, and I can't decide if I should just do the letter by itself, or if I should add a small snack or water bottle.

@Janeen we are in downtown as well, most of the people staying there are younger and from out of state and won't have cars, so we are trying to be considerate of that. Most of them have lived here in the past, but not all of them.

I just can't decide how crazy to get.

We are doing water and some cute snacks. FH is a huge NC State fan so I have some chocolate pecan bars with their logo, and then some information on the Area. We are having an evening wedding so this way they have things to during the day. The main reason we wanted to do something for them is because they are traveling so far for us & from my experience working at a hotel, the Guest love getting the bags they always feel so touched.

We did welcome envelopes because 90% of guests were OOT and I just couldn't afford doing baskets for them. They included a welcome letter, a list of things to do nearby/our favorite restaurants and wedding info (ceremony/reception start time as well as our wedding hashtag and "unplugged ceremony" note.

Eta also a call anyone but the bride phone list with the hotels numbers, cab companies and a family member from each side

@kaylarae - the unplugged ceremony note is a great idea to include!!! Thank you for the idea!

Maybe I will get creative and instead of a bag I will do a tiered welcome letter with different info on different tabs. I feel like maybe I can handle that.

We did welcome bags but I did include an itinerary in the bag, mostly because we were providing a shuttle and I wanted guests to know where and when to find that. I also included the phone number of my MOH and the venue.

We decided to do welcome bags with tylenol, water, some snacks ( homemade s'more cookies are kind of my thing, and FH love pretzels so pretzels). In the welcome bag we are printing out a letter that thanks everyone for coming, lets them know what time and where everything happens and also has local info on it.

I have always appreciated welcome bags at weddings I go to esp when they have deets about the wedding. The most recent wedding I went to it explained when the busses would get there, when/ where the afterparty is and it was nice!

I priced out our welcome bags at less than $2 each (maybe cheaper with prime day tomorrow!) and we only have 25 rooms at the hotel, totes worth it.

Wow! How did you do welcome bags for $2 a piece? Where did you get your bags from?? I think that is the part I am having the most problems with, the physical bags.

Oriental trading is where we got ours. They were bad at all price wise.

@Notallwhowander You can also get them at the dollar tree or michaels for really cheap. just the paper ones do the trick- remember they'll be throwing them out anyways so it's not worth spending tons. You could buy personalized stickers from etsy and put them on there...or do what we're doing - and not put anything on them at all.

Hmmm I don't know that I have time to do oriental trading anymore since my wedding is in 18 days, but I will definitely go check out the dollar tree! I did not think of that. Which is funny because I have actually bought a bunch of stuff from the dollar tree for my wedding!

Thanks for the tips again ladies, I was able to go and get the kraft paper bags to put things in during my lunch break today! Yay for the dollar tree!

For the welcome letter? Packet I think I am going to do:

- Welcome Letter/Phone numbers to call

- Hotel info (discounted parking, free breakfast, hospitality suite, hotel shuttle)

- Ceremony Address/Time/Bus Schedule

- Restaurant Suggestions

- Things to Do

Do you guys think that is too much?

Would you add anything else?

I think the hotel will probably tell them the hotel info. Just a thought if you're looking to cut something.

The hotel SHOULD tell them stuff, but we heckled alot to get an awesome deal, so I just want to make sure that everyone knows that they have those things that come with our block. But maybe I am overthinking it?

I'm doing them. Our welcome "bag" is actually a latte mug stuffed with cookies, chocolates, and a wine stopper, and then the attached note will have info on the wedding, shuttles, and we're having a welcome sunset cruise the night before so I'll put the info and directions on that as well. Oh, and contact information and numbers for Uber, restaurant recs, etc.

@SB821 - I love that idea! How cute!

We're gonna do a little welcome letter/itinerary for our guests and slip it in the welcome bags. We'll have a little note from us and then info like the weekend events, restaurants, etc.