May 2018

The Ultimate Guide to Hotel Wedding Welcome Gift Bags

Remember that wedding you went to when you had to travel for hours and then drag your luggage to your hotel room and you collapsed on the bed only to immediately realize you had forgotten your toothbrush? Or you magically arrived hours early and suddenly you needed something to do for the rest of the day, but the hotel’s welcome book was missing from the nightstand, so you ended up at a two-star restaurant on accident?

You don’t want that to happen to your guests who are traveling to your wedding. You want them to have just as magical a weekend as you will have. We've created this guide to hotel wedding welcome gift bags to help you make the start of their weekend spectacular.

Source: Canvas Bag

How Many Will You Need?
You will want to plan on putting together a bag for any guest who is traveling in order to attend your wedding. Whether they’re staying in a hotel or with a family member, these gift bags are just one small way you can make their visit more comfortable.

If you are reserving a block of rooms at a hotel or multiple hotels in your area, check in at least a month or two in advance to get an estimate of how many people have made reservations so far. You will want to add some extra for guests that may be staying with other family members, or who simply haven't made their travel plans yet.

Choosing Your Packaging
Hotel welcome gift bags are bags filled with anything from useful to whimsical, from generic to personal. Give to your out-of-town wedding guests to make their weekends just a little better. Travel can be so stressful; it’s heartwarming to know the bride and groom are thoughtful, even when they are busy with last-minute wedding details.

There are TONS of gift bags out there. How will you ever decide which one to use?! First, set a budget and decide what items you want to include. Once you know how much money you have left over for the bag, it should be easier to pick a style.

Do you have a lot of items to include? Consider a canvas bag, which is sturdier and will be able to hold more, and will also hold up better than a paper bag – not to mention they’re reusable, making the bag itself part of the gift.
Plastic or paper bags will keep your cost down, and they can be easily “dressed up” with a personalized print.
If you do want to personalize the bag, consider a frosted plastic with a bright, bold color for the print.

Gold Wedding Guest Gift Bags with Welcome Message

Source: Plastic Bag, Canvas Bag, Paper Bag

Curating The Contents
The welcome gift bags can be as simple or as extravagant as you’d like. Here are some basic guidelines for what to include.

The necessities/things commonly forgotten while traveling
Something special/unique to the area
Snacks: sweet, salty, and savory
Water bottles – ensure your guests stay hydrated
Wedding itinerary or invitation to ensure guests know the timeline for all of your events
Recommendations for the area; what to do, where to eat, etc. Bonus points if you include coupons!
A note or letter from the bride and groom welcoming the guests
Tissue paper or other filler

Source: Frosted Bag

Deciding On Delivery

The delivery may be the trickiest part of the gift. Should the bags be waiting in your guests’ hotel rooms? At the front desk when they check in? Should you hand-deliver them? Or wait until the first wedding event?

The simplest delivery method is to trust the hotel staff with the bags. The staff can keep them at the desk (be sure to write the guests’ full names on the bags!) or may even be able to deliver them to the guests' rooms before they arrive. If the guests are staying with a family member or friend, it should be no problem for you to drop the bags off at the houses before your guests get in. Delivering bags in person is probably the best way, but you’re going to be busy, so don’t sweat it if you won’t be able to greet everyone when they get to town. If everyone will be at the rehearsal dinner, you can hand them out after. Or maybe this is the perfect excuse to host a bonfire the night everyone arrives – you can have a relaxing evening and still get to watch your guests’ reactions when they see the bags!

Is It Really Worth It?

If you’re having a destination wedding, your guests are spending a lot of money on travel to be with you. If you’re not having a destination wedding but do have out-of-town guests, it’s a way to thank them for taking the extra time to travel to you. Out-of-town guests who don’t know the area may be uncomfortable being in a new place at such an important time. A welcome gift bag is a really easy way for you to let your guests know how much you appreciate the time and effort they put into being at your wedding.

Consider the luggage restrictions for travelers. There are so many rules for what you can and can’t take on an airplane, or maybe your guests don’t have access to a big enough car. They’ll have to cut down on what they pack, and the stress can cause them to forget something they actually need, or they may have to forgo something they might or might not need because they couldn’t quite justify the space it would take up without being certain they'll use it. Guests who are traveling - with kids in particular - have to make sacrifices with what they pack. Including items in the gift bags for kids (coloring books, bubbles, small toys, etc.) can relieve some of that stress.

