Wedding Etiquette Forum

Weekend Long Wedding Help!

My fiancé and I have decided to have a weekend long wedding and we want to provide our guests with nice gift baskets. One for each room (two people per room). We would like some ideas for the gift baskets. Things we might not have thought of yet. We are having a beach ceremony in July next year. We want to include some personalized gifts i.e. totes for the ladies, personalized golf balls and cigars for the guys. For the people with kids we are going to provide tickets to the local aquarium. We are also including aspirin, maps of the city, lists of activities and restaurants, sunblock, and little bottles of alcohol or champagne. What else would be essential to help with our guests comfort and enjoyment? We want everyone to have a great weekend and let them know how much we appreciate them coming for a weekend long wedding. Our guests are our closest family and friends. Thank you!!
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Re: Weekend Long Wedding Help!

  • By weekend long wedding, do you mean like a destination wedding? Or optional hosted events all weekend? I'm going to assume that you aren't going to require all guests come for the entire weekend.

    The one thing I can think of that I would really enjoy is credit towards room service. I'd love if I booked a hotel room for a whole weekend and someone prepurchased a room service meal to use at any time during my stay.
  • We will be paying for most of our quests rooms because we know that hotel rooms can get really expensive along with meals. So we are helping as many of our guests out that we can. The rest of our guests have decided to get condos in large groups to help save money and they don't have the option for room service. That would be a great idea for guests but I feel like if we are paying for the rooms and paying for activities adding additional meals will be a little too expensive for us. Thank you for the idea though!
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  • I'd like snacks!
  • We didn't even think of snacks!! That's a great idea! 
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  • My fiancé and I have decided to have a weekend long wedding and we want to provide our guests with nice gift baskets. One for each room (two people per room). We would like some ideas for the gift baskets. Things we might not have thought of yet. We are having a beach ceremony in July next year. We want to include some personalized gifts i.e. totes for the ladies, personalized golf balls and cigars for the guys. For the people with kids we are going to provide tickets to the local aquarium. We are also including aspirin, maps of the city, lists of activities and restaurants, sunblock, and little bottles of alcohol or champagne. What else would be essential to help with our guests comfort and enjoyment? We want everyone to have a great weekend and let them know how much we appreciate them coming for a weekend long wedding. Our guests are our closest family and friends. Thank you!!
    I know plenty of ladies who play golf and smoke cigars. I would try to steer clear of gender stereotypes unless you know specifically which guest smokes cigars and plays golf.

    Anyway, maybe bottles of water? I refuse to drink hotel water, so I know I'd appreciate that. $5 gift card to a nearby coffee shop? Little tissue packet? Maybe a snack, like trail mix or something?
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  • Any kind of special snacks or foods that the area is known for.

    Gift card to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or whatever coffee shop is close by.

    For the guests in condos, gift card to a nearby supermarket.

    Adults might enjoy the aquarium tickets too. Or passes to nearby museums or tourist attractions.

    Local coupon books (for restaurant, attractions, etc) and a magazine or pamphlets on local attractions.

    I would steer clear of tobacco products unless you know for certain the guests smoke them. I would be pretty offended to find tobacco in my gift basket. Other people might not be offended, but they will go to waste if they don't smoke.

    Bottled water rather than champagne or alcohol, unless you know the guests drink.


  • Yea like I said these are our closest family and friends so we do know their preferences. Who smokes and who doesn't and who drinks and who doesn't. We are trying to customize the baskets to fit the needs of the individual guests. We just needed filler gifts some simple things that can help make our guests more comfortable. I am not a fan of gift cards. I don't mind providing snacks but I don't want people to feel obligated to go to a certain restaurant or coffee shop because we purchased a gift card for them. Thank you for the ideas! 
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  • some thoughts:

    • slippers
    • nice body wash
    • lip balm
    • lotion (simple ones that would work for men & women)
    • water & little drink mix packets (i.e. single-serve crystal light things that you can mix in the water bottle)
    • snacks - nuts, chocolates (maybe a handful of hershey's minis each), granola bars, single-serve cereals
    • coloring book & crayons for kids
    • gym pass if there's one nearby (depends on the crowd!)
    • something "local" (ex. we're in PA and tastykakes are like Little Debbie snacks but better; magnet from town; shot glass if that fits the crowd)
    • map of area (ask the place that rents the condo or the hotel desk)
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  • I would steer away from the "gift" items.  Go for things that can be used/consumed over the weekend that will be somewhat useful.  

    We had a destination wedding over a long weekend and included snacks (chips, trail mix, granola bars), mints, tootsie rolls (Oriental Trading had them with 4th of July wrappers, not sure if you are also a 4th weekend bride), bottles of water, and maps of the area with coupon pages we got from the local chamber of commerce.  Some highlights of the welcome bags I have received as a guest at other weddings: postcards relevant to the area to send/save, mint julep soap and lotion (Kentucky wedding), small bottle of sunscreen, and a bottle of local soda.  I can buy booze anywhere, but a bottle of a locally-bottled root beer is a novelty.  Also, keep in mind for lotions, etc., that you need to buy travel-sized if your guests are flying.  

    For the guests that are getting the condos, you could do a little more elaborate welcome basket with instant coffee, teas, maybe a loaf of banana bread, and some toiletries, since I assume the condos won't be as well-stocked as a hotel room.
  • I would leave out the lotions and body wash. I have extremely sensitive skin and can use very few products. I would feel bad that the bride and groom had wasted money on those for me.
  • bottles of water or a reusable water bottle, local-themed snacks, sun glasses, lip balm, a list of fun places to check out in town, hand lotion (flying dries out a lot of people), mints. How about baking cookies or brownies or something, for a personal touch?

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