Welcome bag or no welcome bag??

Completely optional and will not be missed if you don’t have them. Save your money.

I've never even heard of welcome bags for your guests. You're buying them dinner and probably drinks and maybe even favors at the wedding and that's plenty. No one will even notice not getting a welcome bag because I don't think that is very common. Definitely spend that money on something else!

Just on the other side I always think a welcome bag is a nice gesture. I won’t say it’s expected in my area but it is unusual not to get one.


Everyone attending your wedding will get food and drinks. My feeling is that the people at the hotel are going beyond just attending, they are traveling and spending extra money to be there, the least I can do is give them a bag with some snacks as a thanks.

We skipped it- our guests had were very well fed, had plenty to drink & we still had favors for all of them. Put your $$ towards something else.

I'm doing them, but only for the 8 couples staying at the venue with us. Skip them if your budget doesn't allow.

We skipped them and no one thought it was odd. In fact I didn't even know they were a thing until our venue coordinator (we got married at a hotel) asked if we planned on having them.

My husband did the welcome bags because he wanted them and I didn’t 😂 beware, it’s difficult if your guests are staying at different hotels. We had guests switch hotels, which made it tricky! Good luck ❤️

I’m skipping them. Most of our guest our traveling for the wedding but a lot of people are stay at Airbnb’s and not in our hotel block. There are even a few people staying at the hotel but didn’t book through our block. Therefore it’s just too complicated and I want to save the money. It’s a nice gesture but is a nice to do not a must have.

We did them for the guests who stayed in our hotel block, because welcome bags are very common where I am (it would be very unusual to not get one in my family/social circle). We bought the contents in bulk at Costco and they were very inexpensive to make. They're a nice thing to do, but definitely optional!

If people are paying the extra money to book a hotel it would be a nice gesture to spend $5ish on them as a thank you. If it's not in your budget I don't think people would miss it, but it would put a smile on their face as a nice surprise.

Def. optional, but personally I appreciate them if I'm traveling and paying for a hotel for your wedding. You don't have to spend much, really just putting little travel items in there to use for the weekend is enough!

We're planning on doing mini water bottles, travel packs of advil, travel packs of makeup wipes, mini hand sanitizer, small snack packs like chips or nuts...and a little thank you note! Getting this stuff in bulk from Costco or Sams is a great idea and saves money.

I decided I'm going to do them for anyone who books in our hotel block or using our code, but beyond that, I'm not going to have them for people staying elsewhere.

I have never gotten any and have stayed in the recommended hotel for 2 weddings in the last 5 years - I didn't know they were a thing before FH and I had a night at the Ritz Carlton a couple years back and the front desk clerk was distributing them to guests there for a wedding. I guess if I were having my wedding at the Ritz I would spring for gift bags, but in my circle they don't seem to be common. Save your money!

I personally think welcome bags are a nice-to-have but not a need-to-have. Is the only reason you are considering bags is that your guests will feel slighted without them? Perhaps there’s a more cost effective alternative to appreciate and welcome your guests? We’re making a Spotify playlist of local favorites with a pre-recorded welcome message as the first track. Helps that our guests have smart phones, except the grooms father, lol. So we’re burning a dvd for him