Hotel Rooms

krizzo17

My fmil wants us to provide a hotel room for our officiant since he lives an hour from our wedding venue. I can't figure out if she means the night between the rehearsal and the wedding, or the night of the wedding.

I don't think an hour is that far to drive, and whether or not he stays for the reception is his choice (he likely will; he's known fi's family for many years through their church).

So, two part question. Should I provide a hotel room for him and his wife, and which night am I supposed to do it?

dumdumfroggie

You don't need to provide a hotel room.  However, if you're mom is wanting to do so, it's a nice gesture.

I'd ask him if he'd be interested and what night.

Mrs.B6302007

I would think she intended the night before the wedding so that he's not driving an hour to the rehearsal, an hour home and then repeating the following day for the wedding.   I do think it's a very nice gesture to offer it to him and his wife and see what they say.  It's not his decision to hold the wedding an hour from his home so they shouldn't have to drive back and forth that many times unless they choose to do so by turning down an offer to stay in a hotel.  That's what I would do, anyway.

You may not think an hour each way is a big deal but he would be doing this 4 times.  That could be close to a tank of gas depending on the vehicle, not to mention the extra mileage.  And just for thought, what if he were to have some kind of vehicle trouble on the way to the wedding?  If he's staying in town, someone could go pick him up in a jiffy.  If he's an hour away, that could very well delay the start of your wedding.

Mrs.B6302007

Meant to add: since this is your FMIL's idea, I think that SHE should be responsible for the cost or could at least split it with you.

becky659

Our Preacher lives an hour and fifteen minutes away and we will be paying for him to stay close to our venu the night before the wedding (after the rehearsal dinner). I feel that it's the polite thing to do, since we appreciate him and his wife driving up and it would be a pain for him to make that drive four times in two days.

krizzo17

Eh, I found cheap hotel rooms (at a decent hotel, not some sketchy place) near our venue for $50 on orbitz, so I'll probably just book him one there between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, assuming he wants it. I was more confused about which night to book it for (I think fmil actually wanted the night of the wedding?), but MrsB has a good point about the distance in case of car issues, a storm, etc. Fi and I live in an area (and so does the officiant) where most people drive an hour or so each way to work, so we're a little biased on how much is a lot of time on the road.