Black Wedding Guest Gift Bags with Thank You Message

Source: Thank You Bags

Assembling Your Gifts

How can you possibly make time for ordering the pieces, filling the bags, and delivering them?! This last week before your wedding is probably your busiest. Consider these bags a chance to relax. Pour a glass of wine, sit down with your partner, and have fun with it. Hand write the notes and arrange the bags like they’re floral bouquets and placement matters. Or, if you really don’t have time, enlist a younger sibling or cousin to help – they may have fun with it! Even better: make the bags way in advance. As long as you're not including any perishable items, you can also put the bags together as early as you want. Even if you do want to include some perishable items, you can start the bags any time and add to them as the date gets closer.

You can save time (and money on shipping!) by ordering everything for the bag from one website, too.

Source: Canvas Bag

A welcome gift bag is an easy and thoughtful way to help your guests relax and enjoy their weekend that much more.

Elizabeth graduated from The University of Findlay with a Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Writing. She now resides in Portland, Oregon where she is employed in the real estate business and is particularly enjoying the local cuisine. As a writer, Elizabeth believes in a quote from one of her favorite TV shows: "We have only two jobs on this Earth. The first: to learn. The second: to cope." A deep desire to learn struck Elizabeth when she was young, and now she hopes to help you cope by sharing information, and helping you apply the knowledge. Weddings and event planning can be overwhelming; sometimes it's okay to take a little advice from a stranger on the internet.

Product Spotlight: Heart Drop Shadow Box Guest Book

Guest books for any event are a wonderful thing. Years later, you can look back and read your loved ones’ kind words and remember exactly who was there celebrating with you.

The problem with more traditional guest books is they tend to get lost on a bookshelf or forgotten in a box filled with pictures and memorabilia. No matter how good our intentions are, items like guest books are usually eventually considered clutter and are put away somewhere.

That’s just one reason among many couples are choosing alternative guest books more often. One gorgeous alternative to a book is this shadow box with silver and gold wooden hearts for guests to sign. The box has hooks on the back, so you can hang it on a wall – meaning no clutter and no lost cardboard box full of wedding momentos for this guest book! It’s only 1.5 inches deep, too, so it won’t stick out too far on the wall.

Source: Shadow Box Display

The plexiglass can be etched as well, allowing you to personalize your box with either two lines of text (anything from your names and the wedding date to your wedding’s social media hashtag) or a single initial, in addition to the floral prints above and below.

Check out how one of our customers designed hers:

Photo Credit: Emma Cleary Photo & Video

These shadow boxes make excellent gifts at different events as well. Are you going to a baby shower? This shadow box can be hung in the baby’s room, so she/he can grow up reading the names on the hearts and know how many people love her/him. Is a bride having two bridal showers? The guests at each party can sign one color of the hearts; the mingling of the colors inside the shadow box represents the mingling of two families. Birthday parties, graduations, anniversary parties – the possibilities for this beautiful box are endless. The simplicity of the box paired with the color and design options also ensure this box will fit any theme or color scheme at the party.

Source: Gold, Silver

After the party, it’s sure to grab anyone’s attention hanging on your wall, and this can lead to even more stories about the event. You will add to your memories time and time again over the years with the box always in sight.

Should You Have a Child-free Wedding?

Kids are great – to most people, usually. But more and more couples are choosing a child-free life, and they want a child-free wedding along with that life. On the other hand, there are tons of people who love kids who still don’t want to invite them to their wedding. Kids can be a logistical nightmare -- for parents and for the wedding planner. Babies require diaper bags, picky kids need their own food, and most will be tired long before the night is over. It’s also very difficult for kids to understand the significance of a wedding: including why they need to be quiet and pay attention. Wedding ceremonies simply aren’t as fun for kids. Being a parent with a child at a reception isn’t always so fun either. While it’s great to see kids dressed up and looking cute and playing with other kids, parents are still responsible for making sure nothing goes wrong – no one wants their child to accidentally hurt another or break something or run off or start screaming during the toasts.

Reasons to have a child-free wedding
There are an abundance of reasons to invite kids to your wedding. They look adorable all dressed up, they're part of your family and you love them, and it's important to include children (especially as they get older) in "adult" events so they learn the significance of these events. But there are also plenty of reasons why you might not want to invite kids.

· You simply invited too many people – before you counted the kids. If your guest list is too big already, you may have to ask guests to not bring their kids, because there just isn’t room for them, and it’s more important for you to have the adults who are special to you there to help you celebrate.

