Hotel wedding venue - anyone else considering/booked one?

We've booked a hotel for our reception (as we're getting married in church) and looked around at about 4 different venues before we made our choice.

The more you look around the more you will get a feel for what you do and don't like. It's also helpful to roughly know the numbers of day and evening guests that you're thinking of inviting as this will play a part in the price. Some of the venues that we looked at priced per head for everything e.g. price for wedding breakfast plus drinks package then price per evening catering per head whilst others created a package price that included a set number of guests.

We looked at our chosen venue a couple of times before we paid our deposit and also saw it set up for a wedding so we could get an idea about what the room would look like all set up. It can be hard to imagine when you're just shown into an empty function room! I was concerned that the room looked too big for our numbers until I saw it all laid out and then I felt fine.

One key thing we learned to ask is how many weddings would be held at the venue on the same day. The first hotel we saw had 2 function rooms and so would hold 2 weddings at once which put us off! We also found out that there is generally some flexibility around the package you're given / price you want to pay. For example, we removed some things that we didn't want from our package (DJ) and added in things that we did (canapes).

Just don't rush into it and you'll be fine! And enjoy looking round - it's fun and you'll get some free coffee and cakes out of the wedding co-ordinators!

Hotel weddings are very popular. However, some problems occur which you can prepare for in advance:

1 Reserving the date by paying a deposit without ever having the paperwork or a written statement of the costs. When costs are eventually detailed they may be higher than expected yet the deposit was non-refundable

2 Room reservation policy not being clear. Disputes re block booked rooms being let to other guests because the wedding guests didn't book in soon enough.

3 Changes in staff, eg wedding coordinator and proper records not being kept of what was agreed.

I booked a hotel because the price was too good to pass up. Service, wedding breakfast, small drinks package and a room for a quiet reception (no food) for 40 people cost £2k with other extras like table linen, place cards and a hotel room for the night.

It's relatively close for both our families, so no need to book rooms -but the option is there if they want it, though a taxi home would be much cheaper in most cases. Plus as we've gone for a midweek date, we aren't expecting people to stay late.

Can't say as I'm having any problems or concerns to be fair

I have a hotel for both my ceremony and reception. It was the first venue I visited on an open day and wasn't originally going for one but it looked beautiful all dressed up, so we went for it. The best thing about a hotel wedding is the convenience of people including you and your partner being able to stay over, and in a way it brings people together (in the past when I have gone to weddings it's nice to have breakfast with other guests the next day) people generally make a weekend out of it and tend to relax more knowing they don't have to worry about travelling home.

The only thing I will suggest is to visit a hotel venue on an open day when it is dressed up, as obviously without all the decorations, some hotel rooms have a conference room feel about them, so as long as you put extra money in your budget for pretty decorations, this will be fine. Also, make sure you ask lots of questions. We were hit with some added charges/guest limits/extra information (but this was before we paid the deposit anyway) just find out everything before you go ahead and book. If you visit on an open day, you normally get offered discount on packages aswell, we ended up saving 10% off of our venue which helped a massive amount. A lot of hotel do all inclusive packages which are great value aswell.

I'm staying at my hotel venue the night before, so transport is another thing I don't have to worry about convenience brings stress levels right down!

X