Wedding Blog
So I have a confession. I knew a winter wedding in my hometown was going to be expensive. But yesterday I became very aware of just how expensive it would be to have our wedding in February in Vail, Colorado.
We had been engaged for about a year and a half, and I had had all this time to pick the perfect date. So what did I pick? The busiest weekend in my hometown, where it’s estimated that almost 2 million people will come to ski. YIKES!!!
So step one was done - the date was picked. Next, we waited for hotel prices to be released so we could get rooms reserved at a semi-decent rate. They were released a few weeks ago, and we almost hit the floor.
Champ and I have been to many weddings in the past few years, and I think the most expensive hotel we stayed in was the W in Chicago. I think we paid like $350 a night and it was a great deal for such an amazing room. We actually got to stay on the lakeshore side (which I highly recommend), and the wedding was the same weekend as the Air and Sea Show. We had F-16s flying RIGHT next to our window—Mr. Champagne was in heaven! Also, the W was unlike any run of the mill hotel. The whole feel was just “sexy” if that makes sense. Very modern furniture, no true door to the bathroom, shutters you could open into the shower area, and a tres chic bar on the top floor.
So I thought that $350, although a hefty price tag, might be worth a ski weekend in Colorado for some of our guests. The hotel closest to our ceremony site is so beautiful and located right in the heart of the town. No cars are allowed on the streets of Vail, and the streets are heated, so being right in the center of all the restaurants, shops, and bars would be a really neat experience for out of towners. That is until I heard how much it would really cost per night. Let’s just say it’s at least double the number above plus a few - and that’s for a regular one bed and bath hotel room! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? I better be staying in the presidential suite with a personal butler for that price.
And this is why I’m actually kind of embarrassed to write this. I felt like I should have known better, and I will be looked at differently by members of Mr. Champagne’s family for choosing such an expensive travel weekend. I almost thought I was invincible, like I would be able to get a good deal no matter what. I’m a local for Pete’s sake! So I’m embarrassed.
The phone calls with hotels have been intense, and I’m not gonna lie—I cried. The woman from our ideal hotel told me things would be okay, and that her sister was planning a wedding too. It was thoughtful of her. I called our wedding planner and our reception site to see if we could change our date. We actually considered changing our date. Had we gone mad? Our chapel, photographer, and reception site are all reserved, the STDs are done, and family has been planning this weekend for a while now. We couldn’t change the date.
Then I found on Travelocity that we could block the Holiday Inn Apex Vail for around $200 a night. Although it’s not quite the same experience, it’s still a gorgeous hotel and unlike any Holiday Inn I’ve ever seen. It’s got a big “lodge” feeling, full of fireplaces and leather couches.
So we’re back in business!
Anyone else feel the stress of planning a wedding that you know will be expensive for your guests?
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How many people have to fly in and pay that price? I think if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that to most of my guests, my wedding is about a billionth as important to them as it is to me. $200 isn’t too bad (and that’s a beautiful hotel, btw), but I would just be upfront with your guests somehow (invites, website, some way, let them know ahead of time) so they have a chance to decide before RSVPing…I’m sure your wedding is going to be STUNNING for all those lucky enough to attend 
yup. October is the start of the “high season” in my town. But I feel like we got amazing room rates at $149/night (especially compaired to Vail, right!?!) but we have gotten some comments from folks about the prices. I can promise them the weather will be wonderful and it is one of the best months in my area, but until they get here and experience it , they just have to take my word for it.
My situation is somewhat less severe, but I feel similarly guilty/embarassed. We are having a 4th of July wedding at a resort and the hotel prices are steep (though not Vail-in-Winter steep). Luckily there is a nearby town that is somewhat less expensive and since it is summer people also have the option of camping. Like you, we almost changed our plans though when we realized the cost for our guests. Also, my large extended family was able to find a huge house to rent that will end up being cheaper. You might look in to other options like that if you have groups that may enjoy staying together anyway.
