Wedding Etiquette Forum

Hotel Blocks

Our venue is a restored mansion that has a hotel on the grounds. When we put down our deposit, we essentially reserved the whole venue (including the hotel rooms) for our entire wedding weekend. The venue hotel can accommodate around 110-125 people depending on how many guests are in each room. The room prices range from $150-$200, which is a special rate.

We invited 165 people, so we began looking for additional hotel blocks in the area for the guests that could not stay on-site. The problem is that our wedding falls on the opening weekend of a big local tourist attraction, so the prices of the hotel blocks we are able to find are upwards of $250, with a majority of them over $300. The hotels we contacted also require the rooms be booked at least two months in advance, or else the rooms in the block would be released.

So I'm kind of at a loss for what to do. We can:

(a) Keep the expensive room block, send invites out at 10-12 weeks (much earlier than I wanted to) and emphasize that guests should reserve their rooms ASAP
(b) Find cheaper hotel blocks at places that don't have great reviews/were not recommended by the folks at my venue
(c) Not get any hotel blocks but give guests a heads up about booking soon and offering recommendations
(d) Stop worrying about it because guests are adults and can figure this kind of thing out on their own

Note- our STDs already went out, so the only interim option to communicate with guests before invitations is by word of mouth or on our wedding website.

As an aside, it's always a good idea to look into these things before you decide on your date to make things cheaper and easier for your guests. Unfortunately, the schedule for this attraction was not finalized until this month, so we couldn't have really avoided it unless we didn't reserve the venue for the "high season" in the area.

Re: Hotel Blocks

  • Is this a destination wedding? Will 100% of your guests need a hotel room?



  • @bethsmiles - all guests will need to drive at least an hour, so I would think that most, if not all would need a hotel room.
  • With hotel prices that high, I would not be spending the night if my drive was only an hour.

    My vote is to just forget getting a block of hotels. You have rooms for the majority of your guests and that will probably be fine.



  • Is this a DW? So literally every guest will need a hotel room?

    Worst case scenario, you'll have about 40-50 people not staying on site. That's if you have 100% attendance. 

    I would get a courtesy block at one of the recommended/expensive hotels and a courtesy block at a cheaper hotel. With three options - 1) onsite 2) expensive 3) cheap - your guests should have enough choices to make them happy. 

    I would not send out your invites early. Just spread the word by mouth/phone/email/FB about the tourist attraction and limited hotel availability. Provide the info for your blocks. If people book, they book. If they don't, it's not your problem. You can't let yourself worry about things that are out of your control - you will have done all you can at that point.
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  • I agree, I wouldn't pay close to $300 for a hotel room if I was just travelling from an hour away. I would just give guests a heads up if they want to book a room so they know their options.

    Formerly martha1818

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  • With hotel prices that high, I would not be spending the night if my drive was only an hour.

    My vote is to just forget getting a block of hotels. You have rooms for the majority of your guests and that will probably be fine.

    This.

  • Do not need to send your invitations out early.  What you have blocked out should be more than enough, especially with an hour drive, a lot of people will probably go home.  So you really do not have to seek out an additional hotel rate.

    But, if you would like to provide your guests with options though, you can have another hotel with a few rooms blocked out.  If you use a company that does room blocks they can typically get better rates and may be able to get a better deal than what you have been finding. 

    If decide you do want to provide guests with an additional hotel option, use JC Room Blocks. We used them for my sister's wedding and since they do all the work it was one less thing to worry about.
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  • (a) Keep the expensive room block, send invites out at 10-12 weeks (much earlier than I wanted to) and emphasize that guests should reserve their rooms ASAP
    (b) Find cheaper hotel blocks at places that don't have great reviews/were not recommended by the folks at my venue
    (c) Not get any hotel blocks but give guests a heads up about booking soon and offering recommendations
    (d) Stop worrying about it because guests are adults and can figure this kind of thing out on their own


    Our venue also recommended hotels in the area, and we contacted them and the rates were RIDICULOUS on the weekend of our wedding. Like $400-$600/night. We ended up doing a lot of research and calling a ton of other hotels, and found 2 that could do around $250/night (not too bad in our area, although I was really hoping to find something for $199/night or less...that just wasn't in the cards with a stupid conference in town that weekend). I put the info on the website. 

    Also, while our room block only expired a month before the event (not 2 months) I did send some group emails to people simply letting them know the situation. Essentially it said something like "Hi guys! I hope to see you all at the wedding, but no pressure if you can't make it. If you're planning on staying overnight, you need to book through the room block by X date. If you want to stay elsewhere no problem, but just know that hotels in the city are going to be scarce and very expensive due to a conference in town. I'm sure you can find cheaper alternatives if you look outside the city, however. Let me know if you need any help!". 


    Yes, guests are adults and can book their own room and blah blah blah. But really, you're asking them to make the trip for you, the least you can do is try to find someplace for them to stay while you're there. You don't want people declining the invite simply because they can't find a reasonably priced option to stay. 
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