You are looking forward to hosting your out-of-town guests for your wedding weekend and want to give them a surprise treat when they make it to the hotel. A wedding welcome bag makes guests feel welcomed and builds excitement for all of the events to come. They also serve a practical function of providing guests with the information they need to have a successful stay.
Our team loves putting together personalized, informative, and fun welcome bags for our couples’ guests to enjoy. Today we’re sharing our anatomy of a wedding welcome bag.
The Wedding Welcome Bag Essentials
Wedding Welcome bags can range from the very basics to an over-the-top hospitality gift. Most of our couples fall somewhere in the middle. They want their couples to have what they need with a little extra pizzaz. We like to start with the essentials of a great welcome bag to create a solid foundation.
Personalized Container
Your welcome bag will need, well, a bag – or another container to transport and deliver the contents to guests. One way to personalize the container itself through screen-printed canvas or wedding branded stickers. If re-usability is the goal, consider a plain container with a removable tag so guests feel more comfortable recycling the vessel.
Wedding Itinerary & Local Guide
An itinerary card is crucial to a successful wedding weekend. Even if you choose to forgo welcome bags all together, I still recommend providing printed welcome cards with important weekend information to the room block hotel(s) for distribution.
What to Include on Your Welcome Card:
- all wedding-related event start times that pertain to the majority of guests
- address for at least the ceremony & reception venue(s)
- answers to frequently asked questions (like the wifi password or the event dress code)
- top 3+ places to eat nearby
- top 3+ activities nearby
- wedding website URL/QR code
Bottled Water
These can be personalized with custom wedding branded stickers or gifted as if. After a long day of travel, filtered water is often one of the first things guests so in search of at their hotel.
We recommend including one bottle of water per guest. If the hotel already provides free bottled waters in each room you can forgo this essential, but be sure confirm ahead of time.
A Sweet or Salty Snack
While we love to include both, who you are can inform what type of snack you and your fiancé include in your welcome bag essentials. We’ve had couple include local treats (our favorite), childhood classics, and even custom cookies.
Next Level Wedding Welcome Bags
Hangover Kit
This is our most popular “next level” inclusion. The hangover is typically comprised of a headache medicine (like individually packaged Advil) and a Liquid IV-like packet for each guest. We’ve also seen wedding branded “do not disturb” signs and even earplugs added for some extra support.
“Oops” Kit
An “oops” kit provides guests with regularly forgotten items, reducing their need to run to the store. Keep this simple and allow the location to inform what you include.
For the mountains, you might include a Acli-mate to help guests avoid altitude sickness. A beach wedding might offer travel-sized sunscreen.
If your location doesn’t inspire you individually-wrapped makeup remover wipes are regularly appreciated, as are mints and lip balm.
Party Starters
Mini bottles of alcohol. Wedding Branded cups. Gummies. Whatever your type of party, you can set the tone for the weekend by including your favorite party starters in your welcome bags.
Personalized Surprise
We’ve seen couples incorporate all types of fun extra surprises. From custom floss containers for a pair of dentists to dog treats from the couple’s fur-baby, we love adding something a little extra to take the welcome bags to the next level.
Our planning & design services include full creative direction to personalize your wedding design – including your wedding welcome bags! We learn YOU so we can infuse your wedding day with touches that reflect who you are as a couple. If you’re interested in learning more about how we come alongside you to provide expert guidance & creative vision, fill out our contact form to schedule a connection call with our team!
