How to ask guests to book hotels early

Are you doing STD's? Do you have a wedding website? I put that sort of thing on the website: "The hotel(s) has(have) urged guests to book as early as possible due to the limited number of rooms available."

I have a wedding website that I have asked guest to book early on. I also sent a massive group message to my bridal party first so they could reserve their rooms as well. I suggested on my site to them to book earlier for better pricing.

I have a wedding website that I have asked guest to book early on. I also sent a massive group message to my bridal party first so they could reserve their rooms as well. I suggested on my site to them to book earlier for better pricing.

My hotel block booked fast and I had to get an override code. Basically, the hotel will just keep adding rooms to my block so long as they have rooms in the hotel available. So I put out the message via word of mouth that rooms were going fast, and also updated my site to say that we appreciated everyone's enthusiasm, but we're being told we're out of rooms in our block. So, if guests wanted to book to please do x, y, z as soon as possible and let me know if there were any issues.

We have the same dilemma and have been spreading info via word of mouth and sent e-mails to all of our friends with info on where to book.

We texted and personally called most guests who might need hotel reservations. Hotel information was also on our wedding website which was on the back of the invitations.

I would mention it on the wedding website and then any VIP guests that are coming from OOT I would personally call and let them know. I would hate for grandma to not see the website and then be in a pickle.

Ugh, this annoys me alot. I live in a small town, too. There is only one hotel (where we are having our reception). And it is very small. The other possible hotels are 25-30 minutes away. I tried to get my guests to book early, but some people just don't want to even though they don't have to pay for it at that time. I added it on our wedding website that it is a small hotel (I put the link on our STD postcard). I also put it on the enclosure card with the invitations. I told my bridal party/close family by word of mouth. It is also the reason I sent invitations out a little earlier.

The hotel I'm working with is great. Every time I have 10 rooms filled, they block off 10 more. They blocked off extra rooms for us even though my last set of 10 weren't filled. You can only do so much in this situation, unfortunately. It sucks, but some guest will just have to drive further.

My guests are just proactive. Asking me about the hotel before I could get to it. If they are traveling, they should know they need a place to stay (common sense?). Also, word of mouth?

Our venue is the teeniest town and I tried to make it really clear that people needed to book asap. I put all the options on the website with clear info that these were the only options, and they book up early in tourist season. We then sent an email to people our age encouraging them to book the one hotel walking distance from the after party, and followed up with another email. We emailed our extended families some VRBO options so they could stay together (which also freed up a lot of hotel rooms). It was kind of a pain, but most people appreciated it and got their lodging. And the few guests that are complaining this week that they started to look for lodging and it's full, that's on them.

Is this for STDs, invitations, or what?

For stds add a blurb saying, "Accommodations are available at X, y, and z hotels, but space is limited, so we urge guests to book early!" Something similar could be put on an enclosure card for your invites.

Thank you SO SO much for all the advice!

I am drafting an email to "VIPs" & calling my wedding party members tonight.

Sadly, the closest hotels that are a further away are 1.5 hours & I don't want to ask guests to travel for the wedding just to "travel" again to the ceremony/reception.

So I'm 'stuck' with the 3 hotels in town. 2 of them have 30 rooms each & the 3rd has 10 rooms. For those that miss out on hotels, VRBO options are available, but still limited.

Fingers crossed that everyone books soon!!!