Yes!! I completely understand! I’m getting married at a venue in Beverly Hills, (fret not though, I live in LA proper), and I’m constantly being asked by my dad if I found any good hotel rates for the family flying in. Keep in mind…. the family flying in are mainly from the midwest and the south, so LA sticker shock is bound to happen. Our venue is actually across the street from the Four Seasons, so I teased my dad and told him that I would recommend the Four Seasons…. he didn’t laugh. So I have to find hotels that are within very close driving distance, in a safe area, with free parking, (hahahaha), at the low $100 price point. Hmmm…. they’re not going to get that unless they stay near the airport or in the valley! =)
Ah… but try we will. There are some promising hotels in Santa Monica that might just work!
The hotel you found sounds perfect!!! Congrats and be proud of all of your hard work!!
Too funny! Having lived in Denver for 10 years, and getting ready to honeymoon this winter in Aspen, I am acutely aware of how expensive the mountain towns are ($465 per night for a studio condo in Aspen), but I suppose if you actually lived there you would have never stayed in a hotel.
Are you also going to arrange shuttle transportation from Denver? Because you must know how seriously hellacious the I-70 parking lot is pretty much all winter. (Now routinely over 3 hours to drive the 100 miles from Golden to Vail - add another 25 miles from the airport and it would at least be a good idea to seriously warn your guests about that issue. Also about the tunnel closures - too much fun to spend that 20 - 30 minutes just sitting in traffic while the tunnel ventilation system catches up with the vehicle exhaust.)
Don’t get me wrong - I love a weekend in Vail. But there’s a reason it’s not really a day trip anymore even if you live in Denver - except maybe midweek!
Yeah- but mine wasn’t a weekend problem…my wedding is in Chicago and as you mentioned, hotels downtown are just expensive. There is always some convention or festival in town. It turned out that a lot of out of towners aren’t coming because of airfares, so they didn’t even get to see how crazy the hotel prices are. Oh well.
Im facing the same situation as you are for my July wedding in Huntington Beach. No one will do block rooms and in the past two weeks hotel room rates have gone up $100. No joke. And we are dealing with the US open of Surfing but the date has been set and we aren’t going to change it.
@suzanno: yeah we’ve actually arranged for a shuttle group rate from Denver and I’ve definitely warned guests about the possibility of pass-closure. wouldn’t that be fun?!:(
@Idahosummer: my mom is actually a real estate agent in vail, so we’ve found a few good homes for people who want to go that way.. I also used vacation rentals by owners (vrbo.com), where there are a ton of properties. Only problem? Most of them want a minimum week stay..eh, we’ll see.
I’m sure most of your guests will be thrilled to go (it’s an excuse for a mini-vacation!) but I understand how you feel, Champs.Our guests will also be spending quite a bit to be with us. I’ve tried to make it as clear as possible that we are not expecting gifts–their presence is ‘presents’ enough–and it helped to lower my guilt levels.
Ouch! Poor you 
We weren’t too happy about the block prices we were quoted and hardly any of our guests used the options we suggested. I think most used travel discount websites to book their rooms. Prices do usually tend to drop closer to the date (though I think you are in a uniquely difficult position in a resort town). I’d suggest listing the prices on your wedding website, if you have one. Also consider some 2-star options for those who would rather pay less and just have a bed to sleep in. List those on the website as well. At least this way guests will see up front what the costs look like and that you don’t expect everyone to choose the $700 option. After providing those options, I wouldn’t feel bad.
I’m so glad you were able to find a hotel with a rate your guest could afford Good News!
Ditto, ditto, ditto. Who knew that the week between Christmas and New Year’s was the most pricey in Grand Cayman? Apparently everyone but ME. I was just thinking of a time when most of our guests wouldn’t have trouble getting off work. But now I’m wishing I’d done it during hurricane season (Sept - Nov). The prices are less than half of what they are in December! Torrential downpours be damned. D’oh.
But I am so happy for you — the Holiday Inn is gorgeous! And a steal at that price. Good work!
