What better way to make your guests feel welcome at your wedding than to greet them with a basket of treats? The wedding welcome basket (or bag) has become a symbol of hospitality which is seen with increasing frequency.
These are some great ideas on how to stock your wedding welcome baskets for a summer wedding.
The summer months tend to be hot, so items which are refreshing should be a key theme in your wedding welcome baskets.
Start with a couple of bottles of spring water or sparkling water, which are also a great way to fill up some space in a large basket.
It would also be nice to include a fun summery drink like bottles of fancy sparkling pink lemonade.
Snacks are another important thing to include in your welcome baskets.
Custom frosted sugar cookies which tie in with your wedding theme or motif would be ideal.
You may also wish to add snacks which relate to your wedding location, such as a tin of macadamia nuts for a Hawaiian wedding.
There are some other great things which you can include in your summer wedding welcome bags.
If your wedding will take place outdoors, sunscreen wipes are a must.
You might also wish to drop in some of those insect repellent wipes if your ceremony or reception will be in an area with a lot of mosquitoes, like by a lake.
Think about ways in which you can help your guests to feel refreshed on a hot summer's day.
Travel sized bottles of cooling verbena scented lotion, small bottles of aloe vera (for those who neglect to use the sunscreen wipes!), and blotting tissues will all be appreciated.
Great wedding welcome baskets try to anticipate the needs of the wedding guests.
Include some jewelry polishing cloths in your wedding bags so that your guests can shine up their wedding jewelry for the big day.
Small travel sewing kits and safety pins to repair a lost button or other fashion emergency are also thoughtful additions.
For those guests who are unfamiliar with the area, it would be nice to have a brief list highlighting where to find useful services like taxis, dry cleaners, hair salons, and nail salons.
Guests will also enjoy a small map highlighting local attractions like shopping, restaurants, and museums for down time during the wedding weekend.
What else might you wish to include in your summer wedding welcome baskets? How about a small journal and a pen? Or perhaps pairs of customized flip flops for a beach wedding? If your guests will be staying at a resort, it would be extremely thoughtful to include a gift like a pass for a sailboat rental or some other fun amenity offered at the hotel.
Kitschy souvenir items from the hotel gift shop or the wedding city are also a lot of fun.
This could be a Big Apple keychain for a New York City wedding, a souvenir pen from a resort, or even just some scenic postcards (with stamps).
The final thing to include in any wedding welcome bag is an itinerary of the weekend's events, along with maps and information on transportation.
This is the perfect way to convey specifics about valet parking, wedding shuttles, the post-wedding brunch and more.
Your guests will definitely appreciate all the thought that you put into creating fantastic wedding welcome baskets for your summer wedding.