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Card inserts in welcome bags

oywiththepoodlesoywiththepoodles member
First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
in Wedding Etiquette Forum
Hi all,
We are planning on giving welcome bags to our guests who are staying overnight at our venue (or at nearby hotels).

In addition to food/snacks/etc., we plan to include some local area maps in the welcome bags, and an insert which gives some of our favorite things to do in the area and a summary of the wedding events (i.e. start time & location of the ceremony, etc.). What I'm wondering:

-There is a more casual bar attached to our venue that we're planning on hanging out at after our reception ends (we have a hard stop for the reception at 10 PM). We plan on ordering a bunch of pizzas for those who want to continue celebrating, but we won't be officially hosting this after party (drinks won't be covered, other hotel guests will be there too, etc.). Is it OK to reference the location of the after party in the welcome bag inserts? I would word it as something like, "The bride and groom plan to grab post-reception drinks at Bar ____ after the wedding reception ends at 10 PM - feel free to join!"

-All guests who are staying overnight at the venue get free breakfast buffet the next morning, so I am planning to mention that in the welcome bag insert as well (i.e. noting that we'll plan to be down there grabbing breakfast from X-Y time). For people not staying at the venue, they can pay $17 for the hotel's breakfast buffet. Should I mention that in the insert too? I don't really expect guests of other hotels to pay $17 for breakfast buffet of another hotel (they probably have free breakfast at their own hotel!) so wouldn't want folks to feel like we expect them to come, but also don't want folks from other hotels (there's just a small handful) to feel excluded. 

Thanks!
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Re: Card inserts in welcome bags

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    ILoveBeachMusicILoveBeachMusic member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I think that is fine since are indicating you are not hosting. DD and SIL did something similar about breakfast. They just said they would be there from X-Y if people wanted to stop by and say bye. Not very many people showed up (mostly family) but the hotel restaurant wasn't really set up for many.
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    cowgirl8238cowgirl8238 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer

    I think both are fine to include depending on the hotels policy on non-guests. The way your thinking of wording the bar is fine to me.  It implies that you will be there but not hosting, and provides people a heads up that it is in no way required.

    Now, for those not staying at the hotel, is it possible for them to come in and say goodbye to you without paying? 

    - If it is I would use similar wording to that of the bar.  What you were thinking is fine. 

    - If they cannot easily join you for breakfast, I would either spread this by word of mouth to those you know are staying at the same hotel, or consider making two different inserts and only giving those guests staying with you the info about breakfast.  To me it would feel strange to tell everyone they could come there and then make some people pay money to eat with you while others get it included.  I don't think it would break the rules, but it doesn't sit right with me.

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    SaintPaulGalSaintPaulGal member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer
    I think your wording about the after-party at the bar is perfect.  

    How small is this "small handful" of people staying at other hotels?  Personally, if it is just a few I would probably offer to cover the breakfast costs of anyone who wanted to show up.  It seems super unlikely that anyone would take you up on it anyway.  

    But you certainly don't have to cover breakfast.  If you don't want to pay, I would just avoid mentioning the costs and/or who gets it for free.  "We'll be at the hotel restaurant's breakfast buffet at 9 to say goodbye to anyone who is still in the area" or somesuch.  People who booked the hotel should be aware that breakfast is included, and people staying elsewhere will obviously know that food costs money
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    ei34ei34 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    You bar wording is perfect.
    Guests staying at the hotel providing free breakfast probably already know that there's a free/included breakfast (that's something I always notice anyway when I'm booking a hotel).  You could mention to them by word of mouth what time you'll be down there.  Ditto PP regarding wording for guests not staying at your hotel.
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    southernbelle0915southernbelle0915 mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its

    I think as long as you word stuff as "we will be here, join if you want" you're good.

    I'm a little on the fence about putting this on cardstock in the bags. There's something about cards in the welcome bags that say "invitation" to me.  Personally, I would probably not be confused, but I could see how some people might be. If you are worried about that, you could put this on your website in the other info section and spread it via word of mouth.

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    oywiththepoodlesoywiththepoodles member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    Thank you everyone for the responses!! This all makes sense. I like the idea of covering breakfast for anyone at other hotels that would want to attend (it would literally be 5-10 ppl MAX). I'll talk to my venue coordinator to see if that could work logistically.
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