Hotels in my area aren’t too expensive, but a lot of my friends are just out of school, or putting themselves through a graduate program or saving for a house or what have you. But a lot of them know each other, too. So. I’m going to try putting a message board on our wedding website specifically for the purpose of roomsharing and ridesharing. Good for the wallet and good for the planet. Yay!
I spent a lot of time worrying about rooms for our guest. I had trouble arranging blocks of rooms in chain hotels (Hilton, Doubletree,…) because it was their peek season. So I finally found local boutique hotels (one for $89/night and another $149/night) that would provide us with room blocks. Only about 10% of our guest took advantage of these deals the others just found hotels on their own or waited too late to book the room blocks because they had to release them 3 weeks before our wedding date. So all that planning for almost nothing. Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.
Vail? Wow, do you know Trista and Ryan from the Bachelorette? heehee.
That is a nice damn Holiday Inn. Wow. I feel you on the price. We’ve picked a destination that is not cheap, oh hell it’s expensive. We do get to offer our guests a discount, but it’s not much. We went ahead with it because the resort/town means a ton to us and the date we’ve finally chosen, though it puts it in the middle of high season (June 19th) would have been my grandparents 63rd Anniversary. I feel like everybody we invite will be able to come, because most of us travel to this area anyway and some even have their own houses in the area. Most of our friends are also older and established in their careers, money is honestly not really an issue for them for the most part. I know you can never really know, but these are our BEST friends, so I do really know. I have tried to offset the cost by making it be the only thing they have to pay for that weekend. We’re planning on covering all meals and renting a bunch of beach chairs, etc. for the beach. I can’t wait! Should be a blast!
I actually chose our venue because of the great rate they gave us on the hotel rooms. (Ritz Carlton, St. Thomas, USVI). I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay for that cost anywhere else I was looking. It also helps we’re getting married in the off season. But the Holiday Inn looks great! Just what I would picture a Vail hotel would look like. Your guests will love it!
Don’t feel too bad, Ms. Champagne! The same thing happend to my fiance and I, we fell in love with the location, set the date, yada yada before really doing too much research.
It did help that our reception location in Turks & Caicos works with our wedding planner so we were to get discounted rooms and through much research and googling I found out about American Airlines’ wedding/group travel program: http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_US/businessPrograms/groupsMeetings/weddingTravel.jsp.
It’s simple: you call/email AA, tell them when your wedding is and where and they set up a discount code (10% off listed fare) for round trip tickets from anywhere AA (and its partners) flies to your wedding location. All they ask is that you “guarantee” that at least 10 people will use the code.
So far about 50% of our guests (we’ve invited 60 or so) have used it and have been very appreciative that we’re doing all we can to have them present at our special day.
P.S. That Holiday Inn looks gorgeous BTW!
Don’t sweat it!!! Just do your best and things will work out. It’s very much like a mini-vacation. Just remember, your friends and family want to be there and will likely do whatever they have to to be there. And with a location like that, everyone is going to have a spectacular time. You are going to provide them a weekend to remember. With a location like that, they’ll have a difficult time leaving!!!!
Ugh. We’re planning our wedding in Honolulu (where we live). I am terrified people won’t be able to come due to the airfare… the hotel will just be salt in the wound.
But I know I would be thrilled to attend a winter wedding in Vail!
omg how stressful! if all else fails, you can have your super organized guests spearhead renting houses in town!
How funny. I’ve been bogged down by the cost of getting hotel rooms for my OOT guests. I have a few tips though. If you get a chance, go here:
http://www.iamgroomzilla.com/2008/07/cheap-stay.html
I’m getting married during “shoulder” season and the cheapest hotel is $239 OR a tent on the beach… yikes!! Good luck to you!!
Absolutely! Both my family and my fiance’s family are from the New Orleans area, but we just moved to Denver and are planning a wedding in Estes Park. Luckily we’re having ours during off-peak (right at the end of it) but the area isn’t cheap, and add to that the price of airfare. We know that a LOT of our family simply won’t be able to be there.
