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Wedding favors and welcome gifts?

knottie427651579bf337dbknottie427651579bf337db member
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in Snarky Brides
Am I the only one that thinks favors and welcome gifts are stupid? And of course I mean this in general. I just feel like (in my case) the open bar and food are enough of a thank you for coming. No one should care whether or not I have playing cards with our date on them. 
I work at a hotel and having to give out gift bags when people check in is so fucking awful. Running to the back to grab a bag of pretzels and water when I have a line at the desk makes my job that much harder. And sales just promises anything and everything without actually thinking about how it impacts our job as the people who run the show out front. 
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Re: Wedding favors and welcome gifts?

  • climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    knottie427651579bf337db said:
    Am I the only one that thinks favors and welcome gifts are stupid? And of course I mean this in general. I just feel like (in my case) the open bar and food are enough of a thank you for coming. No one should care whether or not I have playing cards with our date on them. 
    I work at a hotel and having to give out gift bags when people check in is so fucking awful. Running to the back to grab a bag of pretzels and water when I have a line at the desk makes my job that much harder. And sales just promises anything and everything without actually thinking about how it impacts our job as the people who run the show out front. 
    We drove 4.5 hours to a wedding last year, and received a gift bag on arrival at the hotel. And it was really nice. We got 2 large bottles of water, which was very great, since hotels don't just give away nice, filtered water unless you pay for it. We also received some snacks too - again, perfect for after our long drive. Aren't you getting this stuff already packed in bags? Is it really that much of a hardship to hand a bag to someone checking in? 

    Favors - meh. I didn't do them. I can't say I really miss them when at a wedding. 
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  • ShesSoColdShesSoCold mod
    First Answer First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its
    I agree with PP. I can't see how handing someone a gift bag is "so fucking awful". And I love the welcome/gift bags. 

    Favors, eh. I like an edible favor but I've never saved any of the personalized crap I've ever received. 
    Image result for someecard betting someone half your shit youll love them forever
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  • knottie427651579bf337dbknottie427651579bf337db member
    First Comment
    edited August 2018
    Picture this. You are the 6th person in line, check in already takes a few minutes per person. You see the ONLY person at the desk have to grab keys, unlock a door, then you don't see they have to unlock another door & find which wedding of the 3 or 4 in house they had to grab a bag for, they run back out. Repeat for 4 of the 5 people in front of you. Also we get chewed out when we forget to give a bag to 2 of the 30 people that checked in during the span of 3 hours. Working at a busy downtown hotel is just really stressful. Also the bags don't just fit out at the desk because 3 different weddings have at least 20 bags for us to store. It's just a lot of extra running around added to a job that is stressful when there isn't a wedding. And no one ever thanks us. 

    Edit: my hotel actually does have FREE water in the rooms and fruit infused water in the lobby as well. Also plenty of times sales has forgotten to tell us there were even bags to hand out so we have to answer for their mistake to the angry wedding party. 
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  • ShesSoColdShesSoCold mod
    First Answer First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its
    knottie427651579bf337db said:
    Picture this. You are the 6th person in line, check in already takes a few minutes per person. You see the ONLY person at the desk have to grab keys, unlock a door, then you don't see they have to unlock another door & find which wedding of the 3 or 4 in house they had to grab a bag for, they run back out. Repeat for 4 of the 5 people in front of you. Also we get chewed out when we forget to give a bag to 2 of the 30 people that checked in during the span of 3 hours. Working at a busy downtown hotel is just really stressful. Also the bags don't just fit out at the desk because 3 different weddings have at least 20 bags for us to store. It's just a lot of extra running around added to a job that is stressful when there isn't a wedding. And no one ever thanks us. 

    Edit: my hotel actually does have FREE water in the rooms and fruit infused water in the lobby as well. 
    Okay, sure, that sounds annoying. But as a front desk clerk at a hotel that regularly does weddings, it sounds like part of the job. 

    I can get annoyed when I'm asked for 25 quotes in one day, but that's my job. Sometimes they'll take a little longer to produce because I'm busy. Nature of the beast. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Image result for someecard betting someone half your shit youll love them forever
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  • MRDCleMRDCle member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    knottie427651579bf337db said:
    Picture this. You are the 6th person in line, check in already takes a few minutes per person. You see the ONLY person at the desk have to grab keys, unlock a door, then you don't see they have to unlock another door & find which wedding of the 3 or 4 in house they had to grab a bag for, they run back out. Repeat for 4 of the 5 people in front of you. Also we get chewed out when we forget to give a bag to 2 of the 30 people that checked in during the span of 3 hours. Working at a busy downtown hotel is just really stressful. Also the bags don't just fit out at the desk because 3 different weddings have at least 20 bags for us to store. It's just a lot of extra running around added to a job that is stressful when there isn't a wedding. And no one ever thanks us. 

    Edit: my hotel actually does have FREE water in the rooms and fruit infused water in the lobby as well. Also plenty of times sales has forgotten to tell us there were even bags to hand out so we have to answer for their mistake to the angry wedding party. 
    I mean TBH whenever I check in to a hotel I don't expect it to be immediate, so I wouldn't be that annoyed (especially if I'm getting a free bag of snacks and waters).  Just sounds like you need to vent about your job. 
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  • charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Vent away about your job! 

