hotel weddings

My first wedding was in a stately home that is now a hotel. It was absolutely fine. I don't remember coming into contact with any other hotel guests anyway. Certainly our guests were the only ones on the terrace where we had post ceremony drinks, and the only ones in our reception hall. I think you'll get the same "exclusive" feel if you a) have a smart enough hotel and b) make sure they only do one wedding there per day.

We are having and have attended a few hotel weddings and have always enjoyed them, there is less hassle as everything and everyone is in the same place, you don't have to provide guests transport etc either so you'll save on the budget there and many hotels have packages that include such things as table centre pieces and ceremony arrangements so you will save on that as well.

We don't have any wedding cars to pay for either as we will already be at the hotel so there is none required so another saving. Our venue has two function rooms available so I was concerned about having another wedding held on the same day, but the wedding co ordinator explained that they work it so the two parties don't cross paths and the larger function suite is entered separately from hotel and as we booked the day first anyone booking the other function suite would have to work around our timings so they could insure that both parties are in different areas at all times, for example another bride would have to hold her ceremony before 1 pm (ours is at 3.30) so her meal inside would be taking place when we were using the gardens. We also booked all the suites and family rooms in advance in the hope that it would put other perspective brides off booking ( sneaky but needs must!)

My advice is get some costings from hotels that are the correct size for your wedding and check what there package has that allows you to make savings in other areas.

Good luck !

L x

Yea i dont feel exclusive use is really essential as i assume you will be using your own private function rooms and i am sure anyone else staying in the hotel will be accomodating i.e. ensuring they are not in your way when having photos in communal areas etc

IMHO hotel weddings are the way to go, if you get a good venue and only have 1 wedding a day then you can just leave everything in the hands of the hotel staff who will have the experience to deal with anything.

You won't have to worry about transportation or people getting lost on the way (I'veseen this happened a few times including the TOG from church to venue)

As soon as the ceremony is done you can just relax and get a drink, have some nice pictures taken and have a chat to people.

Our hotel has two function rooms on different floors which are 2 floors apart. our room is on the ground floor with private terrace area. the rooms allocated to our guests are on the floor above our function suite and the other function suite will have rooms on the floor above theirs. the weddings will be a minimum of 3 hours apart for the ceremony so we wont bump into each other but at the moment we are the only wedding for that date.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I went to see a hotel yesterday and actually it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I managed to persuade the wedding planner into making sure we were the only wedding on the day we want so I don't bump into another bride. In fact they were so accommodating and at least I know my wedding day would be in the hands of the professionals so you'd think it would go without a hitch!

Fingers crossed it all goes well!

We're getting married in a hotel and that was what I wanted. I want to stop the night before, get ready there and have everything in one place. Our venue is actually pretty small with only 14 bedrooms so no chance of another bride but we have taken exclusive use anyway just so we didn't end up with other diners in there.

Some venues we looked at were huge and the staff seemed pretty good and assured us we wouldn't see the other party but I was still concerned that as we would be the smaller wedding and therefore smaller cost that we wouldn't get as good treatment, rightly or wrongly.

If you have your heart set on being the only wedding I would make sure you have that in writing....the planner may leave before your big day! I also think it is unreasonable to expect a business to turn down another booking if they have other function space available if you have not paid a exclusivity charge but well done if they agree to it.

I agree get something in writing! We read an online review of our venue which mentioned two weddings and normal hotel guests! We decided on a February wedding do exclusive use was only £100 more and we also have all bedrooms the night before as well.

May be consider a smaller hotel? We are getting Married at a lovely hotel with 22 bedrooms (which we have all of) There is one function room so I know I will be the only bride

We are getting married in a big chain hotel, and there is another wedding on the same day they get married just before us. They have there own entrance to the suit they have and our access is through the hotel reception. This doesn't bother me. They said that in the many years they have held weddings only once the brides met and that was at the very end of the evening.

The package we have is great, all the food, drinks for arrival and wedding breakfast are included. All the table decerations, chair covers and sashe, favours and cake!. Basically we have just had to sort clothes and any extras that we wanted. We also get a bridal suite for the night of the wedding complementry. So I have booked the same suite for the night before so plenty of room for me and the 6 bridesmaids to get ready! OH is staying at home and we have arranged a campervan to bring him his son and Bestman to the venue.

Most of our guests are travelling and most have booked rooms to stay the night of the wedding and some are even staying the night before. I wanted to make sure that all those that wanted to stay could.

If they have said that you will be the only wedding on that day get it in writing. I speak to our venue and then confirm everything in an email afterwards and ask for there confirmation of receipt and approval. All of these I have kept.

You'll know when you find the right place we looked at 5 different places and this one was just the right one!

Hi

We're having our whole wedding at a country house hotel and because of the time of year/day we're getting married we get complimentary exclusive use of the hotel. All we have to do is guarantee we fill all 14 bedrooms which hopefully won't be a problem.

If you are willing to compromise on the day and time of year then you'd be surprised at what you can get for your money. I didn't think we'd be able to get this venue for what we are paying in a million years

L x

I attended a hotel wedding last year and that was good, hotels Seem to offer less expensive wedding packages for obvious reasons. I don't remember seeing any other guests and me and my fiancé booked a night at the hotel too.

For our wedding however we have exclusive use of a manor and all the accommodation, which is exactly what we wanted. We are having the ceremony and reception at the same place so still no transportation worries and it means we can enjoy a lovely breakfast the next day with our nearest and dearest.

Hotel weddings are great but if you have your heart set on exclusive use it might not live up to your expectations.

It is worth really looking at what is available to you in the area. OH didn't want a hotel and preferred exclusive use. We found a lovely manor house with accomodation used as a management training venue in the week and empty at weekends apart from if they hold a wedding. They were cheaper than paying some hotels for exclusive use and have grounds and a wonderful building full of character for the wedding. They have realised that weddings are quite profitable for them now in an otherwise empty building at weekends and have ploughed money into refurbing it and it looks even better now. So glad we shopped around.

We are in a hotel but the area where our wedding is is "exclusive" to our party, so I guess we have best of both worlds. There were too many advantages for us to having it at a hotel ie no transport issues/costs, guests can stay and can head back to rooms to freshen up/have early night at their leisure, set up when we want that day etc. We are also having a Thursday wedding so there are no others going on which is a good thing

Well, we've booked our wedding! we've gone for a hotel. It was getting stupid with the exclusive hire costs, Somerset is filled with beautiful places but even a November wedding was coming in way above what we wanted!

I'm really happy with the deal we got (and in writing!) I feel really confident that as the place we are going to does weddings regularly we are going to be in very safe hands and the wedding planner was great!

We will be the only wedding there on the day and there is plenty of places for people to stay with access to the spa etc and our guests are treating this as a weekend away as well as our wedding!

200 sleeps to go! can't wait :-)