Our OOT Bags!!

[delauren]

Hi guys,

 

I wanted to post about my OOT bags because I found that BDW was instrumental in helping me find vendors to buy the bags and the contents and I wanted to pay it all forward! We got married May 1st at Hotel Esencia in the Riviera Maya.

 

Not only was I super proud of our OOT bags, they were a huge hit with our guests, who carried them around all weekend and loved having some items they didn't think to bring along.

 

We had an amazing designer I found online design a PDF logo ($75) that we had professionally screenprinted on our welcome totes (cheaptotes.com - $.99/bag). We could have ironed on the design but with 100 bags, we didn't have the time or the energy.

 

We tied a "Francesca and Peter" ribbon to each bag, thread through an Oriental Trading Company flashlight ($.41 each) and a vistaprint (http://www.vistaprint.com) postcard with our welcome note. The vistaprint notecards were all free - all I had to was pay shipping.

 

Inside each bag, we had a welcome packet with information about The Riviera Maya, maps of the area and hotel we were getting married at and our schedule of events.

 

BY FAR the biggest hit of the wedding was our "Facebook" - with a picture of every guest and a little blurb about how we knew them. We made these on powerpoint and printed them at home.

 

In each welcome bag, we also included:

 

1. Two personalized postcards made on vistaprint (free)

2. A “Too much Sun, Too much Fun†kit (in a vellum envelope with personalized label, picture below), which contained: two single packs of Advil, a single pack of shout wipes, a tube of Aloe Vera Gel, a single pack of Alka Seltzer, a single pack of all natural Bug wipes, a personalized Lip Balm, 2 Band-aids and two Insect Bite Relief wipes. We got these items on Drugstore.com and Amazon.com in bulk, super cheap.

3. Mexican candies from Oriental Trading

4. A deck of playing cards from Oriental Trading

5. Bag of tortilla chips and a can of salsa; Mexican candies (Wal-Mart in Playa del Carmen). Everyone was very happy to have these at 2am, let me tell you!

 

And for the kids' bags, we also bought frisbees and little mexican whistle toys.

 

We brought everything to Mexico with us in our suitcases, except for the chips/Salsa/Candies that we bought once we arrived.

 

I've attached a couple of photos of our bags - please PM me if you have any questions!

 

[Cindy*]

They look great, congratulations!

[dcairns]

I'm impressed, how much did it cost to screenprint?  What was the quality of the bag??

[delauren]

Screenprinting was $1.99 per bag and a $35 set-up fee. I was in a hurry so I didn't shop around for prices, just went to a place I had used before in Los Angeles. Don't know if you can find a cheaper price.

 

We only printed in ONE color, to keep the price down - they just did different shades of the same color.

 

The quality of the bag is good - you will find this same bag at a higher price on other websites (I know because I ordered samples from a couple different places at different price points and they all ended up being the same exact bag, lol).

 

The bag is on the thin side (which I don't mind) and lightweight and easy to carry.

[lshaef]

Love the bags and the items you put in them.  The "Facebook" is a great idea.  So many of the guest don't really know each other and this is a great cheat sheet! Thanks for sharing.

[mimi73]

Looks fab! The bags really look great, perfect for the beach

[lv1044]

Awesome Idea!!

[emilyk78]

They turned out great!!

[want2gosouth]

Love them!

[sera1124]

Great Bags!  I love the design - who did you use online?  I don't think that $75 is unreasonable for such a fantastic result.  I have been poking around for a wedding logo / design and trying to do it on the cheap.   But II just need to bite the bullet and pay the $75 which seems like a standard rate.  What was the deliverable - a jpg file?  And did you use it on anything else?  I am still in the beginning of planning and I thought I might use the Logo on Invites and STDs too.