We’ve blocked 3 hotels in Chicago, but have now started to recommend Priceline to people. We did our best to find good rates at 3 different price points, but they are still too expensive for some people. At this point I don’t care what hotel they stay at…
Priceline is giving them rates almost $100 cheaper than our lowest level hotel, and they are top shelf hotels.
I too picked an expensive place to have a wedding - Carmel, California where the hotel where we are having our wedding wanted us to book (and pay for) all of the “blocked” rooms for guests upfront ($250 and up a night, 2 night minimum stay), then told us we could just ask the guests to pay us back directly! Odd because other than that it really isn’t a tacky place. So needless to say, we didn’t block any rooms. But other than that, the only people complaining are a select few in the wedding party and my parents : ). But we took care of the complaining w.p. members *cough - groomsmen*, and my parents. It seems there is also other activities going on the same weekend, and it’s also the most beautiful time of year there.
That is one nice Holiday Inn!! And I think the price is great for such a nice area. I feel like I’m having the opposite problem of you- lots of hotels at great prices- but not nice accomodations.
We ran into resort town problems too–especially because we were trying to do a weekend wedding in summer season in Tahoe.
The place we ended up getting has 8 pricier cabins, inexpensive tent cabins, and camping for those who want to just unpack their tent.
At least we’ll be able to cater to a variety of different needs… but aye it hurt to know that we were going to be responsible for the pricey cabins!
Sounds like things worked out for you though!
We are getting married in Sonoma (next to Napa) in the week before Crush - which stands for both the grapes being stomped (symbolizing the harvest) and the tourists crushing the region. We went to the Best Western - 49 weeks before our wedding - and were told there were only 12 rooms left and they were $300!!! No - this wasn’t the palace of all Best Westerns!!! I’m so glad you found an option in the 2’s (our new slang for “affordable”). I am constantly worried about how the FIs family will perceive me - as though this was some how all laid upon the bride (me!!) - but I know that in the end, whether or not they understand, it is what it is. (Alll of this being said, we are going to a wedding in Key West a few DAYS before xmas - and THAT is EXPENSIVE. Nothing like another wedding to ease your guilt!)
aww! it will all work out, and people will be glad to be at your wedding no matter the costs…they might complain but will later realize it was perfect, fun and beautiful. I got married in baltimore’s inner harbor during a yankee/orioles weekend (it might have been redsox/orioles?) and all the hotels by the harbor were book or over 400$… that’s all lot for baltimore, cuz it’s not that pretty over there. but we found a nice cute conference center that was 5stars and only 100 a night. so it worked out (we just shuttled them back and forth). Your wedding sounds beautiful!
i am having a sort of similar problem. the bridesmaids dresses I love will be $282 before taxes and alterations and such, and I KNOW my bridesmaids won’t be happy. not sure what to do about it
Oh I sooooo feel you. Apparently the weekend after Labor Day was still considered ‘high’ season in Newport, RI. On top of that, it is known for it’s bed and breakfasts, so it was difficult even finding a hotel in town. In the end, it did all work out, but some of my guests (re: all of our friends from Boston) ended up doing the 90 minute drive to/from Newport at least four times that weekend (for the rehearsal and then the actual wedding). I felt awful about it.
PS: This quote: “no true door to the bathroom” made me giggle. I have been to a W, so I get what you are saying….but somehow I just envisioned something a lot more unappealing when reading it 
enmoore66–I got married in Sonoma a couple of months ago and we used that same Best Western for a hotel block. I don’t think anyone ending up staying there. We had a bunch of people stay in Petaluma and more than one couple stayed up in Santa Rosa (!) just to get a decent hotel price. I felt really bad about it (especially the 2 night minimum), but that that point there’s not a lot you can do!
