05-18-2017
Top 6 Wedding Welcome Gift Etiquette Questions Answered
FILED IN: Education, Wedding Welcome Gifts
Posted By: Jamie Kutchman
As a gift designer who creates custom wedding welcome gifts for wedding planners and engaged couples, we get a ton of questions about the etiquette for out-of-town hotel gift bags. Today, I'm sharing these FAQs along with our answers.
Image: Lissa Ryan Photography: Paper: Bella Jenna
Q: Who gets a wedding welcome gift?
A: Typically, wedding welcome gifts are reserved for guests coming in from out of town. It's usually one gift per couple or per hotel room. If a room is being shared by two single people without "plus ones", then each of those guests would receive their own gift.
Q: What info do we include in the welcome letter?
Perhaps you caught our how-to on welcome letters? The welcome letters you create for your wedding welcome baskets are a GREAT way to leave a sincere message thanking your guests for making the effort to attend your wedding weekend. It's also a chance to lay out the weekend itinerary and offer suggestions for local things to see, eat and do!
Image: Lissa Ryan Photography; Paper: Bella Jenna
Q: What's the best way to distribute our wedding welcome gifts to our wedding guests?
A: This is mainly done in two different ways. The first is to leave the gifts at the front desk of each hotel and the gifts are presented to each guest upon arrival. The second option is for the hotel to distribute the gifts to the guests' rooms. Most all hotels charge for this service and some don't offer this service at all so it's something to definitely ask about ahead of time if you prefer to have the gifts delivered to each room.
Q: Do the bridesmaids and groomsmen receive wedding welcome gifts too?
A: The answer to this question is tricky because it depends very much on budget and whether or not the bridesmaids and groomsmen are staying overnight in a hotel. It also depends on whether or not you're also gifting them "thank you for being my bridesmaid" and "thank you for being my groomsmen" gifts during the wedding weekend. If these wedding party gifts are similar to the wedding welcome gifts, then you can forgo doing both. But if your budget allows to gift them both and your wedding party isn't huge, then we say go for it!
Image: Lissa Ryan Photography; Paper: Bella Jenna
Q: We have wedding guests with food allergies. How do we handle this?
A: If the number of wedding guests with the allergy is small, then we create a few gifts with the problematic item subbed out and then we notate this on the gift distribution list for the hotel staff. However, if the allergy is SEVERE and you're really worried about it, you can choose to eliminate that item from the gifts altogether.
Q: Should we plan on providing gifts for guests who book outside of our room blocks?
A: In theory, yes, because these guests are coming in from out of town. However, it can sometimes be tough to execute this. We recommend for our couples to reach out to all guests to inquire about their accommodations. Chances are, some are staying in the same hotels just not in the room block itself. If this is the case, it should be easy to add them to the gift list. If you have guests staying in AirBNBs or other hotels, you may consider bringing some of the gifts to the rehearsal dinner to distribute if you feel it's appropriate. Above all though, don't stress about this if you miss some people. Your guests don't expect a gift if they "go rogue" and book outside the hotel blocks without letting you know.
Image: Lissa Ryan Photography; Paper: Bella Jenna
What other questions do you have? Leave us your questions in the comments or reach out via our contact page! We'd love to hear from you!
1 comment
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