Most weddings nowadays involve guests traveling from out of town to share your day. You can show your appreciation for their extra effort in a couple of ways.
First, sending out Save the Date cards anywhere from six months to a year in advance will help your out of town guests make the necessary arrangements to attend. Your Save the Date cards can be as simple as a creation from your home computer printed on a nice card stock or as elaborate as your imagination allows. Your Save the Date cards give your guests their first impression of your wedding.
Once you’ve sent out your Save the Date cards you should block rooms at a local hotel for your guests. This entails choosing a hotel or two, preferably close to the reception/ceremony site, contacting the hotel to arrange a group discount, and blocking the rooms. Blocking rooms is simply asking the hotel to set aside a certain number of rooms from the general inventory for your guests. You are not reserving rooms and should not have to pay anything. Some things to keep in mind when blocking rooms are the distance to the ceremony/reception site. Your out of town guests may not be familiar with your city/town and the easier it is for them to get the your wedding, the better. Sometimes it isn’t possible to get a hotel close to the site, in this case choose a reasonable location based on your knowledge of the city/town. Most hotels will give you a group discount when you block a quantity of rooms, also known as a corporate rate. Make sure the rate they give you is actually lower or at least the same as the regular rate. The best way to check is to enquire about their group rates and call back in a day or two and enquire about their rates for the day of your wedding. If the “discounted” rate is higher, find another hotel. When you block rooms, you should not have to pay any amount. If a hotel asks you to give your credit card number as security, find another hotel. Most hotels will release the rooms anywhere from one week to one month prior to the wedding, so ensure your guests are aware of this.
You may wish to block rooms prior to sending out your Save the Date cards and include the hotel information with the cards. If you are planning on sending a pre-wedding newsletter the hotel information can also be sent on that.
Contact one or more airlines to determine the flights available for those who may be flying. This is especially considerate if the majority of your guests are flying in from one location. You can provide flight numbers, times and costs to your guests with your Save the Date cards, pre-wedding newsletter, or a personal call or email.
Now, the Save the Date cards are sent, the hotel rooms are blocked and the flights are available. The next thing you know, the wedding is just around the corner. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce or Tourism organization to obtain information about any events that may be happening the weekend of your wedding and general tourist information. You can send this out prior to the wedding or arrange with the hotel to make available to each guest as they check in.
On that note, many brides and grooms prepare small welcome baskets for their out of town guests, as yet another gesture of appreciation. This is by no means necessary, but a lovely touch. The baskets can be as simple or elaborate as you like. You can include the tourist information, a map card from the hotel to the wedding, a small gift of two of your choice, and top it off with a bow. Have the hotel place these in each guest’s room before they arrive.
If your guests are flying, you may wish to arrange transportation from the airport to the hotel for them. You can do this by picking them up using several cars (and good friends!) or by renting a bus if you have a large number of guests.
Some of your guests may be bringing children with them. Keep this in mind when you choose the hotel to block rooms in (proximity to family restaurants, waterslides/pools). You may wish to pre-arrange baby-sitting services for the little ones. This is a must if you are not having children at the wedding. Parents who have to bring their children from out of town will not have the means to find quality child care for their kids in a strange city. Even if you are inviting the children, it’s a good idea to arrange for childcare in the event the parents would prefer not to bring the kids to the reception.
Many couples are choosing to have a morning brunch or gift opening the day after the wedding to allow time to visit family and out of town guests. This can be held at a private home or a restaurant. Serve coffee, tea, juice, bagels and fruit. This allows the couple a chance to socialize on a more intimate basis than most weddings allow for.
Your guests who are traveling have incurred significant expenses and taken the time to be with you on your special day. Even a few of these thoughtful touches will create fond memories of your wedding for all of your guests.
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