· Your venue is small. You may have to cut your guest list down significantly to fit into your space. You have to decide who is more important: adults who will appreciate and remember your wedding, or kids who definitely won’t remember it and may even cause problems.

· You just don’t like kids. That’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to like them, and you don’t have to invite them.

· You want a night with your adult friends and you want everyone to be able to enjoy the party without distractions. And there’s no way to be distraction-free if a child is there. Kids just need more attention than adults do, and if you don’t want to sacrifice your time with family and friends to their children, you don’t have to.

Source: Children at Wedding, Baby at Wedding

How to tell your guests

Informing your guests your wedding will be child-free is tricky. You’ll need to be kind and firm, and make it clear what you will and will not make exceptions for.

· Tell them as soon as you’ve decided, if possible. The sooner guests know they won’t be able to bring their kids, the sooner they can make the appropriate plans.

· Offer to help with childcare. If a guest is traveling for your wedding, recommend a daycare or a nanny in your area.

· If only a few of your guests have children, it’s better to reach out to them personally so you can explain how much you love their kids and exactly why they’re not invited.

· If most of your guest list is parents, you’ll probably want a more generic, time-saving message. Add a card or note to the Save the Date or send a letter or email explaining you’re only inviting guests over a specific age, you appreciate their understanding, and tell them to let you know if they will need any help figuring out childcare.

· Be prepared to make an exception for mothers who are nursing – they may not be able to be apart from their baby long enough to attend your wedding. If you’re inviting a brand-new mother, talk to her directly about the options. You’ll also need to be prepared for upset parents: “she brought her kid, why couldn’t I bring mine?” A simple, direct answer should be enough: “she’s nursing. This is the only way she could attend.”

· Discuss with your fiancé when you can bend the rules. A babysitter might cancel at the last minute – would you rather have the kids added at the last minute or the parents bail at the last minute?

· Consider the theme and timing of your wedding. Are you having a late-night reception at a bar? Definitely not a scene for children. But a Saturday afternoon backyard BBQ? You’ll need a good explanation for why kids aren’t invited. This doesn’t mean you have to change your theme if you don’t want to invite kids, just that parents will be more understanding if it’s not a kid-friendly venue.

Source: Child-free Invitation

How to react to a child-free wedding invitation

For the happy parents who received an invitation to an “adults only, please” wedding, don’t panic. If you are truly unable to leave your kids for that long, the bride and groom will understand. They may make an exception for you. But you do not have the right to pressure them into changing their minds, nor do you have the right to ignore their request and bring your kids along anyway. Remember this is their wedding, not yours.

· Don’t be upset. The bride and groom are not targeting you because they hate your kids.

· If there is absolutely no way to attend the wedding without your kids in tow, ask the bride and groom if they will make an exception. Be kind, and don’t be surprised if they say no.

· If you’re close to the other wedding guests, try to set up joint childcare for everyone (if the bride and groom aren’t providing any). If all the kids are in a group together, they’ll be happier than if they were left with just the babysitter.

· Maybe your kids are perfect angels who never do anything wrong and maybe they’re not. It doesn’t matter, because kids are unpredictable. Especially if they’ve never been to a wedding before, you don’t know how they will behave. They might cower out of nervousness because of all the new people or they might act completely out of character because they have a whole new audience. You just don’t know what kids will do, and that kind of uncertainty is not conducive to a relaxing, carefree wedding. Accept that the bride and groom want to enjoy this day as completely as they can, and kids are more likely to inhibit that enjoyment than they are to encourage it.

What to do if a guest protests your child-free request

Be prepared for parents to decline the invitation. It’s just not feasible for some parents to leave their kids, particularly if they have to travel. Tell them you’re sorry they can’t make it, but you understand why, and you appreciate them respecting your wishes. Other guests may not be able to comprehend why you don’t want kids at your wedding. They may take the protests a little far. Gently explain why you aren’t inviting children. You can say things like “we know some children are very well-behaved, but it’s not fair to only invite the well-behaved kids” or “weddings aren’t as fun for kids as they are for adults.” Maybe you’re having a black-tie affair and kids just don’t fit that picture – no one can argue that point. Maybe you’re serving steak and seafood and most kids won’t eat that, and the ones who do can’t appreciate it fully. If the guest doesn’t understand even after you pepper them with reasons, gently remind them they don’t have to attend. It may be difficult, and it may cause a temporary wedge in your relationship with them, but the bottom line is it is your wedding and you deserve to have a memorable, enjoyable day. Your guests didn’t consult you about their wedding decisions, and you don’t have to listen to their suggestions about yours.

