Practical question re: Swag bags

KatieinBkln

I've been seeing a lot about "welcome bags" for guests, and I guess the idea is you can leave them at the hotel for people when they arrive. I think it would be nice to do these for my wedding (if it fits in the budget) since so many people would have to come in from out of town, and I'd like to give them a small "welcome to Milwaukee, here is some fun stuff to do and also, a few delicious beers/cheeses/regional goodies for you."

My question is, how do the logistics of this work? I can obviously have them available at the hotels I block, but does that mean I need to get these to people who decide to stay at a random hotel? What about people (like me) who no longer live there but have family there, and will be staying with them rather than at a hotel? Do I ask people where they'll be staying? Just decide that only the number of people who actually decided to stay in the hotels I blocked will get goody bags? I wouldn't want to get myself into a situation where only some people got bags and some didn't. How have you ladies handled this?

It sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth, or there might be something extraordinarily obvious that I am overlooking here...

mschristie123

I didn't do them for mine, simply because I wasn't willing to deal with the logistics that close to the wedding.

I wouldn't kill yourself to give them to guests where you don't know where they are staying/staying with family. I would arrange for the guests to get them when they check into their hotel room at the hotels that you have blocked off. That seems to make the most sense, because the hotels will give you a rooming list of who has booked, and you'll know exactly how many to make.

Alternately, we had a big night before dinner after the rehearsal that all in town and OTT guests attended at the hotel. Had we done welcome bags, we were going to have them available for couples to take at that dinner, so that (almost) everyone could have one, rather than just those staying with the hotel block. I'm not sure if something like that might be feasible for you.

wandajune6

I haven't figured it out for myself yet. However, I made them for my sister's wedding and just dropped them at the hotel. Everyone stayed at the same hotel so it was easy.

We're getting married in a park and our hotel block is barely getting any use- just one room booked so far. We'll do welcome bags if we get more guests but I'm not driving around the city dropping them off.

Milwaukee means Usinger's sausage, beer, and cheese curds, right?

KatieinBkln

wandajune6 said:

I haven't figured it out for myself yet. However, I made them for my sister's wedding and just dropped them at the hotel. Everyone stayed at the same hotel so it was easy.

We're getting married in a park and our hotel block is barely getting any use- just one room booked so far. We'll do welcome bags if we get more guests but I'm not driving around the city dropping them off.

Milwaukee means Usinger's sausage, beer, and cheese curds, right?

I mean, YES.

ShellD13

H and I had a very small wedding so I didn't have to worry about a lot of guests in the first place.  I did do a welcome bag for my parents because they were the only ones coming in from out of town that were staying in a hotel room by themselves.  My mom is still talking about how terrific it was to have a couple of tourist guides for the area as well as snacks and bottled water.

I would say if it is something you want to do and have time for without causing too much additional stress - go for it - it will mean a lot to your guests.  However, I would only do one for the folks that are staying at the hotels that you have blocked - I think trying to track down every guest at every area hotel could be a nightmare.

princessleia22

All of my guests were OOT (destination wedding) so I had a welcome pizza party the night before wedding (instead of rehearsal dinner) and invited everyone.  Most people showed up there, so they got their bags at the pizza party.  For the few people that didn't attend the party, they got their bags the next morning when they arrived for the wedding.

mysticl

I'm of the theory that if you do them they should be for all out of town guests regardless of where they are staying.  If not people could feel bad that they didn't get something because they stayed at the wrong "hotel".  I figure guests are going to talk and one OOT guest will mention the bags to another assuming that they got one too and then you have hurt feelings.  

Keep in mind some hotels charge you to hand these out.  

CrazyCatLady3

I wouldn't expect a bag if I stayed at a random hotel of my choice and not the blocked off hotel.  It's unreasonable for a guest to expect B&G to keep track of guests who don't stay at a blocked hotel.  

tcnoble

I would just have them for guests at hotels you have blocks at. But please PLEASE make sure you have enough bags for the amount of rooms booked. I just attended a wedding for which FI and I traveled across the country for and by word of mouth found out we didn't get a welcome bag because the bride and groom didn't prepare enough. Now, really, not a HUGE deal but we totally would have appreciated the snacks and city guide so we were bummed when we heard others talking about them.

KatieinBkln

tcnoble said:

I would just have them for guests at hotels you have blocks at. But please PLEASE make sure you have enough bags for the amount of rooms booked. I just attended a wedding for which FI and I traveled across the country for and by word of mouth found out we didn't get a welcome bag because the bride and groom didn't prepare enough. Now, really, not a HUGE deal but we totally would have appreciated the snacks and city guide so we were bummed when we heard others talking about them.

This would be my nightmare! Yes, I think I would just go ahead and have extra bags, if anything.

I also like the idea of a welcome party like @nicoann did--my rehearsal is at a weird afternoon time, so there's definitely time to do some kind of evening event for out-of-towners. It'll all come down to budget of course, but I like the idea of being able to hook everyone up, not just hotel-stayers.

princessleia22

KatieinBkln said:

tcnoble said:

I would just have them for guests at hotels you have blocks at. But please PLEASE make sure you have enough bags for the amount of rooms booked. I just attended a wedding for which FI and I traveled across the country for and by word of mouth found out we didn't get a welcome bag because the bride and groom didn't prepare enough. Now, really, not a HUGE deal but we totally would have appreciated the snacks and city guide so we were bummed when we heard others talking about them.

This would be my nightmare! Yes, I think I would just go ahead and have extra bags, if anything.

I also like the idea of a welcome party like @nicoann did--my rehearsal is at a weird afternoon time, so there's definitely time to do some kind of evening event for out-of-towners. It'll all come down to budget of course, but I like the idea of being able to hook everyone up, not just hotel-stayers.

A lot of people will also invite OOT guests to the rehearsal dinner. 

But our welcome party worked out really well.  We figured that we would likely be busy on wedding day and at reception and not get to spend a lot of time with each person, so we wanted to have some more time to visit with all the OOT guests, that came a long way for our wedding, many who we don't see often. We only had about 30 people, so we ordered 10 pizzas and provided soda & iced tea, so it wasn't really expensive to do.  It was really great to have a casual event to meet and chat with everyone.  It was first time to meet some of SO's family members, so we liked being able to do it in a low key venue, rather than at wedding. And our immediate families live cross country from each other, so it was nice to have that chance for them to meet and get to know each other a little better.

Also, since many of our guests were getting into town a few days before wedding, I did send out an info mailing to everyone about 3 weeks before wedding.  In that I included schedule of events for the wedding weekend, map, directions, and other important wedding details. So that way they had it all before they got there. Also, about a month before wedding, I had visitor guide book sent to all OOT guests (I was able to order from visitors center website and have them sent to each person directly for free), which included hotel info, transportation, maps, things to do, coupons, etc. The visitor guide was very much appreciated by everyone, so that may be something to look into also for your city.