favoToday we’re talking about one of the things you can do to boost your guest experience. Typically made for out of town guests or destination weddings, welcome bags are a lovely way to greet your guests and give them a memento of your wedding all in one!
Photography by Ben Yew
What’s a welcome bag?
Welcome bags are as the name suggests, a goodie bag with gifts for your guests given to them at the start of your wedding weekend. They are a great way to introduce everyone to the weekend ahead and get them excited about your wedding. There are a few ways you can give them the bags or goodies to guests. They may find them in their rooms upon arrival or receive them upon check-in at their hotel.
Photography by Ben Yew
Why are they so great?
When you plan a destination wedding or are having guests come from out of town, you’re asking them to travel to celebrate your love and marriage. It’s nice to offer them a gift as a token of appreciation for coming all that way. You can, of course, give everyone favours but an alternative is to welcome them to the destination with a bag of goodies. Some of your guests may have never been to this city or even country before. As a bonus, they’ll be reminded of the plans for the weekend.
Photography by Ben Yew
What’s in the bag?
- Stationery! This would be in the form of a welcome note, map, timeline of events or a combination of these.
- Local or traditional treats and souvenirs are always a great idea especially if your guests won’t be taking any extra time to explore the area. For example wine, biscuits or playing cards.
- You can also add gifts such as personalised teacups, corkscrews, flip flops or sunglasses that your guests will hold onto forever or personalised snacks for your guests to enjoy now like m&m's or cookies.
- Hangover kits that some of your more party-loving guests will thank you for in the morning.
- Any other meaningful items that represent you or the destination
Photography by Rebecca Yale
The Welcome Bag
There are a few options with the actual bag you’re packing with goodies and these can be sourced online from a wide range of retailers.
- A reusable tote or canvas bag with your logo, names, venue etc. printed on the front.
- A nice disposable gift bag with your logo, names, venue etc. printed on the front.
- A disposable gift bag with a personalised sticker or ribbon
- A plain gift bag
It’s totally up to you whether you want to do this for your guests. We’ve seen various bags created before, some small gestures and some stuffed with a lot of the items mentioned above. Others have opted for just a welcome note and timeline while some opted for a note and one small gift. There are so many ways to say thank you for coming to celebrate with us and the best tend to be the more personal and heartfelt ones.
Happy brainstorming about your welcome bags and as always, we’re here if you have any questions.
Have a lovely weekend!
Ceri xo
