Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Welcome Today’s Guest: Southern Fancy is a bridal blog written by Anna, a Nashville bride2be and a true Southern belle.

Even though The Mister and I are getting married right outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tenn., it feels more like a destination wedding. You see, all my family is in Mississippi and his is either in Arizona or Chicago. Plus, our closest friends are scattered about the country. So any way you look at it, our guests are traveling from near and far, and they’re having to pay a pretty penny to do so. To welcome them from a long day of travel and to show them our appreciation, it is only appropriate for us to give each person (or couple or family) a basket of goodies when they check in at the hotel.

First things first, I searched online for some inspiration. I looked no further than Kate Parker Weddings. She has the perfect welcome basket for cities like Dallas, Chicago, Boston, NYC, San Diego and San Francisco, among others. And as fate would have it, she has one specifically for Nashville weddings.

This fabulous basket includes:

* 1 3-pack of cookies from The Christie Cookie
* 2 packs of Goo Goo Clusters (which are made in Chattanoga)
* 1 tin of tea from Nashville Tea
* 2 (11oz.) bottles of Fiji water
* Custom map including 4-5 points of interest for the wedding weekend (rehearsal, ceremony, reception, etc.)
* 1 Map of Tennessee from the Tennessee Visitors Bureau
* Medicine Kit including Advil, Tylenol, and Pepto-Bismol.

At the price of $34.00 (plus shipping), I think this is totally worth it; however, I am in need of about 30 of these bad boys, which would cost me a little over $1,000 total. Soooo, I decided I could create something similar and set a budget of $10 per basket.

Here’s what I plan on including:

* A Franklin-area brochure (free)
* Copy of The Nashville City Paper or The Rage (free)
* Custom map of the wedding location and directions (paid $10 for custom design from Etsy seller MTK Designs. The price is now $15. Again, totally worth it.)
* A pack of Goo Goo clusters
* Tiny bottles of Dickel Tennessee whiskey (made in Tullahoma; about $1.50 per bottle); You could also go with small bottles of Jack Daniels (made in Lynchburg).
* Bottled water
* Either a pack of orange slices or apple rings from Apple Barn Cider Mill (this is a place in the Opry Mills Mall that has lots of yummy food and candy made in Tennessee)
* Can of Altoids or packs of gum
* One Spirit of Nashville postcard ($12.99 for a pack of 29). Y’all, these are so awesome, you have to see them now.

Ashley Adds:

Want more ideas for your Nashville wedding gift baskets? Follow this topic on our message board.