Inquiring Mind: Dana

Dana asks...

I'd like to do sunscreen in my welcome bags as well. Did you buy it in bulk somewhere? If so, where?

As a reminder, here are our Welcome Bags and a closeup of the sunscreen and bug spray...


The sunscreen came from the unfortunately named company Mexitan, and I photographed it here. Bulk sunscreen is actually fairly expensive, and this was the best deal I could find. I purchased two half-gallon containers and was able to fill up 70 2-oz bottles and have some to spare.

Dana, you can buy your very own Mexitan (really? do they not realize how terrible that sounds?) here.

More questions about our wedding? Comment here or shoot me an e-mail at maggie(dot)eatdrinkmarry (at) gmail (dot) com. Ask away!

Our Welcome Bags

Our adorable beach bags for each guest:


What was inside:

An Outer Banks Visitor Guide, our awesome custom wedding weekend map (folded like a newspaper), homemade cookies with fun personalized tags, logo'd sunscreen, and logo'd insect repellent

The bags were a big hit, although the assembly and delivery could've been a bit smoother. In hindsight, I would have gotten these all ready to go at once and had someone else deliver them. Although we got it done thanks to family and friends who pitched in, almost a dozen tags were lost that we had to recreate in a panic at the last minute and put together new bags. The missing tags, plus some accommodation changes and delivery snafus, made for some pre-weekend stress that I could've done without. But all in all, they were a hit - and we loved giving goodies that welcomed everyone to the weekend properly.

Paper progress

Here's a little taste of what's been keeping us busy lately. Also known as: How to take advantage of the nice printer at your office!

Cookie tags

Our custom maps made by my friend Sasha! They're tabloid size, 11x17. Side 1 is a regional map with wedding details, and side 2 is a village map with shopping/eating recommendations.

All folded up and ready for our Welcome Bags, per the folding diagram that Sasha sent us!

Escort cards done and campaign buttons attached!

Escort cards bagged by letter!

Table signs all done and packaged with our table assignment diagram.

The final Welcome Bag tags.

Random signs

Paper packed up and ready for the suitcase!

One big project left... Ribbon Binding of the programs. Check back with us tonight as we negotiate PACKING, collecting childhood photos, getting our place ready to leave for ten days, PACKING, cutting pretty gingham ribbons, oh and PACKING.

Making cookies even more of a good thing?

My Aunt Lynne is making cookies for our Welcome Bags. Although she makes these little lemon cookies that are about my favorite things on the planet, her oatmeal raisin cookies are not far behind... and more of a crowd-pleaser. So oatmeal raisin and tried-and-true chocolate chip cookies it is.

I already ordered small cellophane bags to package the cookies, and figured I'd fold the top over and affix them with a sticker of some kind. But thanks to iDIY today (loooove this blog), I was inspired by a template offered over at Creature Comforts.

Here's the Creature Comforts version:


And here's what I came up with while waiting for a work conference call to begin (the top half folds over):




We'll have to do a test run asap and make sure the stapled cardstock doesn't rip the cellophane with the weight of the cookies inside. Here's hoping! Also, I admit to not letting go (as promised) of the fact that my Welcome Bag tags aren't cuter... these little tags are totally kicking the other tags' butt in the cute department.

Beware leaking UPS boxes...

A huge box of these little guys made their way onto a brown truck this morning, labels affixed. Please, please don't start leaking, little ones!


I realized I haven't shown off our Welcome Bags yet, by the way. My mom found these reusable shopping bags that are adorable and can easily double as beach bags for the weekend.


Each one will have a little tag with our campaign sticker on one side and their names with a note from us on the other. Inside, they'll find:

• Custom map
• Official Visitors' Guide to the Outer Banks
• A print-out of the activity links from the wedding website
• Directions to golf and kayaking, if they're doing either of those
• Water
• Homemade cookies (thanks, Aunt Lynne!)
• Candy
• Sunscreen
• Insect Repellent

And maybe....

• Flashlight (the walk back from the cookout will be dark - we'll have some flashlights there, but if I can find them cheap enough I'll put one in everyone's bag)
  
• A salty snack
  

Label dork

Guess what I'm doing while waiting for a conference call? Making personalized bug spray and sunscreen labels for our Welcome Bags, of course!

DORK.


Our actual product is on its way, and our little empty bottles are in wait at home. I sense a filling party in our future!