Uh… yeah. very much so. when we started planing our hawaii DW over a year ago, flights were averaging $320-350 from our main city. When we booked my sister’s flight in May, it was close to $900 because of airlines going under and rising fuel costs. So yeah - I was really worried what people would tihnk of me for making the choice to do a DW. In the end our guest list is much smaller than anticipated but our friends and families are excited to go! BTW - that Holiday Inn looks super nice and affordable for Vail. good job in the find!
Vail - Wow, that will be amazing!! And it looks like you found a nice option for everyone!!
We actually chose our location AND moved our date to make the hotels as reasonable as possible. We live in NYC but knew half the guest list would balk at even the most reasonable places here. We booked a place in the Hudson Valley, then quickly found out the at a nearby college graduated that weekend, so moved the date to avoid expensive rooms and 2 night minimums.
I totally understand! Hubby’s side of the family was all traveling in from oot and I felt bad for our rate, which was VERY reasonable at only $70 a night for a great hotel. I think you feel guilty no matter what the dollar amount is (especially when you start to think of airfare).
I would check and see if the Holiday Inn offers any other discounts (AAA, etc) and you could let your mom and MIL know, in case they get any questions.
Hang in there, the hotel looks amazing!!
becky
oh, you were starting to stress me out, but I think you picked a great option hehe
Oh that’s SUCH good news! I seriously felt my heart plummet as I read your story! Whew! Good job on the quick thinkin’ and research Miss Champ!
Doesn’t it take 2.5 hours to drive from Denver to Vail? I did it a while ago, did I get carsick!!!
we booked our wedding on a major college gameday. i had no idea that hotel prices would skyrocket!
although nowhere near as expensive as yours, i still think that most hotels prices for our weekend are ridiculous. many of our guests will too……
so for this, we wont have official blocks, we will provide a list of 3 recommended hotels in the invitations.
we picked our end of September date for our wedding in Hawaii (big island) primarily because it’s the off season. luckily, this was LAST September before airfare got too out of control.
I felt so bad that I ended up paying for all of our guests accomodations for the week. Not my brightest move in the whole wedding planning ordeal, but it did stop my husband’s family from sqwaking and enabled them all to come. However I only had 40 guests and I rented houses for the week for all the different groups coming down (one house for my friends, one for his, two for his family and one for us). The hotel block of rooms were $400 a night whereas a house rental was $1500 for the week so it just made more sense to do the rental houses since most were staying for a week. I got married on the beach in NC.
I know how you feel though because before I made my decision I had some serious guilts about choosing a place that is not cheap to stay at. The in-laws weren’t much help with that either lol!!
Almost everyone coming to my wedding is flying in. To make it easier on guests I planned the date right outside of the busy tourist season in the area (but just outside, by two weeks, so the weather is still spectacular), over Columbus Day weekend so that’s one less vacation day (Monday) that people have to use. We were lucky to get a phenomenal deal on a couple of large beach houses that we are offering to our guests. The cost for them to stay there with the discount we received will be substantially less than at a local hotel. I knew it would be an expensive trip for everyone, especially with airfare what it is now, so I wanted to make the rest as inexpensive as I could.
[...] wedding is pretty far away, and the STDs have been on my mind for quite some time. You may recall I had some difficulty finding a hotel that would be reasonable, and although it’s nearly six months from our wedding, [...]
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Miss Champagne, DC/Vail/Colorado
Age and Occupation: 26, Eye Doctor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Attorney
Engagement Date: March 13, 2006
Wedding Date: February 2009
Blogging Since: July 30, 2008
Venue: Small church ceremony with mountain-view log cabin reception
About Me: I'm a small town mountain girl with a city heart. Found my way to the east coast, and Mr. Champagne kept me here so we're planning a wedding from afar in my hometown Vail, Colorado. I'm secretly obsessed with reality TV, Wii games where I can shoot a gun, country music, and Caesar: Dog Whisperer. I also spend time pretending to golf, backseat driving, having one way conversations with our MinPin Maxwell, loving champagne, and wedding perfecting… I mean, planning. I use way too many repeated symbols and letters when I write, and I'll love Mr. Champagne endlessly…
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