Wedding Blog

Although I am no longer a bride, like other married bees, I do get super excited to help my bride friends. Last night, I made out-of-town bags for a couple getting married at Stage Six, Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in September. Since I ran out of time to make bags for my own wedding guests, this was a chance for me to live vicariously through my friends!

Instead of a monogram, the bride created a “chop” which included the bride and groom’s last names, that was printed on their invitations. I love it—elegant, classic, yet very minimalist and modern. I used it as the theme for the entire out-of-town package.

The components of each tote included:

• 1 bottle of water per guest
• 1 bag of snacks per room (the snacks were all purchased in bulk at Costco and then separated into the bags)
• 2 maps of New York City (1 Visitor’s Guide; 1 subway map)
• 1 I Heart NY t-shirt per guest
• 1 itinerary for the weekend

First off, the totes. The bride purchased plain canvas totes off of Amazon. I had planned to Gocco the chop onto the bags, but thought it would be more efficient to use iron-on transfers. I purchased a package of 18 Avery 8.5×11” transfers and printed all the elements on an inkjet printer. Please make sure you read the directions as I lost a few transfers because I forgot to reflect the image! (With dark iron-on transfers, you can leave the image as is. With clear/transparent iron-on transfers, you have to reflect your image).

Then I set up a space on the living room floor (working on the floor or table surface is preferred so that you can put your weight on the iron and guarantee a clean transfer) by laying down a few towels and got to ironing. I eyeballed the placement (using the tote handles as a gauge for center) of the transfers. And ta-da! Customized tote bags for a quarter of the price.

Next I dressed up the snacks in a snazzy bag. I used brown paper lunch bags (purchased from the local drugstore or supermarket), adhered a 2×4 mailing label (where I printed the chop and a note) and finally sealed off the bag by folding over the opening by 1/2” and then punching two holes to run curling ribbon through and tying it with a bow. It gave the snacks a home and prevented them from getting crushed in the tote.

For the water bottles, I figured out an inexpensive way to make personalized labels. We had standard Poland Spring water bottles. For each bottle, I used three 2×4 mailing labels to cover the existing label. They fit perfectly! The trick is to print something in the center of two of the labels and cut the third label in half to patch up the remaining parts.

As for the maps and guides, there are several Official NYC Information Centers all over Manhattan. You can stop by to pick up great map freebies and also to check out the cool interactive maps. I spent a good 20 minutes playing in there! If you’re not in town, it’s very easy to order the maps in bulk online and have them shipped to you. The maps are free, but you will have to pay for shipping. But the site itself offers up a treasure trove of information on the city in one place. If you’re hosting a NYC wedding, this is a great link to add to your website.

And as an added bonus, the bride went to Times Square to pick up I Heart NY t-shirts so that each guest would have a fun New York souvenir to take home.

To complete the bags, the bride included a heartfelt note card attached with ribbon to the handle of the tote to welcome all her guests and wish them a comfortable stay.

I hope her guests love them because they were surely packed with lots of thought and love!

Are you making out-of-town gifts or bags for your guests? What were some of your resources?