The Willowbrook Mill - Lodging

Re: The Willowbrook Mill - Lodging

• mibride422 member

  

  May 2014 edited May 2014

  We got married at the Willowbrook.  The lodging experience was a lot of work, but paid off in the end.  Long story short, we housed our guests in a variety of locations:

  
  

  1.  Privately owned residences rented in Northport (off VRBO or Homeaway).

  
  

  2.  Blocked off the Homewood Cottages (they have nearly 10 1- and 2-bedroom cottages on one compound; was a great way to house a bunch of guests).

  
  

  3.  We placed some vendors and older guests (i.e., guests that did not drink much or at all) in B&Bs in Suttons Bay and Omena.

  
  

  4.  There is a hotel opening downtown this summer (was not available for our wedding, but may be for yours).

  
  

  There are a few things to keep in mind.  The first is to figure out the size of your guest list.  It helps to have a clear handle of how many people you need to find space for in a small town.  The second is timing - many of these places book up to a year in advance, and depending on the time of year, can be pretty expensive.  Our wedding was before the peak season lodging prices and 7-night minimum stays began.  You'll want to encourage guests to book lodging far, far in advance - we included lodging information as an insert with our save-the-dates.  I would say 2/3 of our guests had their lodging booked at least 6 months before the wedding.  The third is to be creative.  Maybe a couple families would be interested in renting a house together, and you can help facilitate those pairings.

  
  

  Good luck!  

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