A Look Inside Our Hotel Wedding Welcome Bags
As many of you know, I recently got married! I’m excited to share some special highlights from our big day over the next few weeks, including a sneak peek into our wedding welcome bags!
Note: This post does contain affiliate links. This means, if you purchase a product after clicking on an affiliate link, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you.
Planning a wedding is no easy feat. There are SO many details to check off your to-do list! I heard from friends and had a front-row seat when my older brother got married, but I don’t think I really realized quite how many details there reallllyyyy are until you plan a wedding yourself!
From the start, Scott and I wanted to make sure that our wedding was very personal and reflected us both individually and as a couple. (I’m happy to say that I think it TOTALLY did and it was the best night ever!) As big foodies, you can imagine that a lot of our personal touches were in the food (more on that to come)! ????
A seemingly small detail, yet I think important, is the wedding welcome bags at the hotel. When guests traveled from out of town for our wedding, I wanted to welcome them with a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ when they checked-in.
Enter, our wedding welcome bags…
I’m no wedding planner, but I think there are a few essentials to include in your hotel wedding welcome bags:
- Snacks, including breath mints or gum
- Water
- A schedule of events (probably the most important part!)
- A note of appreciation (equally important!)
We wanted to make sure our wedding weekend was extremely personalized, so we included some of our favorite snacks.
It’s so easy to think that packaged foods are automatically unhealthy, but there are some really incredible options out there! I even wrote an entire post about some of my favorites…
The truth is, eating packaged and processed foods is simply a fact of life for us in this day and age. Luckily, many brands understand that the quality of their ingredients is essential to their success (and this dietitian’s stamp of approval!).
So what are my recent go-tos?
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Here’s a look inside our wedding welcome bags…
Dry Roasted Edamame
If you’ve been following CitNutritionally for some time now, you know I’m a HUGE fan of Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame. I ALWAYS have a pack in my bag in case a snack attack hits. They’re crunchy, a little salty, and contain just 2 ingredients (edamame + salt!).
Pro tip: The first thing I always look at (and teach my clients) when reading a food label is the ingredient list. When you can recognize the ingredients listed, that’s the first step in adding it to your cart.
These individual bags of dry roasted edamame are also a nutritional superstar. Each packet contains:
- A whopping 10 grams of plant-based protein
- 6 grams of filling fiber
- Tons of CRUNCH
- Not too much salt (but just enough!)
If you haven’t tried these yet, be sure to check ’em out! (P.S. They also come in a Wasabi flavor, if you prefer spicier snacks.)
Granola Bars
Food allergies are no joke and can make social situations, like weddings, tough. I don’t know about my other food allergy friends, but I rarely eat at weddings because I am unsure what’s in the food and not trusting the waiters (weddings can be super overwhelming for them!), plus, there’s a huge risk of cross-contamination. Our wedding was 100% nut-free, but I didn’t even have time to eat anyways (what they say is true!).
Finding food allergy friendly snacks used to be much more difficult than it is today. There are now entire trade shows dedicated to allergy-friendly products.
One of my favorite food allergy friendly brands that I actually discovered a few years ago at the Gluten Free Allergy Free Expo is 88 Acres. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know the 88 Acres team (a favorite part of my job), and I’m such a fan of what the company stands for as a whole. They’re not JUST a food allergy friendly brand, but they’re committed to making REAL FOOD products. LOVE that!
But back to snacking... it’s really hard to find a granola/snack bar that’s not “Made in a factory that also uses tree nuts…” 88 Acres to the rescue!
These bars are made with oats, seeds, and dried fruit or chocolate. Yes, they do have some added sugar, but when you need a snack in a pinch, they’re always there to satisfy! I never go on vacation without them!
My favorites are the Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt (duh!), but I’m also OBSESSED with their new Oats & Cinnamon flavor. So those are the 2 we gave to our guests!
In case you didn’t know, 88 Acres also makes the BEST Pumpkin Seed Butter, “seednolas” and much more top 8 food allergy friendly products! But I’m warning you… they’re addicting!
Bottles of Water
It’s so easy to forget to pack your reusable water bottle when traveling, so mini bottles of water were a must in our welcome bags! Although this isn’t the most environmentally-friendly option (please forgive us!!), we wanted to make sure any chance of a hangover was minimized with some extra agua!
Popcorn
Chelsey and popcorn are like Hakuna Matata. I don’t even know what that means, but there’s never a time that I don’t want popcorn! My favorites are Skinny Pop and Boom Chika Pop.
Popcorn is one of those comfort foods for me. It’s not “diet” food, just because they’re found in 100 calorie packs! It’s crunchy, salty, and totally satisfying.
Plus, did you know that popcorn is a whole grain?
Chocolate
How do you have a welcome bag without chocolate?! Maybe there wasn’t enough dessert at the wedding (side note: definitely wasn’t a problem!) or guests wanted a sweet treat to munch on before the party, but either way, chocolate is a must! In case guests didn’t get the Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt 88 Acres bars, we threw in a couple bags of M&Ms (Scott loves ’em!).
FYI: M&Ms are made in a factory that uses peanuts, so not 100% food allergy friendly!
And just a note on Red 40 and artificial colorings before you judge us… there’s room for ALL foods in a well-balanced and HEALTHY diet!! No, I don’t advocate for you to eat artificial colorings and flavorings all the time, but enjoy the M&Ms if you want ’em (I know I do!).
Breath Mints
If you’re wedding planning and putting together your hotel welcome bags, I would definitely suggest picking up some breath mints! We included individual boxes of Tic Tacs because I didn’t want everything else in the bag to taste minty (you know what I’m talking about?!).
Here are some other things you may want to include or ideas for your wedding welcome bags:
- Keep products local. This is especially fun (I think) if you have a ton of out of town guests in a new city or your city is known for something (like if you’re from Boston, including 88 Acres bars is a great idea because they’re local!)
- Individual packets of Advil or Tylonel (like these) for those morning-after headaches. We didn’t do this, because I don’t like to give out meds, but I know many couples do and my hubby has definitely used them a time or two…
- Something personal about you as a couple. The last wedding we just went to included a pen from the college they went to (you know… in case you still have to fill out their wedding card!). It was a really cute and personal touch!
- A list of things to do when they’re not at wedding events. Most guests were only at the hotel for our wedding for 1 night, so we didn’t include this, but it would have been fun to suggest some of our local favorites for our guests.
Don’t forget to PIN IT…
I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek inside what we picked for our hotel wedding welcome bags! I’m having so much fun sharing the details of our big day! Thanks for following along!
XO
Disclaimer: Some brands mentioned in this post generously donated products to be a part of our big day! Only products we genuinely LOVE were included!
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