Susan Snyder: BEACH WEDDING

A great thing about a small wedding is you can do a lot of special things for your guests. From the beginning, we wanted to make sure our guests knew how much it meant to us that they were there. Many of them were traveling long distances at significant expense, and we wanted them to feel like a special part of our wedding. To do this, we tried to personalize as much as we could; making things 'generic' is certainly easier, but the extra effort, in my opinion, was worth it. Expecting around 50-60 guests – we created tote bags given to each guest/couple at check in. Here is what the tote bags included…

Tote Bag – Neutral canvas purchased at Hobby Lobby. They have a lot of options. I liked this one because of the pockets in the front. Also, very reasonably priced. A name tag was attached to each bag.

Wedding Itinerary - seashell and rafia accent

Itinerary – an itinerary was placed in the front of the tote bag to keep guests aware of times and locations.

Snack Bags – Just a simple brown sack with a few snacks: pretzels, chocolate, mints, crackers, cookies etc…

Treasure Map – A fun way to indicate the locations for the weekend. Created on powerpoint with standard graphics. Printed on parchment paper and tearing ruler used for edges. This is what happens when you spend several hours a week on an airplane :o)

Beach Shelling Bags – Mesh bags with a note indicating their purpose. I was delighted when I saw guests using these on the beach to collect some treasures! These were found on the following website. http://www.pouchmart.com/store/site/department.cfm?id=19DE8511-04E5-8361-8370B46DA2C18D14&killnav=1

Beach Wedding Favor - Wood Necklace for Men

Beach Wedding Favor - Shell Bracelet for Women

Gifts – My husband has worn a necklace similar to this ever since I met him (a throwback from his surfing days). It seemed appropriate to provide these as gifts to our guests. I made bracelets out of shells and wooden beads for all the women, and necklaces for all the men. The beads and shells were purchased from www.firemountaingems.com. I like that each gift was presented with a name tag - a gift just for them to open. My Mom questioned whether the men would want to wear the necklaces (some men just don't wear jewelry like this) - she had a point and I was OK with that. When everyone showed up to the dinner on Friday, the guests were all wearing their gifts - including the men! It was touching to see these worn throughout the weekend.

Hotel Information – Local magazine and brochures from the hotel spa.

Bottled Water – always nice to have a couple of these available.

Extra Note – A last minute addition attached to the bag – these were small cards indicating that the guests were to meet in the lobby of the hotel at a specified time to then be escorted to the beach where the ceremony would take place. It prevented people from arriving too early to the ceremony and baking in the afternoon sun.

Blank CD & Prepaid Mailer – This idea came from a wedding magazine. The purpose is to provide an easy way for guests to send you the photos they have taken with their own cameras. We received about half of them back and were delighted with the photos, some of which made it into the final wedding album. (You can see the white cardboard mailer with stamps in the photo second from the top).

Wedding Tip - Don't forget about your guests. Yes, it's your big day, but these are special people in your lives and you want to make your wedding fun and memorable for them as well.

Note - the Invitation Post shows more details about the papercrafts (daisies, rafia, parchment, etc...)

For all of my beach wedding posts see my Beach Wedding page where you will find posts like these: