Wedding Guest Welcome Bags

In the past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of attending two weddings. The first was for one of my best friends from high school and her high school sweetheart. The ceremony was at a gorgeous church in our hometown, and the reception at a classy golf and country club nearby. The second wedding was for my boyfriend's cousin at an adorable hotel on the Sonoma coast. Both were beautiful, sentimental, and a long time in the making-- both couples had a ten year history together!

 

Something I loved about both was walking into my hotel room and what was the first thing I saw? A welcome bag waiting to be enjoyed by me! I love welcome bags, and it's a really fun way to get your guests excited as the festivities are just beginning. It's also a great way to show your appreciation for their time and money, traveling near and far for your big day.

 

What goes inside of your welcome bag can vary greatly. It's a fabulous opportunity to customize this small gift based on your personality and theme of your wedding. A great starting point for a welcome bag is using items that are good for a person who has been drinking, whether night or the next (painful) morning. These items will be appreciated, even if the guest is not a drinker, and can be general enough that most everyone can enjoy them. It's also a nice touch to stay within your wedding theme (ie a chocolate chip cookie for "love is sweet," Swedish Fish candies if nautical theme).

 

 

The picture above shows the items included in the first welcome bag I received. A couple of waters, some granola bars, two packs of gum, a bag of Chex Mix, and the wedding program. My boyfriend and I drank the waters before the wedding, as we anticipated we would be having mostly wine the rest of the night. I munched on the Chex Mix while getting ready, and had a granola bar before brunch the next morning (I was starving!). Most of all, I enjoyed getting a sneak peak at the wedding program. Theirs was especially sentimental, with numerous stories and sweet notes. I love that in it, they explained the meaning behind all of their guest table names for the reception. Some of the names appeared quite random, but truly had so much meaning behind them.

 

 

The second welcome bag was similar, but was equally personalized for this wedding as well. The fig bars made for a yummy late night snack, as well as the peanuts and the salt-water taffy. This wedding was a couple hours drive up a long windy road, and along the way we passed a bright pink store advertising salt-water taffy. I'm not sure if this is where the relation came from, but either way I was very happy to have a sweet treat! My favorite part of this welcome bag was the homemade Lemoncello. The groom's mother made it using lemons from the garden of the bride's family's home and work place. What a special (and yummy) touch!

 

We had such a great time with family and friends celebrating two amazing couples!

Give your Guests the Star Treatment

So it's your big day! All your friends and family have traveled and gathered to celebrate this momentous day in your life. Let's face it, how much fun would a wedding be if no one showed up to enjoy your wedding day with you?

 

It's important to show your guests you are SO happy they came and that the effort, time, and money they put in to joining you on your big day was well worth it for them. There are a lot of ways you can put in a little extra effort to show your guests you thought about them during your planning process.

 

Most wedding ceremonies incorporate some kind of ceremony program. Guests, especially relatives, really appreciate this little guide to your ceremony and wedding party because it helps them know what's going on and who you've chosen to take part in your day. It'll tell them who is who, the order of the ceremony, important passages or readings they can follow along with, and what is happening once the ceremony is over. This is also a really great time to type a note thanking your guests for coming, that you couldn't imagine this day without them, and how excited you are to share your future with them as a part of your life.

 

Photo by Laura Ivanova Photography

 

The programs pictured above double as a fan, which is another way to make guests more comfortable during a hot summer ceremony. Not only do people love cutesie, clever, practical items, but they'll really appreciate it when they are exposed to the sun for 30+ minutes. Another great way to achieve this level of comfort? Parasols. It's an adorable word for delicate, girly umbrellas that looks great and shade your guests. You can buy them for pretty cheap, or a lot of venues rent them out for the day.

 

Image from a wedding I assisted on with Soigne Productions, photo by Michael & Anna Costa Photographers Ltd.

 

Another great way to create a more comfortable environment for your guests is to add some amenities to the restroom(s) at your venue. You are not the only one who wants to look and feel great on your wedding day! Your guests want to look their best as well, and you can aide in this endeavor by throwing together a fun yet practical basket for the restrooms. Whether you are hosting your wedding in a hotel, a winery, or somewhere requiring you to bring in portable restrooms, there is always room to make the bathroom that much nicer.

 

Image from All Free DIY Weddings

 

Things to consider including: deodorant spray, floss, sunscreen, feminine products, a comb, and breath mints. People really appreciate it, and definitely notice that extra effort. You can even include a cute note for a personalized touch.

