Should guest pay for own lodging?

malikmakhi

My fiance and I are planning a beachfront ceremony and poolside reception at an event home. My fiance and I planned on paying for the event home, however it is very expensive to get an event home to accomodate all of our guest. There are not a lot of nice hotels so I figured it would be better for everyone to stay at the event home, and i only have about 20 guest.  Is it tacky to ask my guest to contribute towards the event home. I feel like I am spending more money for my guest to have a free vacation, but on the other hand I feel like I dont want to ask guests to pay to come to my wedding. I'm not sure about this one....what do you all think?????

dwfangirl

We paid for the event home, where a number of our family and bridal party stayed, but we also had guests staying in hotels that we didn't pay for.  For us, I think it was really worth it.  Almost everyone staying in the event home stayed the whole week, which may not have happened had we divided the costs among the guests.  So while it did increase the budget, it was awesome to have so many people there for that whole time.  

It also avoided the complexity of figuring out if you are going to divide the cost of the house by the # of bedrooms, or charge a fee per bedroom per night in case not everyone is staying the whole week... And then you have to collect money from your guests... You would also have to decide if you are going to clear the total $$ for the house with your guests before reserving.  If not, you may inadvertently be asking them to pay more than they can (or want to) spend.  

That being said, I certainly don't think you have to pay for your guests' lodging.  No one expected us to when we told them we were, and of course they were very happy and thankful that we did.  I also suspect your guests will really appreciate the gesture and may give you a larger gift if you do choose to pay, which would help offset the additional upfront cost. 

ms_teach

Our guests are paying their own way.  We're hosting several optional wedding events to help with their food costs.  We rented a 4 bedroom house and initially thought we might offer that to our close family, but in the end we decided to keep it all to ourselves.  We didn't want to get in trouble with exactly who to invite to stay with us and decided we really wanted our privacy.

I think it's a nice gesture if you can afford it AND if you're comfortable not having your own place. 

Krhoy20

We are renting a 7-bedroom event home. My parents are paying for it but we also invited close family the option to stay with us or they could get a hotel. We are asking them to pay a per night fee(i think its like $45/night/pp). We left it up to them.
We also have guests coming and staying in nearby hotels that we also didnt pay for. Most of our house guests arent staying the whole, which is fine with us. This way they can pay for what they can afford!!!!
We are having a lot of pre-wedding events to help them cover costs for meals...we are planning a welcome lunch, rehersal dinner, the wedding(food), and a day after brunch! Hoping this off-sets some of their costs.

kolaughlin23

We paid for a house and my parents also paid for a house. I did not ask my guests to pay, but we did not get a very expensive house. I knew most people would not be able to afford to come if they had to pay for lodging, so we payed so that our close family and friends could be there with us.

JENNIFERMCKENZIE

I like what Krhoy20 is doing.  That way you are giving them the option.  My husband and I stayed in the house the first night.  I had the bridesmaids stay with me the night before the weddng.  Then just the two of us on our wedding night.  Which is something you want to think about  If you are getting married at the house, do you really want 15 people there with you? Then the next day we had family movie and a few friends.  The people who were staying an extra couple days we ask to come stay at the house.

keb2482

My parents are renting a 10BR house for two weeks, we will get married the middle weekend.  Our idea was that close family and bridal party would not have to pay for lodging.  However, in order to cover that we are probably going to have to rent another house nearby for a partial week (we are getting married Memorial Day weekend).  I have started a website of affordable lodging for a week and hotel options for my guests.   For our wedding night, we will stay at the First Colony Inn so we can be alone.  This works best for us as we will have a 3 year old and a 10 month old.