You cannot deny that there is something special about arriving at a destination wedding as a guest and receiving a thoughtfully curated wedding welcome gift bag. It is one of our favorite ways to treat out-of-town guests who have traveled for your wedding.

Wedding Welcome Gift Ideas

Your wedding welcome gift can be big or small, simple or elaborate. We’ve seen welcome gifts come in the form of baskets, bags, boxes, and even totes; the possibilities are truly endless. One recommendation we consider when designing your welcome gift for your wedding guests is the mode of transportation in which your guests have traveled. For example, we would not recommend gift baskets if most of your guests are flying; in this case, a box or bag may be the best option. 

How to theme your gift bag?

We suggest creating a theme when deciding what goes in your wedding welcome gift bag. We see two most common themes as a destination wedding planner.

1. Using the location

Since guests will be coming from out of town, why not showcase your destination wedding location with local treats? For example, pralines or Zapp’s chips are great for a New Orleans wedding, benne wafers or Low Country Kettle Chips for a Charleston wedding, or wine, nuts, and olive oil for a Santa Barbara wedding. 

2. Using the couple’s favorite items

A fun way to kick the wedding festivities off is by sharing the couple’s favorite items. We love to incorporate a favorite item of the bride, the groom, and the couple. For example, if the bride loves M&Ms, and the groom loves white cheddar popcorn, these would make a great addition. Maybe they also have a special bottle of wine they drink on date nights included for fun.

Our Approach To Designing Your Wedding Welcome Gift Bags

Our team loves the opportunity to design thoughtful welcome gifts for your out-of-town wedding guests. With help from our couples, we will choose a theme and hand-pick an assortment of goodies & treats that makes the guests feel special and welcome. 

Some items that we love to include in our couple’s gift bags include:

1. Something to sip

This can range from bottled water to sparkling lemonade or even a mini bottle of champagne.

2. A sweet treat

This is a fun way to include the couple’s favorite candy, some local chocolates, or custom-branded sugar cookies.

3. A salty treat

For those guests who prefer a salty option, we love to include some gourmet popcorn, chips, or snack mix in their bags.

4. Revelry + Remedy kits 

These little day-after kits are a great option for guests just in case they have too much fun. Inside the kits, you can include mini packs of Tylenol, liquid iv, band-aids, mints, etc.

5. Weekend Itineraries

Including information about wedding events is always a great addition to keeping your guests informed. This can include itineraries, dress codes, maps & other information about the destination.

Once the items are selected for the gift bags, our team will pack them up nicely with your wedding colors in mind and even arrange delivery with your hotel. You don’t have to worry about a thing!

Some of our favorite and most recent wedding welcome gift bags have included custom sugar cookies of the couple’s dogs, hand-painted maps of the destination, and individual notes to the guests. There is no limit on what you can include and how you want to personalize your gifts. Be sure to ask us during your next planning meeting how we can help create a custom-curated wedding welcome gift bag for your destination wedding and out-of-town guests!