 

Finally, never send your guests home at the end of the night without a party favor. They will love it, they'll remember your night, and (hopefully) they won't throw it away! In my opinion, it's important to give your guests something they can use, not something that will add to the clutter drawer in their house. They will appreciate that you took the time to give them something thoughtful and practical. There are so many directions you can go with this, and that's what makes it fun! Try to find something that goes with your theme. Garden them? A cute little succulent (that can double as a place card!) is always a fan favorite. Aiming to go a little more DIY? Home-made, wrapped cookies can NEVER go wrong. If your wedding color is a mint green, "Mint To Be" breath mints are clever and very useful for guests young and old alike.

 

Image from a fellow blogger

 

Had to throw in one more party favor favorite of mine, "I Met My Match." I love the saying, with the names and the wedding date, and matches are something people always need, always keep, and will remind them of this special day every time they use one. You can even throw on a little "Thank you for celebrating with us!" note to show your gratitude one last time.

Wedding Budget Woes

It's no secret that a wedding can be expensive and costs add up FAST. It's a fine line between creating the wedding of your dreams while sticking to the agreed upon budget. The good news? Small tweaks in your wedding details can really make a difference.

 

First of all, it's really important to know the budget you are working with before you start planning. Be realistic with yourselves. You don't want to be broke or in debt your first year of marriage, and you don't want to pressure your parents into giving you more money than they are comfortable with. No matter what your budget, your wedding can be spectacular and special. The most important thing is that you and your fiancée are tying the knot, right? If only it were that simple...

 

Once you've got a budget, it's time to lay out your priorities. I'd create a pie chart with percentages that will equal out to monetary amounts based on how much, total, you'd like to spend. This is a great visual way to see where you want to spend the most and the least amount of money. As you book vendors and purchase items, you may need to adjust the percentages accordingly, and that's okay! You might fall in love with some invitations that cost more than you had allocated. You just need to simply cut some percentage points in another category to balance your total.

 

Your spending will increase as your guest list does. The more bodies present at your wedding, the more expensive it gets. This makes sense, right? More people means more chairs to rent, mouths to feed, wedding favors to distribute, and often times can result in in a larger cost for your wedding planner. Coordination for a wedding with 400 guests will almost always cost you more than coordination for a wedding of 150.

 

Don't go for upgrades. Folding chairs rather than Chiavari chairs (the two most commonly rented chairs) can save you a pretty penny. While Chiavari chairs have a slightly nicer appearance, it's super unlikely that your guests will care, and will not even be looked at once they are being sat on and everyone is eating, laughing, and enjoying the party.

 

 

Folding Chair vs. Chiavari Chair

Images from Classic Party Rentals

 

Another chair tip: repurpose your chairs! If the staff you have hired and your venue allow, feel free to use the same 100 chairs that your guests sat in at the ceremony and move them over to the reception dinner tables while they are at the cocktail hour. This, of course, is dependent on whether or not you have a long enough cocktail hour to make this transition happen and if the cocktail space is not in eye-sight of the ceremony/reception locations.

 

You can also use this repurposing trick for your flowers. Large floral arrangements can come out to multiple hundreds of dollars each. If you have large alter arrangements, ceremony aisle flowers, or even bridesmaids bouquets, you can repurpose all of those to become centerpieces and room décor for your reception. Your wedding planner can collect the arrangements and bridesmaid bouquets and place them into vases of water on tables after the ceremony or while they are enjoying the cocktail hour.

 

An example of flowers that were repurposed from the ceremony and used as cake table décor

Image from Bridal Guide

 

Finally, a great way to curb your spending is to go with a new kind of wedding registry. Companies like Honeyfund and Zola allow you to register for monetary amounts/experiences, rather than the traditional household item route. While you may not realize it, your honeymoon can take up some of the money you've allocated for your wedding. Since many couples today live together before getting married, they usually already have a lot of the household items that would typically go on a wedding gift registry. These websites allow couples to ask for contributions for their honeymoon plane tickets, romantic dinners, couples' massages, fun activities, etc. This let's you worry less about what you are spending on the wedding, knowing you have a fun, special, once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon to look forward to and taken care.

 

Ask your planner other ways to cut costs on areas like dinner service style, alcohol packages, digital save-the-dates and invitations, and DIY projects.

An Eco-Friendly Affair

Weddings can put a huge dent in your wallet, but also in the environment. So much goes into these important events, that the environment sometimes falls to the wayside on the list of peoples' priorities. The good news? There are SO many ways to make your wedding 'green' yet elegant. Here are a few that I love.

 

Potted plants, rather than flower arrangements, make mother earth so happy! Going this route allows you to either rent the flowers and plants for the day, or you can buy them and enjoy them in your home long after the wedding is over.

