Choosing hotel room blocks...so many questions...

Our wedding was held at a hotel. We stayed there the night before & the night of even though we are only 10-15 minutes away. H's family stayed in our condo.

We got a courtesy block from the hotel next door; but declined the room block at our venue simply because they could charge us for rooms not reserved (had to be a certain %).

One our website, we listed both hotels; but also let guests know that they may be able to find a better deal on their own (VRBO, military discounts, etc).

I actually did 3 different hotel blocks at varying price points so my guests could find something that was best. I think each hotel blocked 10 rooms for Friday and 20 for Saturday night. It didn't take long to set up and I wasn't on the hook for any money because they released the rooms if they hadn't been reserved by a certain date.

I didn't stay in a hotel room. I thought about it but I live close and it didn't seem worth it. Plus my mattress is super comfy and I figured I'd sleep better in my own bed.

Reach out to Kleinfeld Hotel Block. They are super helpful and responsive. I believe it is a free service as well.

We're getting married about 30 minutes from where we live. Most of our friends are local but my family will all be coming out of town at least 3 hour drive or from another state. The area we're getting married in can be pretty pricey since it's a beach tourist town. I booked a courtesy block at a renovated holiday inn express about 10 minutes to the venue. It's under 3 miles & they offer a complimentary shuttle for hotel guests to the venue which was my #1 requirement. Plus there's breakfast included which was important to my fam. I had them block 10 rooms but they're honor the rate after that if more are needed. I also got myself a suite there to get ready in (at the block rate!) & we'll crash there that night. It's not super fancy but it has good reviews and we'll be drinking so won't really care. I figure one hotel option is good enough. If people want something else then they are all adults with access to hotel booking websites.

This is all super helpful, thank you!! Do you guys find that guests want to go somewhere to continue the afterparty? At other weddings i have been to, we've done that so that's why I am wondering about a hotel with a bar...

We chose two hotels with about a $30/night price difference in rates. Both are "no commitment" blocks, so anything not booked will be released by a certain date but we are not obligated to book a certain percentage of rooms. Consider which hotels offer parking, early check-in, late checkout, etc. Your guests will appreciate that! If you want to have the hotel distribute welcome bags, check on that as well!

We are an hour fro the venue so we will be staying in the hotel. We are only doing a courtesy room block at one hotel. The hotel is in a tourist area so we will have several places for an after party

We used Hilton Garden Innn. We counted a room for every out of town invite we sent. We had no minimums we had to book, so that was not an issue. Of OOT guests that came, they all stayed at the hotel, we had about 15 of 30 rooms booked. We had the rooms the night before and the night of. I stayed in the hotel the night before, H and I stayed the night of. The hotel offered us a late night after party with food, but we opted at, assuming many people wouldn't come back with us, we also got married on a Thursday and a lot of our friends / BP were going to work the next day.

My FH and I decided to have our wedding 3.5 hours away from where we live, in my hometown, so 90% of my guests are from out of town. We worked with JC Room Blocks which I found on WW and it has been amazing. Jenny contacted local hotels in the area and gave us the options, she also set up both the contracts for our 2 blocks. It was nice to not have to worry about it.

We have blocks with Best Western, DoubleTree, and a local inn on the harbor. All three have been super helpful and accommodating. Just call the front desk and tell them you're interested in a courtesy block for your wedding, they'll be happy to help.

Honestly, I'd say leave the after party up to your guests. I feel personally responsible for everyone during the time frame of the wedding- getting them to and from the event & hosting them properly while they're there. There's too much time, energy, and money going into those few hours to worry about finding entertainment for them afterwards. If they want to continue drinking once the event is over...I'm reverting to my original mind set of, "They are all adults with access to yelp & uber to get to a bar."

If you have your heart set on finding them after party options with their room blocks, I'd say to book 2 blocks. Find one more affordable option (best western, holiday inn, etc), and then one that offers a bar/lounge on premise even if it's a little bit more. 10 rooms seems to be the standard block size unless otherwise requested, but the hotels will normally tell you how many they recommend blocking based on your guest list size.

Most of our guests are out of town so we booked room blocks in 2 different hotels at different price points so they can choose what works best for their budgets. We wanted to book room blocks because travel in the city we are getting married in (Washington DC) is a bit tricky so we wanted to be able to provide shuttles for everyone, and also since most are not familiar with the city and there are some nice parts and not nice parts, as well as parts that are perfectly nice but really difficult to get to and from our wedding location that you would have no way if knowing that just by looking at a map. So we hope that the out of town guests will take advantage of what we have set up for them. But if they don't, they are all adults and will figure it all out I suppose. We have the block reserved for the night before the wedding and night of the wedding, but guests don't have to stay both nights to get the rate, and there is also an option to extend the trip and stay for more nights at a discount if they choose. We live about 45 minutes outside the city, but we got a suite for 2 nights. Just I will stay there the night before the wedding, FH will stay at home, and in the morning my bridal party and my mom and FMIL will get ready in my suite, the HMUAs will come to us there. The night after the wedding FH and I will stay there together.

Hotelplanner.com is super helpful and its free and they have an individual case manager making sure hotels are responding to you

We chose our hotel because it was nearby and it has a bar in the hotel if we want to party with our guests afterwards. We only have about 5-8 couples who will need to stay at the hotel. We're also going to rent a room there for the night.

I was able to get a courtesy block for 5 rooms for that Thursday night, 10 rooms the night of the wedding (Friday) and 5 rooms for the night after, to cover anyone who might want to make a weekend of it. There are also other hotels nearby at different price points.