free worldwide shipping for all custom scarf orders
free worldwide shipping for all custom scarf orders
What goes in the welcome bag, and the one piece made on the lake
Your guests are flying in from three countries, the boats are booked, and by Thursday there has to be a welcome bag in every hotel room. Most of what goes into it is gone by Sunday. The limoncello is opened on the terrace, the olive oil is a worry in a suitcase, and the program stays on the nightstand. What gets home is the thing that fits in a handbag and gets worn. This guide covers what planners put in a Lake Como welcome bag, what guests keep, and one piece that is made on the lake itself. We should say the price early. Silk scarf wedding favors start at $35 a guest, from fifty guests. That makes it a proper gift, and you should know the number before you read on.
The usual bag is generous and local. There is a small bottle of limoncello or olive oil, and confetti, the sugared almonds Italian weddings have given for generations. There is something sweet from a pasticceria in town, water for the boat, a map of the lake and the program for the weekend with the ferry times on it. All of it belongs there. It tells guests where they are and that somebody thought about them.
Most of it is also eaten, drunk or left in the room by checkout. So the useful question is which one thing in the bag will still be with your guests a year from now.
Como, the town the lake is named for, is known around the world as the silk capital. We make our scarves there. Every By Biehle scarf is made in Como, printed on silk and finished with hand-rolled edges. So the bag can hold something made on the same lake your guests are looking at.
Silk also does what the bottles cannot. It weighs almost nothing, folds flat into a handbag, and gets worn to dinner the same evening.
In 2024 Leah Simon and Michael Norton, a couple from the United States, sent their save-the-dates on silk for their wedding at Villa del Balbianello. We made sixty scarves at 55 by 55 centimeters (22 by 22 inches), with their names, the villa and the wedding weekend printed in the border. Afterwards Leah wrote to us.
“Our scarves for save the dates turned out so well.”Leah Simon, silk save-the-dates for her wedding at Villa del Balbianello
In the summer of 2022 a wedding planner from Zurich ordered seventy pocket squares for an August wedding at a villa on the lake. They were printed with watercolor artwork created for the couple, each in an envelope with the couple’s crest, to be placed in the guests’ hotel rooms before they arrived.
It began with our own wedding invitation, printed on silk in Como in 2014. In 2021 that invitation won Best Wedding Invitation Designer at the DWP ACE Awards.
Three sizes cover most weddings on the lake. The 55 by 55 centimeter neckerchief (22 by 22 inches) is the welcome bag piece. Guests wear it all weekend as a neck scarf, in their hair or tied to a bag. It carries a save-the-date well too, which is what the couple above chose it for. The 33 by 33 centimeter pocket square (13 by 13 inches) is the favor at each place setting. The 70 by 90 centimeter scarf (27 by 35 inches) is the invitation itself, with room for the full wording.
In organic silk twill the pocket square is $35 and the neckerchief is $60, both from fifty pieces. The 70 by 90 is $75 in silk satin or $80 in organic silk twill, from forty pieces.
Most couples keep the text to the edge. First names, the date, and the name of the villa with Lake Como after it. The design itself can be your invitation artwork, a drawing of the venue, or one of our own designs personalized with your text. Kept to the border, the names make the scarf yours, and guests still want to wear it.
You send a print-ready PDF or PSD at the finished size. We check every file for print quality and make small production adjustments where needed. We do not create original artwork from scratch. For fully bespoke design, we recommend Ceci New York. Our guide to preparing a print-ready file covers the details.
This one was in Tuscany and not on the lake, and we include it for what the guests did. Bloom Wedding & Events planned a June wedding at a villa there and ordered a silk pocket square for every guest, sixty-nine in all, printed with a watercolor of the villa. Each one went into a handmade gift box, and guests opened them at the dinner table. Shirley Pisano of Bloom Wedding & Events told us afterwards that guests wore them “around their handbags, in their hair, on their suits, even on their phones.”
Fifty pocket squares at $35 come to $1,750. With a custom envelope for each at $6, that is $2,050. Fifty neckerchiefs at $60 come to $3,000. An envelope with ribbon is $7.50, and a handmade gift box with silk paper is $11.45.
These prices are for organic silk twill. They include the print, hand-rolled edges and free worldwide shipping, with customs and duties covered for the EU and the United States. Our guide to what a custom silk scarf costs walks through more order totals.
Once your order is confirmed and paid, production takes about six weeks including delivery. Production pauses each August, which matters for a summer wedding on the lake: for a wedding in August or September, have the order confirmed and paid by 1 July, so the scarves are made before the pause.
A finished sample is optional. It is $550, takes about four weeks including shipping, and is credited in full when you go to production, so with a sample, count about ten weeks back from the day you need the scarves in hand. If your date is closer than that, send it to us and we will tell you plainly what is feasible.
Fifty is the minimum for the pocket square and the neckerchief, and it is a real one, because every run is set up and color-mixed for your design. For a smaller wedding, the Lago di Como pocket square from our collection is the same 33 by 33 centimeter size in organic silk twill, at $55. The collection ships within the United States only, so order before you fly and carry them with you. That works well for the wedding party or for parents, with something simpler in the other bags.
Tell us the wedding date, the number of guests and where the scarves should arrive. Message us on Instagram or write to hello@bybiehle.com, and we reply with pricing and a timeline. Everything for couples is on our wedding page. Planners will find the same pricing and a project brief form on our planners page.
What do you put in a Lake Como wedding welcome bag? Most bags hold something local to eat or drink, such as limoncello, olive oil or sugared almonds, along with water, a map of the lake and the program for the weekend. Add one thing guests can keep. A silk scarf made in Como is light, packs flat and is worn long after the weekend.
Is a welcome gift the same as a wedding favor? No. A welcome gift waits in the hotel room or the welcome bag when guests arrive. A favor is given at the wedding itself, usually at the place setting. The 55 by 55 centimeter neckerchief suits the welcome bag, and the 33 by 33 centimeter pocket square suits the table.
Can guests carry a silk scarf home in hand luggage? Yes. A silk scarf folds flat, weighs very little and has none of the restrictions that apply to liquids. Bottles of limoncello or olive oil usually have to travel in checked luggage.
Is the scarf really made in Como? Yes. Every By Biehle scarf is made in Como, Italy, printed on silk and finished with hand-rolled edges. Como is the town the lake is named for, and it is known around the world as the silk capital.
Can you deliver the welcome gifts to our villa or our planner in Italy? Yes. Shipping is free worldwide on custom orders, and we deliver by DHL to the address you choose. If a planner is assembling the welcome bags, their address is the simplest place to send them.
When do we need to order for a summer wedding on Lake Como? Allow about six weeks for production including delivery, counted from your confirmed and paid order, and remember that production pauses each August. For a wedding in August or September, have the order confirmed and paid by 1 July.