 

                 

 

 

Images from One & Only Productions' Pinterest page

 

Another way to think green with your flowers is to go for flowers that are in season locally. Many flowers need to be shipped, if they are not in season, from tropical areas. I can't tell you what kind of impact this has on the environment. Ouch!

 

Really love flower arrangements? Me too. There are a number of great companies that repurpose your wedding flowers the day after your big day by using the blooms to create new arrangements to be given to patients in healthcare facilities. I can't tell you how many (heartbreaking) times I have thrown away left-behind flowers at the end of a night (after grabbing a few for myself!). Companies like Random Acts of Flowers allow for these flowers to make someone else's day a second time!

 

How else can you make an impact? Ask your caterer not to pre-pour water glasses at your reception's dinner tables. Let's face it, your guests are there to celebrate YOU and will likely have more wine than water. So as not to waste any precious water (I'm based in California- we have no water!), leave water glasses at each place setting empty and filled only upon request. You can even have a little note card placed on your reception tables letting your guests know they can have as much water as they like-- all they need to do is ask :)

 

Invitations can be another place where you can cut back on your ecological footprint. Sending out 200  Save The Dates + invitations + envelopes + RSVP cards + RSVP envelopes, etc.? Yeah, that's a lot. Alternative? The internet is your best friend. Not only can you get and receive all these messages to your family and friends virtually (wedding website, e-vites), it's also SO much cheaper to do so than to purchase the print counterparts, and WAY easier to keep track of! Nevertheless, if you cannot part with beautiful, traditional, keepsake-worthy paper invitations, you can always print on recycled paper and ask your guests to recycle theirs as well.

 

There are so many more ways to make your wedding eco-friendly! If this is something that interests you, let me know! I'd love to share more ways to incorporate green practices into your big day.

You're engaged... Now what?

Congratulations! You've now entered one of the momentous, important, ecstatic, and stressful times of your life! So many emotions, so much in your brain, so much to plan. But where to start?

First: slow down. Take some time to enjoy this really special time in your life. Soak in the fact that you and your love have decided to do this forever. Gush with your family and friends, smile big time on this life change, and relish in all that you hope and dream will come next.

Once that's out of your system, it's time to start with a guest list. You'll need to know how many you are expecting before you can decide on a location and/or wedding date. In general, you can expect that about 2/3 of your invited guests will come to your big day. I'd start with the people you CANNOT get through this day without. This include the obvious choices, such as your immediate family, your best friend, your dear grandmother. Once that list feels pretty good, move on to those who you'd love to have there, but could still see yourself going through with it if they were not able to make it. Decide if you want to allow for plus ones, or just invite those significant other who you know are in a serious relationship. This part can get tricky, but just go with your heart... and your wallet. Keep in mind that each body you are seating, feeding, and planning for will contribute to your budget. Finally, as bad as this is to say, there are always people you don't feel you need to be at your wedding, but should be: your boss, your distant great aunt, your oldest family friends you haven't talked to in years.

Now it is time to venue search! A lot of factors go into a venue search: do you want the ceremony and reception to be at two different locations, or the same one? Outdoors? Indoors? Handicap accessible? Noise curfew? Ambiance? How many people can be accommodated? Talk these items through with your fiancé to get a good grasp on what you both are wanting out of the day. Secluded venues with amazing views might need a kitchen and bathrooms brought in which can be pricey, as well as required transportation buses for guests due to lack of parking. Winery weddings can provide those killer views as well, but may have hard liquor restrictions and are often a bit tighter on space too. Hotel weddings can act as kind of a one-stop-shop with the caterer, rentals, and sometimes a venue coordinator all provided for you; however these spaces might be lacking in outdoor space, character of the ballrooms, and limit your creative options. Once you've landed on a venue, they'll provide you with a list of some dates they are open during your desired time frame. Friday will be cheaper than Saturday almost all the time. I suggest looking up public events in the area to make sure you aren't asking your guests to travel during the most expensive/high-traffic/all-the-hotels-are-booked time of the year (unless that's what you're going for). It's also worth inquiring about events they have already booked at the space on the dates you are considering. Many venues and churches will have as many as 2 or 3 weddings in a day (at different times and/or locations of course) and you can sometimes pay extra to have an exclusive for the day. Weddings are notorious for running late, and you don't want this potentially infringing on the time you have paid for.

