Gotham Goes Westin

Throwing a wedding nowadays is no longer a simple vows, cake, and DJ-rental affair. Organizing a once-in-a-lifetime party (usually with a budget to match) means that it must be memorable—handing out Jordan almonds as party favors is no longer enough. Instead, custom keepsakes from the ‘big day’ that celebrate the couple as unique individuals are a necessity when planning a wedding.

For Jenny Beaudry Westin and her husband Erik, they knew that throwing an epic wedding was a must. They had already been together for ten years before tying the knot! This meant that they had a lot of time to reflect on themselves and to plan how to best showcase their relationship.

“We wanted our wedding to be distinctly us—filled with whimsy, magic, and comic books,” says Jenny. The two had bonded over pop culture and comics and even had a yearly tradition of attending New York Comic Con. While the dynamic duo lives in New York City, their wedding was set to take place in Sedona, Arizona—a big change from the entertainment epicenter of the Big Apple.

Since their wedding wouldn’t be on their home turf, it meant that there was extra challenge in giving the event their own personal flavor. It also meant that the majority of the guests (and the bride and groom) would be traveling from out of state. What better way to welcome people than with a customized care package?

The custom tote bag and contents for the Westin’s Desert Survival Kit.

“We knew we wanted custom, reusable welcome bags. Our guests were all traveling from out of state and we wanted to assemble an epic welcome bag of goodies,” says Jenny. “Centered around our theme ‘Desert Survival Kit’, it included everything from gummy rattlesnakes to chips and salsa, trail mix to prickly pear taffy (oh, and taco money pouches).”

Fortunately, Jenny had previous experience ordering from Custom Ink before and knew that they could handle providing that personal touch. “I have always been pleased when ordering from Custom Ink; the interface is so easy to use and options are endless,” she explained. Being able to think outside the box (or in this case, custom shirt) and print their own design on a reusable tote bag meant that the Westins could make a unique statement. With the custom welcome bags and survival kits, guests could tell immediately that this wouldn’t be any ordinary wedding!

The bags were a huge hit with the partygoers—and they served as a great souvenir from Jenny and Erik’s big day. With all the work that goes into organizing a wedding (and a destination one at that), it helped that the Westins could count on Custom Ink to provide a low-stress way to create the customized mementos. Jenny describes the order experience with Custom Ink as “fast, easy, and fun!” Setting up the order through Custom Ink’s website and browsing all the options for reusable tote bags meant that everything could be set up in a snap.

The Westins didn’t stop at the survival kits—their wedding had personalized drinks, a cake topped with action figures (plus a groom’s cake decorated with panels from Spider-Man comics), and a custom neon sign. They even had a guestbook illustrated with a comic about the couple drawn entirely by Erik! With all the planning and deliberate attention to detail, the Westin wedding was a perfect encapsulation of their 10-year relationship.

At the end of the big night, the guests could bring one more part of the wedding home—the event included a swag bar! It featured boxed cupcakes, monogrammed candles (with the bride and groom’s initials), and more personalized goodies that all fit in a unique custom tote bag that was also supplied by Custom Ink.

While the desert survival kits served to welcome guests to the wedding trip, the custom swag bags were a great way to close out a memorable trip. The colors of the two bags even matched—the welcome bag featuring black ink on white fabric, with the swag bar bag highlighting white ink on black fabric. And with both bags being reusable, the Westin’s friends and family have a souvenir to remember their special night.

What better place to store all your wedding swag than in a custom swag bag?

Even the wedding planners received a memento from the Westin’s wedding. Jenny and Erik used Custom Ink to create custom hoodies and shirts, which were a thoughtful way of thanking the team that helped make the Westin’s dream wedding a reality.

Fortunately for all the planning, effort, and details that went into the Westin’s wedding, it went off without a hitch. Being able to customize so much of it to reflect their personalities and their love for one another was the icing on the (wedding) cake.

You can see more photos from the Westin’s wedding with the Instagram tag #gothamgoeswestin.