Wedding Weekend Baseball Game Tickets

Knottie70096376

My fiance and I are attending a MLB game the Sunday afternoon after our wedding.  We're inviting guests who will still be in town to join us and we want to coordinate a block of tickets so we can all sit together. 

Do you think it's expected that we pay for the tickets?  We started drafting an email to send to guests and it felt awkward asking people for money.  We'd love to cover the cost for everyone, and we could if it's a reasonable group, but are afraid we may have more yeses than we expect and end up over our heads.  Thoughts?

SP29

Hmmm...

You do have to be careful once you start planning something, as you put yourself in the host position. But I don't think you have to pay for everyone (though a nice gesture), especially if you are organizing it similar to a bachelor/ bacchelorette party (though be clear on costs up front).

I think what you will have to be most careful with, if you are associating it with your wedding that you extend the invite to all guests, whether or not you think they'd come, lest a guest hear from another "Oh we're going to the baseball game tomorrow with John and Sue!". 

I *was* thinking that you could send out a "feeler" e-mail seeing if there is any interest at all BUT when I wrote out a sample of what I would say, I can easily see how a guest would interpret that as you and FI are paying. In which case you may have a bunch of guest say sure because it's covered but then decline or freak out when you tell them the cost. 

AddieCake

No, it would not be expected that you cover the cost of everyone's tickets. 

hyechica81

i would send out a letter and say me and hubbys are going to the baseball game the next day we would love to get together with as many friends and family as we could but we understand if this is something you could not make. 

this is the details of the event xx time xx cost if you cant make it we understand but also would need to know ahead of time because we would need to reserve x amount of spots 

huskypuppy14

SP29 said:

Hmmm...

You do have to be careful once you start planning something, as you put yourself in the host position. But I don't think you have to pay for everyone (though a nice gesture), especially if you are organizing it similar to a bachelor/ bacchelorette party (though be clear on costs up front).

I think what you will have to be most careful with, if you are associating it with your wedding that you extend the invite to all guests, whether or not you think they'd come, lest a guest hear from another "Oh we're going to the baseball game tomorrow with John and Sue!". 

I *was* thinking that you could send out a "feeler" e-mail seeing if there is any interest at all BUT when I wrote out a sample of what I would say, I can easily see how a guest would interpret that as you and FI are paying. In which case you may have a bunch of guest say sure because it's covered but then decline or freak out when you tell them the cost. 

Are you in a city that always has tickets available? This would be really hard if not impossible to do in Boston, because they are always close to or at capacity especially on a weekend.

Knottie70096376

We're in Pittsburgh and while the weekend games do sell out, it's nothing like Boston!.  We actually already have a block of seats on hold (just have to give a final # a month before the wedding).  

I came across another discussion board where the bride did a similar thing and put a separate rsvp card in the invite for the bball game.  The card had information about the time of the game and cost of the ticket, but they never actually asked for money.  I figure if we did something like this then if people gave us money fine, but if we end up covering some of the tickets, that's fine too.  And we don't have to worry about hounding anyone or awkwardly asking for $. But maybe that's too ambiguous for people...

lovegood90

Knottie70096376 said:

We're in Pittsburgh and while the weekend games do sell out, it's nothing like Boston!.  We actually already have a block of seats on hold (just have to give a final # a month before the wedding).  

I came across another discussion board where the bride did a similar thing and put a separate rsvp card in the invite for the bball game.  The card had information about the time of the game and cost of the ticket, but they never actually asked for money.  I figure if we did something like this then if people gave us money fine, but if we end up covering some of the tickets, that's fine too.  And we don't have to worry about hounding anyone or awkwardly asking for $. But maybe that's too ambiguous for people...

As soon as you include it in your wedding invites though, you have to invite everyone invited to the wedding and you have to cover the tickets yourselves - ie no including the price in the invite.
That's why you're best keeping it word of mouth.

huskypuppy14

lovegood90 said:

Knottie70096376 said:

We're in Pittsburgh and while the weekend games do sell out, it's nothing like Boston!.  We actually already have a block of seats on hold (just have to give a final # a month before the wedding).  

I came across another discussion board where the bride did a similar thing and put a separate rsvp card in the invite for the bball game.  The card had information about the time of the game and cost of the ticket, but they never actually asked for money.  I figure if we did something like this then if people gave us money fine, but if we end up covering some of the tickets, that's fine too.  And we don't have to worry about hounding anyone or awkwardly asking for $. But maybe that's too ambiguous for people...

As soon as you include it in your wedding invites though, you have to invite everyone invited to the wedding and you have to cover the tickets yourselves - ie no including the price in the invite.
That's why you're best keeping it word of mouth.

Agree, don't put it in your invitations.

AddieCake

Definitely leave it out of the invitations. You have to invite everyone and pay for it if you do that. Just make it known you are going to the game if anyone wants to join you there. That's how we invited people to our after party.

charcoalandblush

huskypuppy14 said:

SP29 said:

Hmmm...

You do have to be careful once you start planning something, as you put yourself in the host position. But I don't think you have to pay for everyone (though a nice gesture), especially if you are organizing it similar to a bachelor/ bacchelorette party (though be clear on costs up front).

I think what you will have to be most careful with, if you are associating it with your wedding that you extend the invite to all guests, whether or not you think they'd come, lest a guest hear from another "Oh we're going to the baseball game tomorrow with John and Sue!". 

I *was* thinking that you could send out a "feeler" e-mail seeing if there is any interest at all BUT when I wrote out a sample of what I would say, I can easily see how a guest would interpret that as you and FI are paying. In which case you may have a bunch of guest say sure because it's covered but then decline or freak out when you tell them the cost. 

Are you in a city that always has tickets available? This would be really hard if not impossible to do in Boston, because they are always close to or at capacity especially on a weekend.

FWIW, I also live in a city with a MLB team and I don't think we've had a single sold-out game in the 4 years I've lived here. You can usually get groups of 8-10 seats together for under $15 each. It definitely isn't this hard everywhere.

charlotte989875

My cousin is also doing this, and I'm a huge fan. They put a form on their website if you were interested to fill out your info. and then followed up with an email to everyone who had expressed interest with pricing info. They also are telling people by word of mouth and emailing everyone who was interested in going.

Definitely agree not to put it on your invites unless you're planning to pay, which you absolutely don't need to do.

Sounds really fun!

larrygaga

I wouldn't even go so far as to say you're reserving seats for them. Say something like "We are sitting in this seat and row and if you want to sit with us here is where you can buy tickets"

People know that you need to buy early if you want specific seats.

MairePoppy

Don't put anything in your wedding invitation that you're not hosting. 

southernbelle0915

AddieCake said:

Definitely leave it out of the invitations. You have to invite everyone and pay for it if you do that. Just make it known you are going to the game if anyone wants to join you there. That's how we invited people to our after party.

This

fyrchk

What about something along the lines of, "We are going to the Rockies game and if anyone is interested in joining us, we can check into block tickets/prices?"