    But as a guest, especially when I’m traveling to a wedding, I love the gift bags. Snacks+water (or better yet mini bottles of booze) are always welcome in my book. I did them for my wedding and had snacks/water, gum/mints, and a list of area attractions. Guests said they really appreciated them. 
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  • ahoyweddingahoywedding member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    Totally fair that there are parts of your job you don't like. Everyone has that. We have a sales department that makes bananas promises to external contacts and we have to just make it work. It's super annoying, but I also appreciate that they're out there getting more business for our company and our department.

    As a guest, I do like the welcome bags. It's probably the one thing I wish we would have done differently for our wedding. It's really nice to have those snacks already there when you've just driven in or when you get back from the wedding in a city you're unfamiliar with. They're not necessary, but it's a thoughtful thing to offer for guests. I also don't get annoyed when hotel check-in (or any customer service situation, really) takes longer than expected if I can see that the staff are busy. If it's taking longer because you're not paying attention to customers, I'll get way more upset than taking longer because you're actually helping people. 

    Favors I could take or leave. They're nice (especially food favors!) but we've been to weddings without favors recently and I haven't missed them.
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  • knottie427651579bf337dbknottie427651579bf337db member
    First Comment
    We dont normally have them to hand out but when we do it's always more than one wedding. I wish the people who came to my hotel were as patient as you guys. It seems like all the weddings we have suck. More than once the bags had names so we had to search for a specific one each time. So please dont ever be that person. 
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  • charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    knottie427651579bf337db said:
    We dont normally have them to hand out but when we do it's always more than one wedding. I wish the people who came to my hotel were as patient as you guys. It seems like all the weddings we have suck. More than once the bags had names so we had to search for a specific one each time. So please dont ever be that person. 
    Maybe this is too snarky, but maybe this is something you need to take up with your supervisor? I mean, if you offer a service like this, one a lot of people really like, then people are going to use it. If your company is offering it to events, then they should make sure you have the proper set up/resources for it. I don’t think it’s the weddings that are the problem here. 
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  • climbingsingleclimbingsingle member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    knottie427651579bf337db said:
    We dont normally have them to hand out but when we do it's always more than one wedding. I wish the people who came to my hotel were as patient as you guys. It seems like all the weddings we have suck. More than once the bags had names so we had to search for a specific one each time. So please dont ever be that person. 
    I’m sorry, but your rants about this sound ridiculous. This is part of your job, and a couple giving their guests a welcome bag is nice. People are demanding about it?? Are they yelling at you about not receiving a welcome bag? If it’s reallt such a problem, talk to your manager. 

    I run a department. I encounter things all day long that are annoying and frustrating and cause me stress. But I deal, because that’s my job. 
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  • short+sassyshort+sassy member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its

    Welcome bags and wedding favors are both nice, but neither is necessary.  I'm with the other PPs.  I'd find a "surprise" welcome bag at my check-in fantastic.

    I realize it's an annoyance at your job that you don't care for.  I can understand that.  But there is also nothing wrong with a bride/groom wanting to provide helpful items/info to guests who have taken the time and money to travel for their event.

    On the days when it is more stressful and getting you down, think of it as job security ;).  Perpetually empty/half-filled hotels either close or don't need as much staff.

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  • bubblylovebubblylove member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Look, we did gift bags and they were fully stocked and sitting behind the desk and the person just had to hand one over. I don't think the hotel staff should be filling the bags. Having said that I received a lot of compliments on our wedding and THEE top one was the gift bags. Everyone very much appreciated it. Don't think anyone cared about the favor candle. 
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  • maine7mobmaine7mob member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    I don't think either one is necessary.  Welcome bags are certainly nice, but you're not violating any etiquette rules if you decide not to do them. 

    We thought about welcome bags, but because our guests were scattered at AirBnbs, hotels, and private guesthouses all over a wide area, we decided they weren't really feasible.


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  • LondonLisaLondonLisa member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Yeah, are you being paid to hand them out? Otherwise I don't see the problem. Yes, its a faff but it isn't like you are forcing to do this. Why not just alphabatise them, seems like it would take 5 minutes max. 
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  • Jen4948Jen4948 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    Giving out gift bags is part of your job.  Every job has elements that make it imperfect in some manner.

    To be honest, if giving out gift bags is your biggest problem with your job, then you have a great job as compared to, say, someone in a combat role in the armed forces, a cop, a surgeon, a paramedic, a nurse, a firefighter, or even a cook, dishwasher, housekeeper, janitor or window washer, to think of a few occupations where the work gets demanding and messy. 

    Favors are not required at all.

    Edited to add: My apologies for all the deleted duplicate posts that follow this one. For several days the forum would not show my posts because I "needed approval." Then it posted a lot of duplicates of this post.
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  • ei34ei34 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I love receiving a gift bag when I check in for an OOT wedding.  The hotel employee always seems to pull it out from under the desk- maybe check with your supervisor to see if they could all be in a crate under the desk? I could see going back and forth to a back room being annoying.  My own bags had water bottles, Advil and Tylenol, apples and some sweet and salty snacks (nothing showcasing local highlights since everyone staying over lived locally).  The next day at breakfast everyone seemed happy to have had them.  Although I don’t think they’re a requirement.

    Favors I can do without- a candle, picture frame, etc. with the couple’s names and wedding date get donated promptly.  I do love an edible treat and those measuring spoons that I get at a lot of showers are awesome since I can’t have enough measuring spoons.  Id take the hotel gift bag over the favor but neither are required.
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    :'(
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    I think I can....
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    I think I can..
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    Growth mindset
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    :s
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    :#
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    >:)
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018

    Are we there yet?
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    Wish I were a quitter....
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    Oy...
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  • MobKazMobKaz member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2018
    Scheisse
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