ceremony timeline and Hotel Check-in times

It's completely up to the occupancy of the hotel from the night prior. They can't guarantee early check in for the block unless they charge extra to do so.

.I work for a large hotel. chain so it's something I repeat daily to guests booking within a room blocks.

I work in a hotel and in our hotel we cannot guarantee early check in, and especially not if an entire block requests it. It would probably be best if people just checked in later. At my hotel, we also store luggage and deliver it when the room is ready, and guests just come pick up keys later so it's easy for them. Maybe that is a possibility as well. Early check in can certainly be requested, either by you for the entire block or by individuals but it needs to be clear that it can't be guaranteed.

Is the hotel a distance away from the wedding site? Typically check in does not take very long, so if your friend wouldn't be going too far I would say just let her check in between the ceremony and reception.

Also, are your guests only checking on the day of the wedding and not the night before?

Just make sure people know when check in is (on your website, if you have one, or provide a link for the hotel). A handful of times I've had guests arrive shortly before a rehearsal dinner or ceremony or something and their room has not been ready and panic sets it because they still have to "get ready." If check in is at 3 but your ceremony is at 2, guests need to know to be prepared in the event they cannot check in early.

Why would you be forcing your guests to drive 2-3 hours to the ceremony site and then another 2-3 hours back to the hotel? Are there no other options closer to your venue?

Its 25 minutes away

Ok - more information is needed: The wedding is a sunday - Most guests are coming in on Saturday and spending the day in the touristy parts of town and they are checking out on Monday.

a few would only come in for the wedding and are staying just sunday night to avoid driving after drinking.

(Some with DD or non-drinkers aren't staying at all and the timeline allows them to drive to and from the venue and be home by 1030pm. )

I have rooms blocked from friday through monday.

Hotels cannot guarantee an early check-in. Most check-out times are between 10AM-12PM and it can take hours to clean a room, depending on the condition it was left in by the previous guests.

I recommend to all of our brides and grooms to block two days for their guests; the night before and the night of. That way, the guests will be in their room to get ready the day of the wedding.

How are they getting to the venue from the hotel? 30 minutes is still a long drive (esp after drinking)

@Jay, that's what I did but IDK if people would spend the extra sat rate in order to avoid checking in *after the wedding

@originalKD. Do most people get married within walking distance of their guests beds?

They would get there the same way most people would... they would arrange DD or get cabs... or stop drinking at an appropriate time...

ETA: At the risk of sounding like I don't care - I JUST asked this question a few min ago and was told repeatedly that transportation is not the host's responsibility but FYI i AM looking into a shuttle.

As a wedding guest who has faced this multiple times, we've never had a problem with arranging early check in. Even if your guests arrive and can't check in, the hotel usually will happily stash your bags while you go do your thing until you check in later. So as long as she doesn't have to get ready (it sounds like she doesn't since she'll be going to the ceremony first anyway), then she should be fine to drop her bags off early!

@Judi - Yes, when DH and I got married, everything was within walking distance. I also provided transportation for ALL of our guests so they wouldn't have to walk around the city in heels and their dress clothes. I also did this so that my GUESTS could fully enjoy themselves without worrying about drinking and driving or who the DD was going to be.

That's properly hosting.

And FWIW - you are asking alot out of your guests. Essentially, you are asking them to drive three hours and then navigate their own transportation back to and from a hotel a half hour away. Sorry you have to hear this, but I have gone to several weddings that are coordinated in the manner that you have done and 60-70% of the guests bail early because they don't want to drink and drive, so they don't drink. Sobriety at a reception just isn't that much fun.

@OriginalKD you are an angel among hosts and a unicorn of wedding planners. Cause most people adult and figure out how to get where they need to go and no one i know is within walking distance of a proper wedding venue so your commentary is just snark without purpose. making guests walk to your wedding doesn't sound like proper hosting either.

But i guess you missed where i said what i WAS arranging a shuttle. Choosing to ignore this and focus on the distance shows me you're probably bored and looking to start with someone.

I didn't. I provided transportation to both the ceremony and reception sites and back to the hotel. If you had read before reacting you would have seen that.

I'm glad you are arranging a shuttle. Your previous post said you are looking into a shuttle and also reiterated that the guests could call a cab, stop drinking, uber etc. There was nothing definitive in your post that you are providing one. That is why I elaborated that having guests provide their own transporation takes the liveliness out of an evening with that long of a commute afterwards.

Not sure where you are getting that I am coming after you. Your post ("Do most people get married within walking distance of their guests beds?") threw attitude, but I still took the time to try and help. I'd recommend dialing the attitude back a few notches.

I think it's a little early to think about this, frankly.

I kinda see where your friend is coming from. I'd leave to check in and then come back, too, because checking in after a party is not what i want to do.

But frankly, a shuttle won't do her any good here anyways if she wants to go and come back. She seems kinda high maintenance.

RE: transportation, I was recently at a wedding where the couple set up an Uber Events code where we could enter the code and get something like 10% off our ride. We were fine with that. Our hotel wasn't too far from the venue.

You can check in late. I've checked into hotels at 10 or 11pm before and have never had a problem. I usually call the hotel and them know I'll be late though so they don't think I'm a no show.

@natalie I love that idea too!

@judi you would be surprised how many adults don't actually adult and figure these things out for themselves. The hotel I work at is in Vermont; not super rural Vermont, but lets be real- all of Vermont is rural. We don't have readily available cabs, we don't have Uber, there is no public transportation. We host large weddings whose guests typically come from Boston and New York City and the number of people that don't even think about transportation is astonishing. Just last night we had multiple guests of a wedding looking for transportation back to their hotel at 2:30 in the morning, for example.

I understand the purpose of this post was to address the early check in thing. For guests arriving the day of the wedding, they will need to plan that accordingly to the timeline. They can request early check in, but they need to be prepared for it to not be available. In terms of your friend, let her do whatever she wants when it comes to checking into her room. And if she's upset she missed cocktail hour, that's her own damn fault. Same for everyone else. Yes, properly hosting is a big deal but you can't control hotel check in so it's not your responsibility.

This would kind of annoy me if I was one of the guests not coming in until Sunday, where are they supposed to get ready because I'm not going to get ready for a wedding then sit in a car for 2-3 hours.

What would you suggest @blair? Cause you've done a decent summation of the problem.