Friends and family are making the wonderful gesture of traveling from out-of-town to attend your wedding. You certainly want to do what you can to make their visit as pleasant as possible.
BLOCK ROOMS FOR YOUR GUESTS
To save your guests the time and work of trying to find a hotel room, reserve a block of rooms for them. Come up with a number that you believe will be more than enough for the guests who will need a room, and find a good hotel for them. Take into consideration the hotel's location (in relation to the ceremony and reception sites, the airport, etc.). When blocking away a certain number of rooms, many hotels will give you a good deal on the price of each room. As with anything else, be sure to check and double check that these rooms are reserved and at what price. The last thing you want to do is have a guest call and be told they can't reserve the room because of a complication.
SEND SAVE THE DATE CARDS
After you have the hotel information, send Save the Date cards to your guests so that they can plan for the trip well ahead of time. They may have to request time off from work, and it gives them plenty of time to look for any kind of airfare deals, etc. Besides the date and location of the wedding, your Save the Date card should include any information on hotel rooms you may have blocked off. It can also include information about events and tourist attractions in your town. Some Save the Date cards are accompanied by a local tourist magazine and maps.
GIFT BAGS IN THE HOTEL ROOMS
Coordinate with your hotel, as they may include a gift bag of their own or include complimentary goodies (like water, cookies, etc.) in the room already. If you decide to do a gift bag, ask the hotel if they could give it to the guests as they check in or leave them in the rooms
Gift bags could include:
- Snacks such as nuts, pretzels, cookies, mints, chips or candies. You can attach a note to the candy with a cute saying, such as "Sweet Dreams from the Bride and Groom"
- Take that a step further by including goodies with a local flair (Georgia peanuts, New Mexico biscochitos, Washington State smoked salmon, Maryland Crab chips, etc.)
- Area maps
- Wedding itinerary, along with your phone numbers
- A tourist attraction magazine from your local Visitor's Bureau
- Information on any local shows and events, and how they can attend
- Bottles of water or canned sodas
- Aspirin
- Local restaurant information and coupons or gift certificates
- Little local souvenir items such as a magnet, T-shirt, shot glass, etc.
- A local scratch and win lottery ticket (put this somewhere that is NOT immediately visible, in case of any bad apple hotel employees)
You can find many of these items at your local visitors' bureau and wholesale stores where you buy items in bulk.
You should include a note in the bag from you and the groom, thanking the guests for coming. You might also want to attach a very visible tag or note with your names on it ("Smith-Jones Wedding Party"), which would make it easy for hotel employees to spot.
PRE-WEDDING DAY ACTIVITIES
In some traditional circles, the rehearsal dinner serves as a way to entertain out-of-town guests the night before the wedding. However, it is not always feasible to invite all of your out-of-town guests, or sometimes all family members, to the rehearsal dinner. If this is the case, you might arrange something separate for them, like a cocktail hour or dinner at the hotel restaurant or one nearby.
You might host a function AFTER the rehearsal dinner for other family members and out-of-town guests that you can attend, like an ice cream social, drinks, or pizza party.
Your out-of-town guests are coming to see your wedding and celebrate with you, but these gestures apart from your ceremony and reception will help them feel welcome and appreciated for traveling to share your special day with you.
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