Welcome Bags

gmletizia14

HI, I am having a destination wedding and LOVE the idea of welcoming guests with maps, a welcome letter, some goodies, and an itinerary for the weekend all in a reusable shopping/beach bag, but...everyone is staying at different locations.  Most people will all be confined to a 5 mile island, but I do not want to be running around franticly dropping off bags before people arrive. Any suggestions?  My fiance mentioned possibly having 1 pick up spot for people to come?

Suggestions, advice, those with previous experience would all be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

kimberly0315

We are hosting a welcome bbq the day before the wedding.  We plan to give out welcome bags then.

Latillo

All of our guests are staying at the same resort so we will have the hotel deliver them for us but we are also having a welcome bonfire 2 days before the wedding so that would be a nice time to hand them out if you are doing any sort of a welcome party.

atlastmrsg

Skip them and spend the money on more/better food/drinks or an edible welcome.  When I travel to a wedding, I pack the smallest bag possible so I can roll it on and put in overhead bin, or try to combine with my husband so we only have to check one bag.  If you give people things like a beach bag, they have to bring it home with them or throw it away.

If you really want to welcome them, call their hotels and arrange something like a bottle of wine or fruit plate in the room with your welcome note.

I'd prefer this at my hotel, not a bag that I'll throw away (have too many reusable totes, don't want to carry it home):

msuprincess04

While bags are a cool idea, they aren't always feasible. I had the same problem during my wedding. I really wanted to do something, but with 60 guests spread over 6 hotels, it just wasn't possible. Many places wouldn't drop off welcome bags for me and I couldn't deliver them because I wasn't staying at the resort. I ultimately skipped them all together and held a welcome party at a central location so everyone who wanted to could come and mingle. You said "most people will be confined to a 5 mile island". What about the rest of them? Would they just miss out because they aren't staying there?

Dignity100

I'm doing small welcome bags, I'm honestly between handing them out AT the wedding with their favor inside OR handing them out before we leave. They will have the wedding day itinerary so guests know where they are expected to be and when. My guests are arriving at different times and some are not staying over an hour away.

BreMR

I also really would love to do this, but I really don't want to haul a bunch of extra crap through customs, I also thought that I'd like to have a little party to gather everyone before we fly out but I don't know that everyone will be flying out the same day or from the same location....

I really like the idea of the food delivery, I may look into that!!

princessleia22

I mailed maps, schedules, etc. to each guest about 3 weeks before my wedding trip. So, everyone had that stuff to review prior to leaving and they could decide to bring it or not. Plus, that way they had the maps & "what to do" stuff before arriving and able to use it the whole time they were there.

I did put together welcome bags, but tried to keep them somewhat minimal, with most of the items being edible (mostly local specialties & theme snacks - we had cruise ship wedding, so we did goldfish crackers, lifesavers candy, chips ahoy cookies). Most of our guests were scattered at different hotels (25 guests, 6 hotels), so delivering to them wasn't feasible.  I debated just giving them at the wedding as favors. But, I decided to have a welcome party (just pizza & soda) at my hotel the night before wedding and just handed them out there instead.