I want to talk about lodging arrangements. Because clearly this is tricky, and clearly I haven't given it quite enough thought. I am certainly not saying that our wedding is an imposition, but I am recognizing that we can do some things to help people out with the costs of attending.Our gorgeous wedding venue would be an excellent place for our guests to stay--no driving at the end of the party!--but their heavily discounted rate of $200 for two people* is way out of reach for many of our guests. We have grad students coming, people. And artists.
So we are also booking a block of rooms at a nearby Radisson Suites, which helps in several ways:
1. It brings the room rate down to $89 a night.
2. They're suites, and actually big enough for four people, so that could bring the room rate down to $22.25 per night for those willing to share.
3. It's on the same street as our venue, so how lost can people get?
4. It, itself, has a pool, on-site restaurant, and plenty of palm trees. Being in Tucson in 95-degree heat in a yucky indoor hotel is miserable the second you get outside. Being in Tucson in 95-degree heat with a POOL and a BAR is vacation. We definitely want it to feel like vacation.
However, I'm still nervous about the lodging situation. He-Mouse and I have spent a lot of years scrimping and saving to get out of debt, and a lot of hours trying to figure out how to afford to go to people's weddings. I want to make it easy for people to come to ours, and make them feel like it won't break the bank. I came up with a few ideas.
We're going to have a Housing Exchange section on our wedding website where people can volunteer to host an out-of-town guest, or let us know that they can't afford a hotel. And then we can match them. We're going to do the same thing with rental cars, because while people really do need car transportation in Tucson, they will all be driving to the same places. We're also budgeting a small subsidy for one member of the bridal party who is seriously broke, so that she can have some money to put towards her airfare, dress, hotel, or whatever else she needs help with. It's not much, but I wanted to recognize that she's going to great lengths to be there and that it actually costs her a lot more than it costs others to come.
How about you guys? Have you figured out good ways to save your guests some cash?
Also, a question. I have never reserved a block of rooms before. Is having to pay for one of them should the block not fill a normal policy?
UPDATE: Called nearby hotel to see if they charge for unfilled rooms. Nope. So called the Radisson and now they aren't either. Woohoo!
* Which does include breakfast...
10 comments:
We reserved blocks of rooms at two different hotels for my wedding, and that was not a policy at either (which was good, as all of the family members flocked to one, and not a single person stayed at the other).
We're working on setting up something like this as well - Budget will do a group rate for rental cars, and our hotel options are going to require that people rent cars or ride Baltimore City Public Transit. (Trying to word "be careful because people get assaulted on the metro regularly" for our wedding website is.not.easy.)
I hadn't thought of doing a housing swap, but I have some friends who would love to host an OOT guest or two from the UK. I know most of our friends will crash with other friends, and the majority of them are from the area, or their parents are, so they have been less of a concern.
I think the Radisson sounds like a good idea - you are clearly trying to make it as easy as possible, and sometimes it's just not easy. We are going to a wedding in Cape Cod 2 weeks before ours where my FI is a groomsman and we have to stay 3 nights in a hotel room and fly up and probably rent a car. It's expensive. But we are /thrilled/ to do it; and your friends are too.
If you ever doubt that, remember what Meg said on APW - your wedding is NOT an imposition. Do what you can to make it easy, but don't rip your hair out over it.
the rental car exchange idea is great! when you have a lot of visitors coming from out of town i think it really makes it less of a burden when you help them figure out how to get around without blowing money on rental cars.
Your Radisson option sounds awesome! Don't second guess yourself too much. But we had similar worries, so we put up a range of options on our wedding website:
1-the hotel we blocked rooms at (mid-range pricewise)
2-a list of nearby b&bs at various price points
3-links to vrbo and other apartment rental possibilities
4-an offer to try and match people with couches if they were strapped for cash.
Most people did no. 3 actually, we were surprised! If people stuff themselves into a rental, it can be really economical. I think only 3 people stayed in our hotel block. I think it was awesome that we offered so many options, and I definitely think it`s a nice idea to explicitly offer to find people couches and stuff if they need it (they might otherwise be too shy to ask).
Re: the hotel blocks. Our contract had no liability on our part. They just stated that they would release any unbooked rooms 1 month before the wedding, which we made clear to guests. They tried to sneak a thing into our contract saying we'd have to pay if someone cancelled their reservation on short notice, but I got them to change it. My understanding is that a reputable hotel generally has the above policy (of releasing unbooked rooms close to the date).
we kinda lucked out on this... our hotels are right next door to each other on the metro line that travels to the venue. The cost of the rooms are: $69, $100, and $119. We *think* that will be affordable to our guests, but you're right - it's not just the hotel they're paying for. So setting up a home exchange is a fantastic idea. I'm definitely going to offer our apartment to a wedding guest(s) that need some help. I wish i had that option for the MANY weddings I have attended and am still paying for. God that's sad to type that sentence.
The housing exchange is a great idea- I've been assuming that people will stay at my mom's house as she has several extra rooms/beds, but am starting to realize that they are filling up fast and we'll have to start recommending hotels to people. I wish our venue was just a tad closer to the beach (it's about an hour away) because there are TONS of rentals down there that people could cram into. Not a lot of people are flying in, but a ton are driving in so we're okay transportation wise.
I think you're definitely making an awesome effort and have covered all your bases.
It sounds like you've got it covered. The block at the Radisson sounds like an affordable option, so I would definitely opt for that, especially if it will be easy to get to from your venue.
Dear Mouse you must be a mind reader because this exact situation has caused me no end of stress this last week. Though most of our guests are in fact not out of towners, our venue is a 1-2 hour drive for most of them. Add this to an open bar (provided by us!) and you see we have a slight problem of where should people stay (a problem said people have been very vocal about). The only hotel in the area is very expensive (and completely not worth it, imho) plus we are getting married during the 4th of July weekend.
We are looking at getting a bus that will pickup/drop off at two points in the city as part of our solution, and renting a large house for the bridal party to stay in (with us) as the other. But both options are going to cost us a pretty penny that we may not have.
we reserved blocks at two different hotels, and i don't think that was the policy. we needed a lot of rooms, so i wanted a bigger block, but they said i had to start with a block of say, 25 rooms, and i could only get more once those 25 rooms were filled. being that we're getting married memorial day weekend, the block was filled, but now there are no more rooms available at the hotel, so we're trying to figure out other places for guests to stay. sigh.
We are borrowing a house for the seriously skint and putting them up for free (although we can only do this thanks to the crazy generosity of owners of said house)and we are laying on free travel to and from the party (ahem, wedding) which is in an, admittedly picturesque, 'burb of the middle of nowhere and arranging car pooling to get there in the first place.
Oh, and we are also not having a gift register...
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