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How early did your guests book hotel rooms?

akryz33akryz33 member
First Anniversary First Comment
in North Carolina-Outer Banks
Hi Everyone!
Our wedding is in August 2013.  We just finalized booking a house for ourselves and our bridal party.  21 of us...what did I get myself into!? LOL :)

Anyway, my dear FI's mom is getting anxious about other guests booking hotels/condos/smaller houses b/c she is convinced that everything will be booked up very shortly.

How early did your guests book their accomadations? I do not want to start badgering people on my guest list to start booking, especially if they havent made their plans or even decided if they can swing the trip (most of our family and friends will be coming from NE Pennsylvania and Philadelphia).  Of course, on the other hand, I dont want to be 

Lackadaisical on the matter either and then everyone be out of luck come 2013.

I think that most people will be getting condos/small houses or hotel rooms.  I do not think any other guests will be getting a large house like the one we booked for the bridal party.

Any advice/suggestions would be wonderful.

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Re: How early did your guests book hotel rooms?

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    seashells12seashells12 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    For my daughter's June 24, 2012 wedding: Everyone staying in a hotel had their rooms booked by March 2012. Most made reservations at least 6 to 9 months ahead. We used the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn and they both suggested booking early because by April the summer reservations start coming in and they fill up quickly. Those that rented homes had their contract in by January 2012. The first three weeks of August are very popular vacation weeks in OBX. I suggest the earlier the better to make reservations. We would check in with the hotels periodically to see what their capacity was and then my daughter would post an update on their wedding website. Have your reserved a block of rooms at any hotel? Holiday Inn allowed us to reserve a block of rooms and gave a discount. Hampton Inn would only give a discount. When we checked with the Hilton Garden Inn in August 2011 their blocks of rooms were all used up and they were booked for June 2012. The wedding was in Duck and we didn't want the guests staying to far away due to the transportation we were providing. There are other hotels south of milepost 5 that you can consider.
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    seashells12seashells12 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Oh..I forgot about the Sanderling Inn....When we check with them in August 2011, they were booked and full for the June 24, 2012 long weekend that our guests would have needed!
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    ellie829ellie829 member
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    We are getting married in June of 2013 and I'm having the same issue.  I'm trying to encourage everyone to book something as soon as possible, especially the immediate family, but no one seems too concerned about it.  I made a wedding website and put tons of information on it about realtors, hotels, bed and breakfasts, etc. and told people that everything is already booking up fast, but other than hounding people to book something there's really nothing else I can do.  My only suggestion would be to try to encourage people to book now while they still have more options.  If they wait they will probably be able to find something, but it may be more expensive or not what they were looking for in a house.  What house did you end up getting by the way? We are also getting a house for the whole bridal party, but the one we originally booked fell through so now we are scrambling to find a new one.

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    ACJD714ACJD714 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    I'm glad I saw this post! I checked out several of the hotels for our July 2013 wedding and a lot are booked already! I looked up a lot of the hotels in the area and plan to list them on our wedding website along with the vacation rental companies! Without being too "pushy" I'll try to inform people they need to book way ahead if they definitely want to come to our wedding since it is during the peak season! 

    I just have a fear that people will want to crash at our rental since we are having the reception there. Did anyone else experience this if they had the reception in their rental home? 

    Thanks again for the info as it made me aware that the rooms in the Outer Banks are limited and go fast!
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    akryz33akryz33 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Seashells-thanks for your input; That was very helpful!!

    I will def get some links, etc together for my guests and encourage them to do this sooner rather than later!!  and then I'll keep an eye on how booked up they are getting so I can push the issue..haha.

    Ellie-we booked "Sandalous" with Seaside Vacations.  Its 8 Bd on Milepost 19 and sleeps 21.  It was torture finding one that fit all of our preferences...it had to not only sleep 21, but in the way that we fit our guests with the proper sleeping arrangement, it had to be a sunday check in/check out, and we really wanted a private pool.  It ended up being an ocean front property, which is great, but of course the most expensive.  But, its a super cool house and works perfectly.  Seaside Vacations has been very easy to work with thus far.

    So, at least we got this off of our list...but next i'm hitting up the next round of guests who need places to stay.  Hopefully, by the end of the month, we'll have tons of info to give them. 

    ACJD-we are just using our house as a place to stay, and having our reception in Manteo.  But, i was worried about the crashers too!! I have literally no place to put them!! But, i think most of my guests will be courteous enough to find their own accomadations...I hope. :)
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    ksj10032782ksj10032782 member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    Our wedding was Sept. 7th and most people booked the beginning of the summer for houses and hotels. People will do what they want. I wouldn't stress over it.
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