Choosing a destination away from home is an exciting and beautiful way to celebrate your love. From white sand beaches to the picturesque scenery of the UK, your location will set the stage for your big day. Once you’ve chosen a location, you’ll need to get your guests there and help them find a place to stay.

Our guide covers everything you need to know about wedding guest accommodation so you can plan the wedding of your dreams.

Wedding Venues With Accommodation for Guests

The wedding guest accommodation for your event can significantly impact your guests’ experience across your wedding celebration. When getting married abroad, you can choose from several types of wedding locations.

Resorts

A resort is the way to go if you are looking for an all-inclusive option. There are many different types of resorts available, from hotels to luxurious 4 and 5 star resorts.

Resort weddings are great as everything can be taken care of for you and all your guests can stay onsite with you too, removing the need for travel to and from the venue and making it easier and more relaxed for your guests.

Villas

A villa is a private estate with bedrooms your guests can stay in. Your villa’s price is dependent on many factors like location, size, and season. For example, you can rent a rustic farmhouse cheaper than a luxury Italian villa.

To help cover the cost, you can rent out rooms to your guests or cover the cost of the entire villa yourself. Most people don’t expect the bride and groom to pay for their rooms. If there are only a few rooms at the villa, offer them first to the wedding party before your other guests.

Boutique Hotels

Another excellent venue option is to have your wedding at a boutique hotel. These hotels are smaller than chain hotels and usually have a fresh and funky style.

Many boutique hotels have different reception spaces and beautiful outdoor spaces too. You can also get great food for your wedding when you choose this venue type.

View amazing wedding venues with accommodation onsite here.

Wedding Guest Block Booking Accommodation

Wedding Guest Block Booking Accommodation

Once you’ve chosen your wedding destination, you will need to figure out where your guests will be staying. One popular wedding guest accommodation choice is to book a block of rooms at a hotel. This option involves setting a group of rooms aside at a rate you agree on with the hotel.

This is an ideal choice because your loved ones will get a deal on where they can stay and also saves them time having to research this themselves.

When to Make Your Room Block Reservation

You can usually make your room block reservations up to a year in advance. It’s not a bad idea to reach out to hotels early to ensure that you get the best rates for your guests, speak to your venue who maybe able to recommend local hotels or may already have a partnership in place allowing you to get a better package and deal.

How Many Rooms to Book

Before you book your block, you must figure out how many rooms you’ll need. Look at your guest list and figure out how many people will be travelling. Some guests may share a room, so that can cut down on the overall number.

For example, if you have a 200-guest wedding and 50% are travelling, you’ll want to book rooms enough for 120 guests. This will equal about 60 rooms.

Paying for a Room Block

Once you know how many rooms you need, you can start working on reserving blocks at local hotels. Most hotels have a cap on how many rooms you can book in a block. If you need more than 25 rooms, you’ll have to book your blocks at multiple locations.

Call at least three hotels to check their room block rates. A lot of factors go into a hotel’s final price and what is included, some may include bed and breakfast, others may just be for the room and staying over night.

Communicate with your guests about how long the room block rate is valid. Most hotels will only keep the rate open for a certain length of time. You don’t want your guests missing out on the lower rate without realising it!

Other Room Block Considerations

If you are booking more than one block, try spreading out your price points. Some of your guests may be looking forward to a fancy night away, while others need a more economical choice.

You don’t pay for the rooms in your block that don’t get booked. If you get close to the number of rooms you requested, you could get extra perks like upgraded suites.

If you are booking a hotel in a remote place, know what amenities the hotel offers. You’ll want to give your guests things to do and use, pool and spa, gym or by the beach. If many guests stay at one hotel block, consider having your rehearsal dinner there. You may even get a discount if you book both your room block and event at the same place.

Keeping Guests Happy

When you have visitors travelling a long distance, it’s a good idea to show your appreciation. You can do this through welcome bags or planned activities.

Welcome Bags

These treats are a personalized way to welcome your guests to your wedding. Many people like to customize the bag to fit the location of the wedding.

Although you can customize these bags, there are a few tried and true items to add.

  • water with a custom label
  • sweet and savoury snacks
  • mini bottles of champagne or local craft beer
  • a souvenir of the area like a magnet or postcard
  • weather essentials like bug spray, hand warmers, or sunscreen
  • mini hangover kit with painkillers and an eye mask
  • a wedding itinerary
  • a map of the area
  • a thank you card

There are a few different ways you can hand these bags out.

You can have your front desk hand the bags out at check-in or get them delivered to each guest room. If you choose the latter, there is usually a small fee involved.

Pre-Wedding Activities

Another way to get the party started early is by hosting some pre-wedding activities. Keep these activities light and local. Your guests will love getting to know the destination while having fun with the other guests!

A welcome party is a great way to greet your guests and say hello to everyone, pizza by the pool and cocktails is a popular option.

Plan an adventurous activity, so your guests can see your chosen location in a unique way. From horseback riding to a sunset cruise, there are many ways to show off your wedding location.

Destination Wedding Accommodation Tips

A lot of thought goes into planning for your destination wedding. There are a few helpful hints you can use to ensure your day goes off without a hitch.

Transportation

If your wedding block isn’t where your wedding is, you may consider providing a way to get them to the venue. If you rent a shuttle, work with your hotel to hand out a shuttle schedule to the guests upon arrival. Your hotel can also help with shuttle details like where they can load and unload guests.

Plan to have your shuttles pick up your guests every twenty minutes. Make sure to have a late and early shuttle for the night’s end to account for when guests want to leave.

Let your guests know

Communication is the key, let yours guests know as soon as possible when and where you are getting married, and accommodation options, leaving them plenty of time to arrange flights and travel if needed. Use a wedding website to keep your guests up-to-date on travel and hotel instructions. Post schedules, airport codes, hotel addresses, and other helpful information here so everything is easily accessible and can be seen and found by your guests.

Extended stays

When you have your guests traveling a long way, don’t stop at a one-night affair! Many times a destination wedding doubles as a vacation for your guests. Plan several events and give your guests a weekend they won’t forget!

A welcome party before your rehearsal dinner is one way to kick off your wedding weekend. After your wedding day, host a brunch and send your guests off with style.

A lot goes into planning a wedding away from home. Ensure the process goes smoothly by planning your wedding guest accommodation well in advance.