How
To Accommodate
Out of Town Wedding Guests
- by KissMeGoodnight.com
Recently the number of out of town guests
attending weddings has been on the rise. Years ago, young people
grew up and got married in the town they had lived in all their
lives but nowadays couples are attending out of state colleges
and accepting jobs far away from their hometown. This travel
leads to more and more out of town guests attending weddings
as the couple may have friends from their hometown, friends
from college and friends from the new area where they live
and work. Wherever the couple opts to get married there
are bound to be a number of guests who are traveling from out
of
state for the occasion. As the attendance of out of town guests
is a relatively new phenomenon, there are not many established
traditions regarding out of town guests and the couple has
some leeway to deal with the situation as they see fit.
It
has become commonplace for the couple to reserve a block
of rooms at a hotel that is near the wedding location for their
out of town guests. Many hotels will offer a discounted rate
if you block out a certain number of rooms. Knowing that you
can assure the hotel of a number of guests, gives the hotel
the ability to offer a lower rate because they are assured
a certain number of booked rooms. Out of town guests will appreciate
this gesture because they are receiving a lower rate than they
would have found on their own plus they are spared the hassle
and inconvenience of trying to find a hotel in an unfamiliar
city.
One increasingly popular trend for accommodating out of town
guests is to prepare a package featuring brochures
and information regarding some of the points of interest in your city and mailing
this package out to all of your out of town guests a few weeks
before the wedding. Since many out of town guests may try to
schedule a vacation around the wedding, this packages offers
them a good starting point in their research by highlighting
some of the tourist attractions in the area. You could also
include a listing of local restaurants and personal recommendations
for your guests.
Guests
who travel from out of town to attend your wedding are
making a sacrifice to do so and it is important to let
them know that you appreciate the effort they are making to
attend your wedding. There are a couple of ways to do this.
One way to do this is to find out where your out of town guests
will be staying and when they will be arriving. Once you have
this information you can prepare a welcome bag for the out
of town guests and drop them off at the hotel and instruct
the staff to give them to your guests upon their arrival. As
your guest are likely to be tired from their trip, some suggestions
for items to include in these welcome bags may include a light
snack featuring local specialties and relaxation items such
as bath salts and candles. This small gesture really lets your
guests know that their presence is appreciated.
Another
option to consider for accommodating out of town guests
is to include them in the rehearsal dinner. This is a lovely
gesture because it sends the message that you are glad that
they have traveled to attend your wedding and that you are
interested in spending additional time with them. If it is
not economically feasible to include all of your out of town
guests at the rehearsal dinner you should consider making another
effort to spend some additional time with them such as inviting
them over for drinks and hors devours or even making a concerted
effort to spend quality time with them at the reception. Although
the reception can be hectic and virtually fly by, it is important
to spend a little extra time with your out of town guests who
have made a sacrifice to attend your wedding.
The secret to accommodating your out of town guests is to
make every effort to ensure that they know their
attendance is greatly appreciated. Small gestures such as reserving a
block of hotel rooms or putting together a list of tourist
attractions as well as more significant gestures such as preparing
welcome baskets and making an extra effort to spend time with
your out of town guests all contribute to making your out of
town guests feel appreciated and welcomed. It is important
to let your out of town guests know that you realize that they
have made sacrifices to travel to your wedding and that you
appreciate them just for being there.
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KissMeGoodnight.com : 2005
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