There were quite a few people who came from out of town to attend our wedding. I put together welcoming gifts for my parents and grandmother and other family members but I still wish I would have put additional energy into preparing welcome baskets for all of my traveling guests… You can really have a lot of fun filling your baskets and not break the bank. Your guests will love and appreciate the gifts and your thoughtfulness will make them feel right at home!

Ideas For Your Welcome Baskets

(which btw, do not have to be baskets but anything in the spirit of the season or theme of your wedding)

1. Write a welcoming note.
2. Include a specialty item from the town you’re getting married in: food, drink, etc.
3. The latest best seller or a fun, trendy magazine.
4. Tickets or coupons to local attractions
5. Is your guest traveling with a baby? Maybe an item or two for the wee one: wipes, juice boxes, sunscreen, diapers, etc.
6. Toiletries and items that your guests might not be able to get at the hotel i.e. cotton swabs, cotton balls, sunscreen, travel sewing kit, mini manicure set, clear nail polish
7. Fresh flowers are always nice!
8. Fun dollar store “stuff”
9. Items that fit the style of your wedding i.e. eco-friendly items for a “green” wedding
10. Mug with tea packets or gourmet coffee
11. Don’t forget the guys: shavers, shaving lotion, shoe polish
12. Mini wine or champagne bottles (include plastic glasses)
13. Travel games
14. Hand lotion
15. Bottle water
16. Update 8/30/08: Itinerary of wedding related events (Thanks Michelle)

Additional thoughts? Share your ideas in the comments section!

It’s Inspiration Friday!

While I certainly don’t want to rush summer along, fall is right around the corner and is absolutely splendid here in Minnesota. Brimming with the colors of autumn foliage, the fall is a wonderful time of year for a wedding. Go ahead, marry the rustic with the chic for a combination of casual elegance that is so familiar this time of year.

Infuse the warm, rich tones of deep browns, golds, and reds throughout your entire wedding.

Celebrate the beauty of the season in your area. Barns and apple orchards make lovely venues with the potential for stunning backdrops to show off the fall colors.

Corn stalks, mums, pumpkins and the sweet aromas of hot apple cider and spices to fill the air…

Don’t forget your wraps, it could be chilly. I love fall weddings! Endless possibilities…

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

As a bride someday…thinketh

On getting married… according to a 13 year-old. Meet Anna.

“Yes. I think about my dress and my husband and being married. My dress will be white with a tank top or spaghetti straps. Lace. And, all the way to the floor. I’ll wear my hair in a bun with a veil… Can you have a veil under your bun? (I nod yes) My husband… he will be funny, nice, loving, smart and want a family.”

And when I asked her if she thought more about her wedding day or the marriage itself, Anna replied “Marriage. My wedding is only one day but I get to be married for my whole life.”

It is said that every little girl dreams about her wedding day and for many of us, this statement rings true. Anna’s responses reminded me that our hopes and dreams for our future begins early. It also reminded me of the bygone tradition involving the hope chest.

My mom had one but that is the extent of my experience with them. I don’t hear anyone referring to them and I’ve never seen one on a gift registry.

Hope chests seemed practical enough back then when they were the keepers of the dowry and intended to store what a young woman might need to bring into her marriage: linens, household items, money… As far as I know, dowries are fairly rare nowadays and it almost seems silly to store things that can be easily purchased.

But, what about hopes and dreams and that which cannot be easily purchased? Anna is already dreaming about her wedding day, her future husband and what type of man she is looking for. A hope chest might contain journals or even love letters written to a future husband. Also, a hope chest might contain precious family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation. A chest of hope for the future. That seems practical to me.

Maybe this tradition could be modernized and resurrected after all (and let’s include the boys this time).

What do you think? Are hope chests just an old-fashion idea or should the idea just be re-fashioned?

Photo Courtesy: PW Baker

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Thank you to the Dallas Wedding Planner Something Blue Blog for featuring our “Go Green” Inspiration Board. Go ahead, sneak a peek. And, check out the pretty blue honeymoon bag while you’re at it…

More on this later~ but it truly is wonderful that there are so many resources and ideas for living greener!

It’s good to be green!

Best!

Heidi