Your guests are a big part of your day, so it's time to start thinking about how their day looks. Below are some items to keep in mind when developing a plan for your wedding attendees. [Photo by Endless Wave Studios]
Save the Dates
We’d recommend sending out save the dates to guests that you plan to invite to your wedding. These can be sent 10 months to one year out from your wedding. These are especially important if you have a lot of people coming from out of town. With the save the dates, you’ll also want to include information about overnight accommodations. Only send these to people you are 100% sure you are inviting.
Create a Website
A wedding website is a great way to communicate with your guests! Your website can include information about hotel room blocks, transportation, your ceremony and reception, your registry, and even things to do in the area. You can share your website on the save the dates once they are sent out.
Transportation
Unfortunately not every wedding is easy to get to. That could mean the ceremony location is an hour away from the reception venue or the accommodations are quite a long drive after a night of cocktails. If it seems like a lot of your guests could use some help with transportation from location to location then it would be a very nice gesture to arrange some transportation. To reiterate, this is definitely not required, but a nice to have. If you are going this route, you can have shuttles that run from the hotels to the reception venue. If there are a lot of people staying at rentals, we’d recommend asking them to get themselves to the hotel or central location for pickup.
If you aren’t going to provide transportation you can consider purchasing uber rides via a ride code or just letting guests know the options (ie uber, local taxi name). If you are interested in doing transportation but trying to save money, try reaching out to a local school bus company!
Hotel Blocks
Check out some hotels that are near your reception venue and see if they are able to create a room block for your guests. The room blocks ensure that your guests will be able to secure a room at that hotel. They are often discounted, but not always, especially in peak season. There is usually a cut off date where remaining rooms are released to the general public so make sure you communicate that “book by” date to your guests.
Keep in mind that a lot of hotels in beach towns have a 2-3 night minimum during peak season. Be sure to read your contract carefully, as some hotels require a financial guarantee for rooms within the room blocks.
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