Hotel/shuttle dilemma...help!

olive333

I am not from the Auston area but am so excited about getting married at the Barr Mansion this fall!  

I am hoping for some advice about hotels/shuttles because almost all of our guests will be from out of town and traveling quite a distance.  

My mother (who is paying for the majority of the wedding costs) is really excited about staying downtown, her friends seeing downtown, etc.  My fiance's side is on the more economical less interested in citylife side...

So...I am trying to decide between downtown and the Arboretum area to book for hotel blocks.  

If I book in both areas which I am considering, then I think am pretty much obligated to book two shuttles for guests to and from the wedding (I really think this is important to do since so many are traveling and I don't know how many will rent cars). 

Another factor...we booked the wedding date a long time ago and it is the same day as one of the UT football games.  The wedding ceremony will start at 6 PM.  Does that mean downtown will be crazy that weekend and difficult to get shuttles in/out of the area?  Or is this feasible?

I think my mom will be really disappointed if I don't book hotels downtown or don't have a shuttle to donwtown...

Finally, any suggestions as to specific hotels in either area?  We don't want the super pricey places but not motel style either! 

Thanks!!!

aggiekd05

Hi!  I'm also an out of town bride getting married at Barr Mansion this year!  My wedding is after yours and we're still in the early planning stages, so I don't have hotel ideas for you, but have you talked to Rick or Hannah about this?  I'm sure they will have advice and ideas for you.

I would NOT book 2 different hotels.  That's such a hassle, and for one or two nights, your finance's family would only save maybe $100ish by having it somewhere more budget friendly.  If your mom is the one paying for everything, I'd try to make her as happy as I could, within reason.  Do you know what time the game starts and who UT is playing?  I'd be less concerned about getting around and more worried about being able to find a nice hotel in a good location.

In terms of shuttles to downtown if you choose to go with a hotel that isn't located there, check with the hotels you're considering.  A lot of times they'll offer complimentary or cheap hotel shuttle service for guests to area attractions.

jenmfernandez

Hi there - We're having majority OOT guests for our wedding as well and really wanted to give everyone the Downtown Austin experience (yes, even the economical folks) so we chose to book two hotels that are very close to eachother - La Quinta for the more budget conscious (best prices we could find Downtown by far) and the Omni for those who wanted an upscale option. Both hotels are great and have been nice to work with - and while the exterior of the La Quinta leaves a little to be desired, the rooms aren't that different from The Omni. Just make sure you book blocks with each. We're saving our guests quite a bit of money with the block rate! And we're also getting a shuttle - it's picking La Quinta guests up at 4:15, then Omni guests at 4:35 before heading down to Driftwood (shuttle is such a thoughtful touch, by the way - good call!). 

HTH!

Jenny

Future Ramsey

Check out hotelplanner.com.  Booking the hotels was one of the easiest things I did for the wedding because of it.  It's really simple to use and makes it virtually hassle free versus calling around to the hotels to get quotes.  We ended up blocking rooms at 3 different hotels but we didn't have a shuttle so it wasn't an issue.  I agree with prior posts that you should check with the hotels though since many of them offer shuttles anyway.  Having your wedding on a UT game weekend could cause some traffic issues - so just plan ahead for that.  It would be better for the guests to be early rather than show up after the ceremony has started.  At our ceremony we started just about on time and I wish we would have waited a little longer before beginning because we had guests who showed up right as we were lining up to go down the isle.