Once these HUGE decisions have been made, you can get down to the nitty-gritty: catering, flowers, rentals, entertainment, etc. Some peoples' minds were made for this, but some can feel totally lost in the details. You want to enjoy this time, so if doing it all yourself allows for that- GO FOR IT and save the money! But if not, a planner can greatly take away the stress that accompanies this happy time and can ensure your details are in good hands.

Happy planning!

No Hard Liquor?!

Some of my very favorite wedding settings can be found at wineries. Other than the beautiful vineyards that provide endless photo opportunities and a serene atmosphere for any ceremony or reception, many wineries have a number of other sites on their properties perfect for hosting such an occasion. Barrel rooms provide an indoor space with a dark lighting, intimate feeling. Outdoor courtyards are often full of lush greenery and character. Many wineries have unique spaces, such as caves and barns, that add a whole new dimension to a wedding and will impress your guests.

 

That being said, one large turn-off from a winery wedding is the fact that many do not have hard-liquor licenses and, therefore, cannot allow any weddings held on their premises to have anything other than beer or wine served. Quite the predicament! Even if your fiancé and yourself are not big hard liquor drinkers yourselves, many of your guests likely are (have you ever met a grandpa without a scotch in his hand?). If your dream is to get married at a winery, there are some options for cocktails that do not involve any hard liquor and are beer and wine based that will add some variety to your bar while still following the rules.

 

Black Velvet

As seen on Cosmopolitan

Indredients:

5 oz. champagne or sparkling wine

5 oz. stout beer

 

Combine all ingredients in a glass and stir.

 

 

El Ayudacal

As seen on Cosmopolitan

Ingredients:

1 bottle of Pacifico beer

1½ oz. lime juice

½ oz. agave nectar

1 lime zest

Garnish: lime wheel

 

Combine lime juice, agave nectar, and lime zest in a glass. Add beer and stir gently. Garnish with a lime wheel.

 

 

El Draque

As seen on Serious Eats

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger

1 teaspoon sugar

6-8 mint leaves

Ice

5 oz. dry white wine

 

Muddle ginger and sugar in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add mint, ice, and white wine, shake well. Pour into rocks glass unstrained.

 

 

Pom-Merlot Fusion

As seen on Sutter Home

Ingredients:

4 oz. Merlot

2 oz. sparkling pomegranate-blueberry juice

Sugar rim

Lime garnish

 

Take a salad plate and add a small amount of water. Take another plate and add a thin layer of fine sugar. Dip the rim of your glass in the water, then roll the rim of the glass around in the sugar. Add ice, Merlot, sparkling pomegranate-blueberry juice. Garnish with a slice of lime.

 

 

Okay- I'm ready for a drink!

Dessert Dreams

If there is one thing I love and need in this world, it is dessert. Okay, not really... but sort of. With so many wedding dessert options out there, the choices are endless and the decision is a big one! A classic cake has been a wedding tradition forever for a reason. They are elegant, able to be personalized, provide the opportunity for a cake cutting, and are a safe bet if you're trying to please the most people at your reception.

 

But what about the less traditional options? Cake pops, doughnut bars, homemade pies, candy counters. All equally amazing in style and taste so it's hard to go wrong, but how to choose?

 

Being that I am not yet married, I have not had to tackle this hurdle. I truly don't know what I will go with, other than at least a small cake for the cake-cutting. But while making this decision, I think I would take into account my wedding theme (Rustic? Pie is an obvious choice; Circus? Cotton candy!), my budget (a large, intricate cake for 200 guests vs. jars of various types of candy for 200 guests), and what would genuinely make my self and my husband-to-be the most happy at the end of the night (don't be afraid to choose more than one dessert!).

 

My 'Dessert' board on my Pinterest page is devoted to exploring these options. Here are some of my favorite, less traditional options:

 

 

Caramel Apple Bar?! Like, you've got to be kidding me. As long as your venue approves of an open flame (should be fine if you have other hot buffet food as well), this is perfection. Great for a fall/Halloween wedding or anything apple themed.

As seen on Bridal Guide

 

 

If you haven't heard of a Croquembuche before now, your life is about to change. It's a classic French dessert and is a tower of cream puffs held together by a sugar netting. It's delicious, unique, and makes a BIG statement!

As seen on Style Me Pretty, photo by Sylvie Gil Photography

 

 

Strawberry Shortcake Skewers. Fresh, light, delicious. Need I say more?

As seen on Weddington Way

 

 

S'mores packets. This is playful and a for sure crowd pleaser. No one has bad memories of sitting around a fire pit making s'mores, and this adds a fun activity for your guests at the reception.

As seen on Style Me Pretty, photo by Marianne Wilson Photography