If you choose to have a child-free wedding, remember:

· You are not selfish by asking to have a child-free wedding.

· You put so much effort into planning your wedding and reception, and sometimes things just don’t fit. You wanted a barbershop quartet but settled for a DJ. Your fiancé wanted fireworks, you wanted doves, and you settled for balloons. There are tons of compromises while planning a wedding, and children at the event is one of them.

If you were invited to a childfree wedding, don't be offended

· The bride and groom are not excluding your children specifically.

· This day is about the bride and groom. Maybe they live a childfree life and want that reflected in their wedding, or maybe they just want to have a night full of drinking and dancing and not worrying about when bedtime is for a third of the guests.

· You may think the bride and groom are being selfish. They've been planning this day for a long time, and have likely put a lot of thought into their decision to make their wedding child-free. Maybe the venue isn't large enough, or it's not the right atmosphere for children, or maybe they had to cut down on costs somewhere. This doesn't mean they are being selfish.

· Don’t you miss, at least a little bit, the nights you had with just your significant other? Wouldn’t you love to have another carefree night, particularly one that may have an open bar? It’s okay to take some time for yourselves. Relax, enjoy a little quality time with your significant other! Your kids can have fun at home -- no dressing up and sitting quietly required.

An alternative to a completely child-free wedding

Offer a “daycare” room for both the wedding and the reception. Hire caregivers you trust to babysit so parents don’t feel as if their children are being excluded, and they don’t have to hire their own babysitter. One fear for parents (especially new parents) is what might happen while they’re away from their children. Having childcare at the same location reduces that fear, and the parents will be more relaxed and better able to enjoy the festivities. If you’re okay with children being at the reception as long as they’re occupied, hiring a caregiver or even a teacher and setting up a “kid’s area,” maybe set off by a curtain, is another good alternative. Kids will be even more present, but if they aren’t interested in the wedding festivities, they don’t have to sit at a table, bored.

A wedding is one of the most significant days in a couple’s lives. Parents may be used to their kids’ outbursts, but the bride and groom are not, and they want to be able to focus on each other, without distractions. No one will be able to plan a wedding that will be perfect for every single guest. That’s not the point. Because you care about your guests, of course you’ll want them all to be happy and have a good time at your wedding, but at the end of the day, it’s your wedding, and your day, and it’s your decision about whether the reception is inside or outside, what time it starts, whether there will be a DJ or a live band – and whether or not kids are welcome. Don’t feel bad if you upset someone; it’s their choice if they attend or not, and if they can’t accept and support your decisions, they might not be the type of person you want at your wedding anyway.

Chime in below – what do you think about child-free weddings?

Purple Desert Botanical Garden Wedding

Alexandra and Steven were married in beautiful Arizona at the Desert Botanical Gardens in a picturesque outdoor setting. Shades of rich purple, greens, and white naturally accented the gorgeous landscape, making this lovely ceremony and reception stunningly unique.

From cacti details to exquisite floral arrangements, this desert wedding was perfect from start to finish. Many thanks to the talented Laura Segall Photography for sharing this breathtaking wedding with us.

CEREMONY

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The couple exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony within the gorgeous herb garden featuring a large sundial, unique backdrop, and beautiful floral accents. Programs matching the invitations were laid out for guests, and a laser-etched wood front guestbook was on display for guests to sign. A memorial table featured picture frames with photos of family members being remembered on this special day.

ATTIRE

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The bride was stunning in her elegant fit-and-flare wedding dress featuring embroidered lace motifs dancing over tulle on both the body and sleeves of the gown. Classic black tuxes - complete with bowties - were donned by both the groom and his groomsmen. Off-the-shoulder floor-length dresses in a deep shade of purple were worn by the bridesmaids, tying in perfectly with their beautiful bouquets.

DECOR

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Wooden tables were decorated with large floral arrangements, gold-rimmed glass chargers, custom printed place cards and menus, and purple cloth napkins. The cake was a three-tiered, buttercream-frosted beauty, adorned by more florals and a 'fly away with me' laser cut topper. Favors of prickly pear tea, packaged in small glass jars with custom printed labels were given to guests as a thank you for attending. The reception was nothing short of perfection against the backdrop of the cacti and other desert plants.