Weddingbee

Wanna hear a funny story? I thought you might.

We left for our honeymoon late on Monday night after our Saturday wedding. On Monday morning, I got a very strange phone call. “Hello, Ms. Cream Puff? This is [MIL Puff’s Name].” I thought to myself, “No, this is not MIL Puff. I know MIL Puff’s voice, and this is not MIL Puff. So who the heck is this?”

“I am visiting from Hong Kong,” she said, “and I receive your welcome bag. I wanted to thank you so much for your nice bag.” As I talked to her longer, I deduced that the Grand Hyatt had given Mr. CP’s parents’ OOT bag to someone else of the same name! She told me that she loved my bag very much and that she wanted to thank me before she had to work that day (she was visiting on business). She said, “Your maps are so helpful and I thank you for the gifts. I hope to keep in touch. Thank you!”

How weird, right?! She was so nice that I didn’t even bother to tell her that she’d received the bag by mistake. I do kind of wonder if I’ll be hearing from her again (after all, she wanted to keep in touch!), or if she called anyone else on our “Phone List of Helpful People!” Weird, but funny (and kind of touching!).

I was really glad that our unexpected OOT bag recipient liked the goods. As it turned out, our other guests loved them as well. My parents have talked to a few people who were OOT guests, and they all said the same thing: they felt “really taken care of.” I am so glad! I had a great time putting together the bags, but the main purpose is to make our guests feel welcome. I’m so glad it worked.

Now, I know I’ve talked about the OOT bags before, but there are a few details I haven’t discussed yet. First off, I got a little bit ahead of myself. I did the OOT bags several months before the wedding, just to get them done. I shouldn’t have sealed them, especially knowing my mother. You see, Momma Puff and I did this project together, and she and I disagreed on a rather stupid point: peanuts. Momma Puff wanted to include bags of peanuts (which we oddly couldn’t find at Target or any of the other places we went) and I didn’t think it was worth any extra effort.

I should have known that Momma Puff would take matters into her own hands. A couple of weeks later, I got a package from her. I thought, “ooh, an unexpected present? What is this?!” You got it, people. It was peanuts. All of the OOT bags were sealed shut, and undoing them was a major pain in the butt. But what was I going to do with 20 fun sized peanut bags?! So I undid the bags:

It was a pain in the neck, and it seemed kind of stupid to do it just for peanuts. So while I was at it, I decided to add these:

What are these? Well, they’re postcards. I decided to steal an idea from Mrs. Lemon, and include postcards of San Francisco for our guests. I gave each guest two beautiful postcards, one of which was stamped and addressed to us. I included a note that said, “Welcome to San Francisco and thank you for coming to our wedding! When you return home, please send us a postcard to tell us your favorite part of the weekend. An extra postcard is enclosed for yourself or a friend. We love you! Thank you!” I’m not really expecting to receive any, but I thought it would be fun to give it a shot. After all, the bags had to be opened anyway!

Anyway, I think that will be the last you hear about me and my OOT bags. Unless, of course, I hear from the lady with MIL Puff’s name again!

• Magical Makeup
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