.welcoming the OOT guests.

When you have an abundance of out of town (OOT) guests, a wonderful and thoughtful way to welcome them is to leave OOT bags/gifts in their hotel rooms. Yes, this can get costly, depending on your number of guests, or you can wholesale shop and keep it affordable. Just what do you include in these baskets? They can be as easy or as elaborate as you wish!

.Kate Parker Weddings .

Some suggestions:
Something seasonal: Getting married in the fall? How about some apples or pumpkin seeds for snacks?

Winter: some candy canes or dessert snowballs.
Something satisfying: Bottles of water are always appreciated, so that your guests can avoid the mini bar temptation.
Something local: Vegas poker chips, a pair of dice or something to save your guests the aggravation of souvenir hunting! Coupons, entertainment guides, etc.

Something for anytime: popcorn balls, check mix, boxes of gum, candy and mints.

You can easily spend several minutes buying items at your local warehouse club and separating the items into smaller snack bags or you can go all out and buy individual snacks already packaged. You can spend hours driving around buying local maps and trip guides or you can pull information from the web and DIY your own. I recently came across something that would be a perfect additive to any OOT basket, especially if you are providing maps & local treats:

A radio station guide.

If your guests will be renting cars, nothing can be more frustrating than static all over the radio or hitting every station on their commercial break. Ok, maybe being lost is worse than not having great music?? After receiving the car from the valet during our recent “staycation” at the Lake Las Vegas Ritz, I noticed that there was one left in the car and it provided me with the inspiration that I needed to DIY my own.

Obviously, we are not from out of town, but had we been, this is quite a nice touch from the hotel. Lake Las Vegas is about 20 miles from the heart of Vegas itself, so it makes sense to include this in each car.

If your guests are driving from your ceremony to your reception or even to any sightseeing ventures on their own, not only will they appreciate your OOT welcome gift, but also the tunes you will help them to find.

.diy or die, vol. 2.

The wedding map. Where it all begins. Since I’ve fallen in love with the loads of amazing wedding blogs out there, I decided that I did want some of the projects to be DIY. This coming from a person who has no craftiness, no designing skills, nothing. I’ve searched high and low through blogs, websites and magazines for DIY advice and help. Narrowing down what I won’t do was easy- I won’t Gocco anything, wont attempt to print my own invites, make my own centerpieces or bouquets, but here is what I will try:

Bathroom Baskets- come on. How difficult is it to grab some (ok, probably an over abundance) toiletries and toss them (neatly) into a basket (decorated, of course) and slap it (arranged and centered) on the bathroom counter? I mean really, some mouthwash (probably in a pump along with some disposable cups), a few tic tacs (in all varietals) and call it a day! Ok…who are we kidding? I am a queen of over packing, so you know that these baskets will probably be the first thing someone wants to take home. Screw the centerpieces, let’s grab the free tampons!

DIY Map- This is somewhat of an idiot project for me but something I felt that can be accomplished. Here is why: any locals who are coming will most likely know where the venues are. If not, they have phones and Google maps. Any OOT guests, we are providing transportation from point “I DO” to point “Let’s PARTY”. So really, who needs this map? No one, I just think that it will be a fun project for me! his is how the map currently looks. As I finish it, I will save step-by-step directions. In the meantime, you can search all over the web for ideas on how to put your own together. It seems daunting, at first, but if I can do it...anyone can!

Flip Flop Basket- I hate feet. I would probably rather eat a mustard and cilantro sandwich than touch or even look at feet. So to see tired and bare feet at the wedding is going to. Drive. Me. Nuts. I will have flip flops for the ladies who wish to slip on something a lil more comfortable. My DIY here is going to be buying the flops, putting them into some sort of container (beverage tub?) with a cute little sign about using them… and I’ve been inspired by other brides to put a tag or some thing to announce the size of the flop!

.photos courtesy of project wedding, summerbride2009.

Candy buffet- YES! Let them eat candy! Let the diabetic have a candy buffet! Haha. Enough said. As I lay this out and begin to purchase the sweet treats, more "along the way" photos will be posted.

One thing that I’ve learned is that every wedding may have the same ideas and the same cute things- a photo booth, a candy buffet, a flip flop bin. The great thing is that you can see a photo of others displays projects and ideas. Think that buffets and flippy floppies are too played out? Like Paris Hilton and her Chihuahua?? Think again savvy bride- most likely your wedding is still unique to your guests. Yes, who cares that you were in a wedding last month and they had a photo booth also…. Was your grandma at that wedding? What about Aunt Helen? To them, it is fresh, new and unique. So DIY away, sisters!

.stuffed, stamped, sealed and delivered.

Today marks our first big milestone in the planning process. Well, maybe not THE first…but a pretty big one. Our Save The Dates were mailed!!!

They have been stuffed (thanks, Flo), stamped (thanks, Flo), labeled (thanks, Flo) and sealed (thanks, me!). And Today, Flo dropped them at the Post Office. I wanted to be there taking a photo…but since today is my turn to pay the bills, I had to go to work. So instead, here is a photo of them.


This was definitely a team effort once we received them via UPS. Flo and I collectively, stuffed, hand addressed, made the mailing labels, stamped, labeled and glued them shut! Getting all of the addresses was less than easy. For some reason, I ended up with about 10 of the Groom’s side not having an address. We had to practically harass MIL to get these addresses for us. It wasn’t her, though, she’s been harassing the guests. What? You don’t want to be invited? Sweet- I can use some extra space on the guest list! Speaking of… in reviewing our STD list, MIL added one more name! Ahhh!!!!!! The guest list is still about 50 over where we wanted it but have pretty much stuck a straw in and sucked it up.

Once again, these were designed by Ellie who also had them printed and shipped out to us. We had ordered 100 card and 100 envelopes. We ran out of envelopes but still have cards left! HA! I hand addressed them. However, my hand moves faster than my brain, so some states were abbreviated. Some said Mr. So and So and Ms. Such and Such. The woman’s name always goes first. And no “and” is needed between two lines. I had to Google “addressing etiquette” as we have some doctors, some people who are married and kept their own name, some people who are divorced, widowed, attorneys, etc. For the invites, I am leaving the addressing up to the pros. That is way too stressful to tackle on my own.

So it begins- the STDs are in the mail (no, they did not come with penicillin) and we are fully underway with planning.

Sometimes, I look at the calendar and think that nine months is still a ton of months away, then I log onto my wedding website drug and see other brides who are “date twins” starting to make lists and get everything in order and buy things. Am I slacking or do I just know that it isn’t stress out time? A little of both, I presume.

My wedding map is in progress and now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, it is quite fun. Stay tuned for my next post where I talk about the DIY wedding map.