Cost of overnight accommodation at our wedding venue- thoughts please

I think it's a lot if theres no other option, but as you say theres another hotel nearby slightly cheaper..

Our venue rooms are £185 each, but then there are only 10 of them which we've filled fairly easily. Everyone else can book into the local holiday inn at more like £85..

Honestly.. I wouldn't pay that. If a wedding I went to had rooms at the venue for that price, I'd look elsewhere and it really wouldn't cross my mind about what experience the bride and groom might be imagining. Even if it did, it still wouldn't make me stay.

Some might be happy to pay it - close family and friends perhaps, but I think you'd struggle to get everyone to shell out that much.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear..!

We considered a hotel like this for our venue but it was over budget and we couldn't ask people pay for a room. We found something we prefered anyway and I didn't like the thought of having the wedding reception in a hotel. However, even though I know I couldn't have asked my family and friends to pay (because I knew that they wouldn't have liked to and live close enough not to want to pay for a hotel room anyway) your circumstances might be different. Try asking a few people how they would feel and whether they would be able to afford it. Although, if i was a guest I would be happy to pay this. Hope this helps.

If it was for family or a close friend, I would pay it. However, if it was a work friend or someone I wouldn't class as a 'close' friend, I would begrudge paying that much. Ours are £110 at the venue and I thought that was quite steep.

I don't think it's too much if you're able to offer another nearby option that's cheaper. The bedrooms at our venue are £160-£245, but there's a hotel less than a mile away that's only £70 a night, so options.

The rooms in our hotel are £140 each and some of our guests asked for rooms straight away knowing the price however people don't have to stay if they don't want to.

Some of our guests have taken the cheaper option of a bed and breakfast just down the road which is same price for 2 nights so oh family are staying in there for the night before and night of wedding.

I never expected anyone to stay at our venue as I appreciate it's a lot of money and although we would like hotel to be full of our guests it may turn out this is not the case although we only have 18 rooms to fill and most of these are full already.

I don't think u should allow this to be the deciding factor in whether or not u can book this venue as people may say they will stay but change their mind when it comes to booking.

Do you have 30 people wanting rooms, if they are close family and friends then ask them if they would pay that.

I would definatly not over budget yourselves if you can not afford it don't do it!

The two hotels near my venue are £99 and £65 a night and we have a pretty much 50/50 split as to where people are choosing to stay. We're at the more expensive of the two and, to put it in perspective, everyone who is coming is working and average incomes.

Also, i have to say that when my SIL got married and our only choices were rooms at about £185 a pop, I didn't feel great about it. That said, you know your guests circumstances so you should plan accordingly. How many of the people that you really want to be there, might not be able to afford it? If they probably can, then go for it!

It depends on your guests and what they can afford to pay, we went to a wedding which was too far for us to go home so we stayed and the room was £95, this was just a friend so I would be willing to pay slightly more if it was a family member. Your wedding is in 2013 though so people have plenty of notice and if they want to be a part of your big day, will budget for this xx

I'd personally struggle to pay that much for accommodation for someone else's wedding (as I don't have a lot of discretionary income, and would want to put what I do have towards dressing appropriately, transport, and a good gift, and then only what accommodation was necessary). I don't think it's the host's responsibility to find rooms for everyone or cater to their budgets, so what I'd do if I were a guest (for a day/ evening rather than weekend wedding) is research the options beforehand, leave a bit earlier if necessary and stay at something like a travel lodge before heading home. If the weekend idea were raised as part of the wedding I'd probably find a polite way to decline if there were no options that I could afford in reasonable travel distance to get back. (My answers may change depending on how close I was to the bride, groom or couple: if it were my best friend or a family member I'd suck it up and pay, despite the difficulties it would cause. Although I'd probably also be brave enough to raise the issue of affordability with them). The "experience" thing doesn't really come into it for me at that sort of price (and I must confess as long as it's clean and moderately comfortable, a hotel room is a hotel room to me).

But it really comes down to your individual guests- some might love that sort of thing and have the income to do it (I wouldn't book unless you were pretty sure of that if you can't afford it without filling the hotel). Are there any guests (family members, good friends) who you can sound out about the guest list's specific situations? How big a deal is it (apart from the financial aspect) if guests slip away in the evening and don't have the weekend experience- would it upset you? I think those are the questions I'd be asking.

£155 seems quite expensive to me. If I were a guest I would definitely be doing a full search to find something cheaper nearby such as a B&B. As a special treat I wouldn't mind splashing out on a nice hotel (or if I was in the wedding party/very close to the couple), but I'm at the age where there's a few weddings a year now and I don't want to be spending a fortune just for somewhere to crash for the night after a wedding.

