When we talk to brides-to-be and their families about wedding welcome gifts, it's not unusual that their initial reaction is, "That seems like something we could easily do ourselves."
("It will be FUN," they said!)
Certainly there are weddings where the couple and their loved ones can very easily handle the welcome gifting themselves. But there are other circumstances where it can get a little overwhelming, for a variety of reasons that we'll outline here.
First and foremost is that we live in an age when people are stretched thin more than ever before. When you're a busy bride trying to juggle a job and other responsibilities while planning all of the details of your wedding, handling your own welcome gifts also means adding a number of tasks to your list:
Coming up with ideas for gifts and packaging
Sourcing all of the inventory (including custom printed items)
Organizing and storing everything as it arrives.
Assembling all of the gifts
Making sure they get to the right guests at the right time
In the midst of an already busy time, it can all be too much! So with that being said, the number one reason that people hire us is to save them a lot of time.
We can also save couples a fair amount of stress. While certainly there are brides who can’t wait to dive into the project of shopping for items for their gift bags and putting them all together, there are certainly many who just can’t wrap their heads around that whole process. They know they want the gifts to be special, but they’re not sure where to begin, and they certainly don’t have the extra hours in the day to do the research.
I'll add an addendum here and say this: if you're looking for a super simple welcome gift (say, a few bottles of water, some candy, chips and a welcome letter, put together in a handled bag), then it's certainly an easy task to buy those items online and put them together yourself. But if you'd like to elevate your gifts to be beautifully designed, styled and curated with unique and lovely products that reflect the vibe of your celebration, this will require more thought and planning, even down to the dimensions of the items that will fit in a particular box.
Next...did we mention that gifting in quantity is messy, and takes up a fair amount of space? Let's say you have 100 guests at your wedding, and you’d like to give them all a lovely curated gift box. You need some room for this project, and it’s going to make a big mess of your home in the meantime. We have the space, the supplies and the manpower to tackle big projects like this when you don’t want them in your living room. Believe me when I tell you that shredded paper ends up EVERYWHERE!
(Also, a note on bags and boxes: while bags will reduce your assembly time, they also take up more room and are more challenging to transport in large quantities while keeping them looking pristine. Welcome boxes require large amounts of crinkle paper to keep items in place. And tying bows on either boxes or bags requires much more time than you would expect)!
Then, there is the matter of getting gifts to wherever you want them to go. Maybe you have guests staying at multiple hotels. We can take care of that for you. Maybe you’re even traveling to Vermont for your destination wedding and you don’t have room in your car for 50 or 100 gifts along with all of your other wedding gear. That’s. What. We. Do! Don't forget that you will need a vehicle that can accommodate large numbers of gifts, as well as finding the time (or better yet...someone to do it for you) in the days leading up to guest arrival. Be sure to coordinate in advance with venues and have all of your details well organized and prepared!
Lastly, I know that people often think that using a gifting service is going to cost way more than doing it yourself. And while I will say that it will cost you more than doing it yourself, it won’t cost you WAY more. When you take into consideration that we can buy items at a discount...we can buy things like packaging supplies and ribbon in bulk...and we have resources for personalizing and printing things at reasonable prices or right in house...you might be surprised to learn that the cost of our gifts may not be that much more than putting them together for yourself. And when you calculate the cost of your time and stress, often it becomes a no-brainer.
So there you have it! Just a few reasons to consider outsourcing your wedding welcome gifts to Shelburne Gift Company. We work with all sorts of fun products and packaging, and we’d love to help you get creative and look like a hero to your guests. Plus, we’re a small, local business right here in Vermont…even better! So if you're a little worried about handling your welcome gifts (or know a couple who is), please ask them to give us a call!