accomodations for out of town wedding party?

danielle_nichole

Hi ladies,
We are getting married in Dallas, but all of our wedding party lives out of town, so we need accomodations for them. What are the rules/etiquette when it comes to this? Do we pay for one or two nights for them? FH wants us to pay for 1 night for them, if they want to stay a second night it is on them.. We of course have the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner on Friday, and then the wedding will be at 4pm on Saturday with the reception immediately following.
We are having our reception at the Embassy Suites on Northwest Highway, near Marsh, (our wedding is at NW hwy and Midway) because we are getting married on Texas/OU weekend the cost of the rooms has jumped $50, so instead of it being $99, it is $149.99, and 2 nights for 3 rooms comes out to $1000, and then we have to add tax too...
There really aren't any other hotels nearby that would be any cheaper unless we have them stay somewhere off of 114 in Irving.

Thoughts on this?

juliebug1997

There are tons of hotels along 114 that aren't that far from NW Hwy and Marsh.  However, I think your wedding party might like to stay where the reception is at.  I also think that it's a little ridiculous to think that the wedding party isn't going to want to stay that second night.  However, I think that paying for one night would be a very nice gesture.

llc2011

I'm not really sure what the rules or etiquette is for out of town wedding party members. I am paying for a suite the night before the wedding for all the girls and the guys will be staying at a local groomsman's house.

I'm not too familiar with hotels in that area, but I hope whatever you decide, that you book fast before they sell out for Texas/OU weekend.

Terriniski

We didn't pay for the rooms.  We were certainly happy to help make arrangements for friends from out of town who wanted to share rooms to cut down the cost, but we didn't pay for the wedding party's rooms.  If you can afford to do so for even one night, that's an extremely nice gesture, but I don't think it's expected.  As a BM in an upcoming wedding, I assumed that travel and lodging costs were part of agreeing to be a BM.

Donnaaries

We're not paying for rooms because most of the bridesmaids/groomsmen are married and that would be a lot of rooms.  I am, however, covering the cost of one hotel room for my two single bridesmaids to share for 2 nights because they're both flying in from pretty far away.  We've paid for their attire, I assume by accepting their roles as groomsmen/bridesmaids they're agreeing to travel costs (which they would be paying as a regular wedding guest anyway).

Jay+Marissa

I don't think you are expected to pay for the rooms, though it would be a nice gesture.

FYI--are those rooms blocked? A friend of mine couldn't find a hotel room for his OU/TX weekend wedding night when he tried to book in June. He had to go out to Grapevine to get something. I'd book asap.

MarieSD

I've been trying to decide this too. We have 4 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen - none local. The only hotel rooms near my wedding venues are around $125. Ouch!

The old-school ettiquette books I bought were recommending that I figure out a relative for them to stay with - but my family is from OOT as well, so that was no help.

Luckily, I found a bunch of sources on the internet saying it's not required to pay for their hotel rooms. http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/bridal-party/articles/bridesmaids-etiquettes-for-the-bride.aspx

So, it's really up to you and if you want to. I'm still pretty torn on this, but since I have a year, what I'm doing is putting all my extra money in a bank account specifically for "extras" like this. If all goes well, I'll cover all the hair and makeup for my bridesmaids, and one night in the hotel for all eight. If it goes exceptionally well this year, I'll do hair/makeup/two nights in hotel/shuttle for all guests/etc.

rcpm44

Ok, first of all it's OU/TX weekend.   Second, we are getting married the same night (October 2nd) and we are staying at the same hotel (Embassy Suites by Bass Pro Shop, right?) the night before and the night of our wedding. For my guests I have blocked off 10 rooms as of right now and the price is $119 a night. I also booked our bridal suite and night of room (same room) on the 12th floor (it's a mega-suite) for $169. I don't know who you are talking to but you've gotten wrong information. I've been talking to Beata Hill, when you call again ask for her. She set up the prices for me and I'm more than happy. If you have any questions I'll try to help!

danielle_nichole

Thanks so much ladies!

So how do we approach our bridal party and tell them we wuold be happy to pay for the first night, but night #2 is on them? We only have to pay for 3 rooms, so it definitely could be worse :-)

We have 20 rooms blocked off as part of our contract for having the reception there, 10 rooms for each night.

RCPM - we are actually at the Embassy Suites in Dallas, off of Northwest Highway and March, near Dallas/Love Field, our church that we are getting married at is at Northwest Highway and Midway.

MarieSD

You could tell the hotel you want to pay for only 1 night for these 3 particular guests. Then you can tell your bridal party that you already booked rooms specifically for them at a "super-special bridal party discount rate." They'll only know they're paying $150 for two nights in the hotel, which is still a good deal.

Or you can offer them the cash for the nightly rate of the closest hotel, and they can take the money and make their own arrangements. Once they know that, they might choose to share a room to save money, or stay with someone they know in town, or find a cheaper hotel.

Depending on what you're doing the night before the wedding, you could also get creative with that. I might stay in a suite the night before the wedding and invite my bridesmaids to share it - kind of a "last slumber party" kind of thing. If I do, I'll offer that the groomsmen can stay with FI in our house. I'd only have to pay for one room (albeit a big one) on Friday night, and if they don't want to party the night before, they will make their own arrangements for that night. This might be what I offer if I have enough for one night for all of them on Saturday night, but not quite enough for two nights for all.