For our wedding, we've not got accommodation at our venue. Instead we have secured a good rate at a local hotel, at £80/room. However I already know some people are looking for something cheaper which I was surprised about. There are plenty of options near our venue though.

I think it sounds a lot for 1 night. Like many people, if it was family or a close friend I would probably pay, but if not, I would be tempted to look elsewhere and it probably wouldn't occur to me to think that the bride and groom wanted me to stay unless it was stated on the invite. I don't know what your budget is, but could you subsidise the rooms if having everyone stay is important? Or say that you'd like it in place of a wedding gift? 30 rooms is a lot to fill if you're committed to paying for them all.

I thought ours were expensive at £140 a room discounted rate. i paid £100 for my friends wedding and that was above a pub and i thought that was a little steep!!

Do you have to take all of the rooms or can they not negotiate a cheaper price with you? I would probably pre-warn my guests just so the cost doesn’t come as a big surprise to them when they get the invite

We were quite lucky in the respect that the hotel at the venue has only just been built (it's a golf club and they have just added a stunning hotel and spa to it) and as we booked the wedding over 12 months ago we weren't tied into any rooms although they have provisionally booked 10 rooms at a reduced rate for us but as most people only live about 15 minutes away i doubt they will all be taken. They have also given us our room for free but i have heard that people booking now are bring told they have to take 20 rooms as part of the package

I was thinking ours were a lot at £110. I think it works out very expensive by the time you've added travel, accommodation, drinks etc, but if you don't have much other option then that's fine. People don't have to book them if they don't want. Also, if you give people enough warning then they might find it cheaper elsewhere online. I found ours for about £70 a couple of months ago via bookings.com.

The hotel we have chosen has rooms from £100 - £300 and I think this is ok... when you think about it, £150 a room between two people isn't much when they're going to be fed and have a lovely day!

My hotels room rate (special rate for the wedding is:

£35 for a single

£65 for a standard double/twin

£80 for premier double.

all incl breakfast

we had to take in to account the venue & the cost because 3/4 of our wedding party will be travellings from down south so it was quite important to us that we didnt out price people out of our wedding

For me personally it would depend on how well I knew the couple as to whether I would spend that much on a room. Normally at weddings, I'll book a travel lodge or premier inn though, so maybe I'm not the best person tp be answering.

By the sounds of things, you need to fill the rooms with paying guests to lessen your financial burden? If that is the case, start with the family that you are inviting and see if they will pay that much money?

Ours are £135+ per room and I don't expect people to pay this so have put alternative accommodation options on the invites. The nearest hotel to ours is less than a couple of minutes walk away and is around £40 a night!

Times are tight for a lot of people so expecting them to pay £155 is unfair.

I wouldn't be able to pay that for a room. Some people will be able to afford it of course and the question is how people do you need to be able to afford it. I think as someone has said asking those who you'd have in mind for those spots is a good way to go.

If you can't afford the venue that you want, I think it's unfair, and if I'm honest, presumptuous, to put your as yet uninvited guests on the hook for a cost they've not been consulted on.

Whilst some of your guests may be happy to spend £155 on accommodation on top of the cost of attending your wedding, some won't, even if they have the disposable income to do so.

Given that you want people to stay over, this suggests it's far enough away from where the bulk of your guests reside to prevent them from going home. Factor in their travel costs, any outfits/hair/accessory costs they may have, time off work for those who work over the two days your wedding will be taking up, food and drink for the times they are not being catered for and presumably you'll be suggesting they buy you something from your gift/holiday list/'give me your hard earned cash' request then I do think £155 on top is pretty steep.

There is no way I'd have been comfortable putting that pressure on my guests (or us in the event we had to make up the short fall if we'd not been able to afford it).

At £155 a night we would be looking for something nearby at a lower rate, or getting a taxi home - sorry.

Sorry but thats really expensive for a room and not something I personally would go with.

I'm sure the venue is gorgeous and you need a gorgerous venue, but unless you were very close family, I wouldn't stay.

I've never been one for paying a lot for hotel rooms, I'm always of the opinion that you spend so little time in there I'd rather get a cheaper room and instead spend the money we saved on a night day or night out, visit a local attraction, theatre, nice meal etc.

We googled about and have made a small list of available hotels for guests. £60.00 is about the max. We're also still seriously thinking about booking a minibus driver and paying him a set fee to ferry people to hotels and also some local guests back to their houses.

