Paying for accomodation at the reception

Rambosmum

50 rooms, that's 100 guests staying, give or take. How many guests are you having (whole day guests as evening only guests rarely travel and stay over).

Is the hotel close to home and where lots of the guests will be coming from? If it is then a taxi home will be cheaper than £75 so most won't pay it.

If the hotel is far from home then you may get some guests staying over. But if there is a premier inn or travelodge near by, expect people to say no and stay there instead - particularly if people are likely to stay the night before as well. Can you afford to pay the whole cost if no guests stay or say you only get 10 rooms booked?

gettingtheresometime

wouldn't be miffed if I paid the bride & groom the cost of the room rather than the hotel so long as it was the cost of the room I was paying rather than a little extra to cover the cost of any vacant rooms (or even helping to pay towards the cost of the wedding)

However I would be miffed if pressure was applied for me to stay rather than use an alternative hotel or go home (if practical)

penguingirl

Why do you need exclusive use of the hotel? Some couple who you don't know staying in the hotel that you never see is not going to make a difference to your day. I'd just book the venue you want, and encourage your family/friends to stay in the same hotel but I wouldn't book it. I've sometimes stayed in the hotel where the wedding is, but sometimes stayed in the premier inn down the road. For £75 B&B I'd probably stay but I like a choice. Worst one I went to was when I was bridesmaid and the 'special rate' for guests was actually more expensive than the standard rate, but I think the hotel just banked on people not checking!

Gloomendoom

I wouldn't mind paying the bride or groom for a room in a decent hotel.

If I were the bride or groom however, I wouldn't even consider paying for 50 rooms in advance. I would be looking for a new venue.

BigAunty

Dark_elf wrote: »

Don't book any rooms apart from your own. Send invites out as early as possible. Say rooms are limited and available on a first come first served basis. They may book all the rooms or they may book three. Worst case scenario = there may be strangers at your hotel - boo hoo. It's not as if they will crash your wedding .

This sounds like a fantasy option.

By the sounds of it, the venue will not allow a booking without either the payment upfront or a contract that obliges the couple to pay for the entire accommodation, and that the hotel will not participate in direct bookings.

Serendipitious

I've only ever stayed the night at a wedding twice. Once was because I was MoB and had to be there till the last guests went home, and the other was because the wedding was over 100 miles from home. All other weddings I've been happy to travel home from afterwards.

I'd be inclined to forego the exclusive use, but I would certainly tell guests that rooms are available by booking direct with the hotel. That way, you may still achieve numbers that make it almost or entirely exclusive, and it's not the end of the world if you don't. But at least it hasn't cost you anything or put pressure on your relationships with your guests.

In the few days before the wedding you will have enough to do without having to continually update the hotel about guests needing to change their room requirements or informing them of sudden cancellations etc.

SavingPennies_2

LannieDuck wrote: »

I've been invited to a wedding before where there were x number of rooms available at the venue for £xx - let the bride / groom know asap if you'd like one. It worked just fine - I always find it more convenient to have a room in the same place as the event (no need for taxis etc), but people who wanted to find somewhere cheaper were welcome to do so.

Only risk (as PPs have said) is that you may not get all 50 rooms filled.

Yep did the same recently and for a similar price, it worked fine and most of the other guests did the same thing as it was just less hassle all round, a few preferred to find their own accommodation or travelled home afterwards. If you must have the place to yourself, just be prepared to take the hit of covering the cost of empty rooms if people choose to stay elsewhere.

GoldenShadow

It would be a rare event for me to stay the night after someone's wedding. Only if it was somewhere far away and to be honest, they'd have to be a really good friend for me to want to go.

My friend just had her wedding. 80 day guests. Out of 20 rooms only 11 were used. Loads of people also dropped out just two or three weeks before the big day, she is from Scotland and everyone had promised to come but then said they didn't have the cash/it was too far.

If you can't afford to take the hit I would be very wary. But then I'm not a believer of perfect venues and wouldn't be heartbroken over one, so perhaps coming from too different an angle.

belfastgirl23

I think aiming for exclusive use of the hotel if you have to fill all 50 room is ambitious unless you're having a big wedding, you have wealthy family and friends or are getting married quite far from home. Personally I'm usually happy to stay at the venue, and £75 per room seems really reasonable, but if the wedding was close to home I probably wouldn't bother. I also wouldn't like being expected to but I'd be fine with someone asking the question.

My advice would be do a quick straw poll of family and friends to see if they think they might want a room or not - without any pressure to agree. And then make a decision as to whether you can afford it. People like to be asked their opinion and it's not like choosing food options where people might be miffed if you don't take their advice. You aren't asking for advice you're just asking if they think they might like to stay. Simple. I hope!

ceecee1

This just reminds me of a funny story - not relevant but linked to the exclusive use.

I was with a group of about 6 people in a hotel where we were staying as we were working away from home. We got into a habit of going into the bar when we got back for a couple.... on night we were just sat in the room when a wedding party came in and surrounded us. Someone then started to video all of the people in the room.
We tried to wave them away but they insisted on us being on the video, just makes me laugh, every time the wedding video is watched they must always wonder who the mystery guests were.

Have a great day whatever you do, and I wouldn't pay for the rooms either