Hotel Accommodations

Finding and securing our hotel block was the very first thing we did after booking our venue. Actually, as a it turned out, there was a city-wide convention going on that weekend that we didn't know about, and due to the lack of available hotels, we quickly switched our wedding date to a different weekend. This may sound extreme, but we had over half of our guests travelling from out of town, so booking a hotel block at a good group rate was a major priority for us. Our hotel block was super important to us since so many guests were traveling from out of town. Out of the 40 or so out of town weddings I've been to, I've personally never been to a wedding without a hotel block with a group rate. Now, I don't always choose to stay at the hotel block as a guest, but I always appreciate the option. It's not mandatory, but it certainly makes sense to have one. Just make sure it's a courtesy block. If it's a courtesy block, then you won't be liable for any unbooked rooms. If you have out of town guests coming, I would highly recommend that you secure a courtesy block at a hotel

I'm reserving a room block! I strongly suggest setting up a courtesy block at a hotel - that way, you have guaranteed accommodations available for out of town guests, but you aren't responsible for the cost. It's easier for your guests, since they can trust that the hotel you reserve is reliable and in a safe area, and often times, they can get a discount for booking in the room block. It's not mandatory, but would likely be greatly appreciated.

View Quoted Comment Question- there are 2 hotels, right next to each other, down the street from our venue- should I request a block at each? Price both & get the best rate? How many rooms come in a block?

Its not mandatory but definitely a nice gesture. I had it set up when our wedding was going to be in CA. Since we're now local (Las Vegas) we were no longer able to do it. We still posted recommendations on our website with all the hotel info.

View Quoted Comment If you’re anticipating a lot of out of town guests it might be a good idea to get blocks at both ans give guests the choice. In our contract they reserve a certain number of rooms (I believe it was 20). If they all get booked they’ll add another 20, if there’s some remaining they’ll get released back into their system at a certain date (I think this was 30 days before). This would probably very at each hotel.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this 100%. It cost us 0 dollars and about 15 minutes to get a cheaper rate for our guests plus guaranteed rooms at a Courtyard by Marriott right down the street from our venue.

View Quoted Comment I would price both for sure, just to make sure that your guests are getting the best possible rate! I also think it depends on how many out of town guests there are - you might want to have two hotel options if there are enough guests. Otherwise, just one hotel is fine.


It depends on the hotel, but typically in a courtesy block, the hotel will set aside something like 10 rooms in the block. If all 10 get reserved before the deadline (deadline is usually like a month before your wedding), then they set aside another 10 rooms (depending on availability). Any rooms not reserved by the deadline are released back to the hotel so they can sell them to someone else.

We did room blocks at 2 different hotels (different price points). However, we also put local cabin rentals as options on our website. It’s not mandatory, but super easy to do and nice to take that hassle off of your guests.

We did a complimentary hotel block for the hotel that our wedding is at

I would definitely get a hotel room block for your out-of-town guests. That way you know that there are rooms available and you can choose somewhere close to your venue or convenient in some other way (near restaurants, etc). Also this makes it easier so that guests can carpool to and from the wedding or you can even provide a shuttle. If people are going to be drinking at your wedding it's always a good idea for them to have a safe ride back to their room.

Our wedding is at a resort so we reserved a room block early because it's very popular and we wanted to make sure our guests weren't left without rooms.

We got a block of rooms for our guests. Our wedding is during Hot August nights in Reno and hotels are not only insanely expensive that weekend but will be sold out quick! I did it through wedding wire and got several bids. Once you accept the bid you then deal directly with the hotel. Our hotel has been awesome and held 12 rooms for no charge until 2 weeks before the wedding. They also gave me a link for guests to book directly. It was no effort on my part but will save my guests $100's of dollars. We also booked a vrbo house in case people want to go that route too. I can cancel it 2 weeks before with full refund. I was so worried Reno would be booked before everyone got around to booking there trips plus with covid my guests are waiting to see what happens. Obviously if the hotel requires money or won't refund then I would say no.