Our rooms are £130 per night , we thought it was quite pricey, so only expect parents and closest friends to stay, invites havent gone out yet, so we may be surprised. However, we know some of our friends can't afford that price, either because of children or retired - so we have found a premier inn and travelodge next to each other 10 mins drive from the venue. Which is ideal for the long distance guests too, its next to the M5.Prices are from £55 for a double.

Im not sure whether im travelling down the morning of the wedding either, i live 45 mins to an hour away from the venue! and at bank holiday, not sure whether to take the risk or not, but £130 and could spend it on something for the honeymoon. So I may yet join other guests the night before in the travelodge! at least it will be fun!

It is expensive for a room however it depends on your guests financial situations whether they can pay it or not. If it was a very close friend or family member of mine I'd pay it but if I was an evening guest and didn't really know the couple I probably wouldn't.

We have exclusive use of our venue which also has 30 bedrooms and they're priced between £95-£200 per room incl. breakfast and me and OH have allocated rooms to close family and friends based on their financial situations and we've checked with everyone first to make sure they're happy to pay the relevant amounts and the rooms have been snapped up. We're fortunate though that the venue have said if any rooms are unused we won't have to pay for them (we haven't told the guests this though so they don't back out unnecessarily, otherwise it means other guests losing out on a potential room).

Other guests are arranging their own accommodation or getting taxi's home.

Have a chat with your guests, they will be able to tell you what they'd prefer to do. I don't think you should book the venue without allocating all of the rooms first though.

The cost of hotel rooms for our guests was a major consideration for us when deciding where to get married.

I discounted many venues that we loved and could afford because our guests would have no option but to shell out for an overpriced hotel room due to nothing else in the area (£250 a room at some!!).

We have actually picked a venue with no bedrooms and have given guests the details of two local hotels - one is £65 per night, the other about £50 a night. There are also numerous b&bs ten minutes away in the town to choose from.

I'd pay it if it was a close friend/family member.

If I didn't want to pay it, I'd just drive to the venue & not drink.

My partner is from the north and we both live together now in the South so affordable accomodation was always a big factor in choosing our venue. We've gone for a hotel ceremony and reception to make it easier for his family to attend as we know travelling costs alone will be expensive nevermind the cost of accomodation too. The rooms at our hotel range from £60 to £80 a night but the more expensive cost is for a family room which sleeps up to four people.

If you have guests who've got a significant distance to travel and who you know will definately need accomodation in order to attend I think you have to take into account whether or not the total cost is going to be realistic for them to afford.

The cost of hotel rooms and bar prices were 2 major factors for us when choosing a venue.

As Cricks mentioned, weddings are an expensive event for a guest with lots of additional costs so to pay $155 with no other options is quite steep. You may end up having less guests as a result if they can not afford to stay over. Perhaps organising a coach to take guests to their nearest drop off at point closest to their home would work out cheaper for them or even you if you wish to pay for it.

My venue is charging $72 for a double and $55 for a single this is with a 10% discount we haggled for as we want to be considerate to our guests.

Exactly this. £155 was more than we spent on the hotel room for our own wedding night. I think it would be very unfair to put pressure on people by saying, however politely you put it, "we really need you to fill these rooms as we can't afford it otherwise".

Glad you have found your venue, but I personally think that the rooms are expensive - there needs to be an alternative - but then if everyone chooses the alternative - will you meet your quota of 30 for exclusive use?

This is something that me and OH thought about when choosing our venue. Last year we went to a wedding and figured out that it had cost almost £1000 for us to go to the wedding - two nights in a castle at £150 p/n petrol for a 2 hour trip each way, present, new dress for me, new shirt and tie for him, nails, hair, spray tan, eating in the venues restaurant for the two days we were there and of course the bar bill! obviously some of these things weren't essentials but there is a pressure amongst friends to have new dress, get a round in etc. It occurred we could have had a weeks holiday!

The venue we have chosen has a campsite over the road, a selection of B&Bs nearby and the nice hotels at £150 plus - but it gives people a good choice to be able to feel comfortable - and after the MIL stating that no one would camp to go to a wedding we have been surprised by the number who are. We are also providing a coach on the day.

It would be too much for us and we would be looking for cheaper accomodation. Other people may be saving for holidays, weddings, babies, houses etc and would not be willing to spend this much on a room they are going to sleep in for a few hours. I know someone else has said they think people would be happy to pay this much because they are being fed and having a lovely day, but they may have also had to buy a new outfit, possibly pay for childcare, buy a gift - going to a wedding can be expensive and that's why I wouldn't pay £155 for a room even if it was family to be honest.

I'd never pay that sorry. You can get a mini break to Paris for that!! I'd rather stay at the nearby hotel or travel back the same day. Its very very steep for one night!