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Mr. S and I are so appreciative knowing that our friends and family will be traveling to see us say, “I do.” Choosing the location was an easy choice for sentimental reasons, but I do feel bad that everyone will have to travel. We really didn’t have a choice on travel, because either of our home towns would still cause a large number of our guests to travel.
We’ve tried to come up with ways to make their stay comfortable. None of these ideas are really earth-shattering, but I still think these little details make a difference.
1. Send Save the Dates. Our wedding isn’t during the summer or on a holiday weekend, but due to the travel involved, we felt it was important to give our guests advance notice. We sent hotel block information as well as a link to our wedding website. Our room blocks end 2 months prior to the wedding, which is when our invitations will go out. The save the dates were a great way to give advance notification.
2. Create a website with useful information. We’ve included directions, local restaurants and attractions and will use it if any updates need to be sent.
3. Give clear directions - I’m horrible with directions, so clear directions are always super helpful when it comes to weddings or any day in life. We have links with Mapquest directions on our website for each location.
4. Set up Room Blocks - try to find great deals. We spent hours trying to find hotels with quality, affordability and convenience.
5. Welcome note - we plan to leave our OOT guests a welcome note to let them know how appreciative we are that they have made the trip to our wedding.
6. Printed area information in a folder or OOT bag for the non-tech savvy or those who may not visit your website - this includes maps, area attractions and restaurant information.
7. OOT bag/welcome treat - we plan to fill up bags with snacks for guests who may be hungry after a long drive.
8. Morning after brunch- Some of our guests will have a long car ride home the day after our wedding, so we thought it would be nice to feed them before they get on the road. And it’s another excuse to hang out with all of our friends and family!
Are you having a lot of OOT guests? Are you planning to do anything to make their stay more comfortable? Is there anything I should add to our list?
Great ideas - I’m sure your guests appreciate all of your efforts!
Great ideas but a word of advice - double, no TRIPLE check the mapquest directions. My MOH printed directions to our rehearsal dinner and we handed them out without really looking at them, just trusting they were right. I finally looked at them myself in the car on the way to dinner, noticed they were wrong and spent the next 20 minutes frantically calling all of the other cars (no one was local) to get everyone back on track!
This might seem like common sense to a lot of people, but it was one of the few details I didn’t handle and while it worked out fine, it was NOT FUN!
This is really great advice and so helpful to me because most of our guests will be traveling for us too.
These are great ideas - we were in the same situation - wherever we got married, lots of people would be traveling!
Sounds like you’ve got your bases covered! We’re doing pretty much the same things. Can’t wait to see your Newport-themed OOT bags!
We have a fair amount of out of towners, and plan to do the OOT bags. One thing that I’ve noticed is that NO ONE checks/really has checked our website. I can’t tell you the number of “where is xxx?” or “you are registered where?” or “what time does xxx start.” WEBSITE, PEEPS! :p
This is such great advice! We have a lot of OOT guests too, and I want to do everything I can to make them comfortable and happy 
great advice!! most guests will be traveling a little to get to our wedding (about 2 hour drive) but i def want them to know how much we appreciate them coming.. i’ll def be using these ideas!
that’s great advice and i understand completely about letting the guests know in advance. we had a lot of guests traveling from out of town and they appreciated the bags more than anything.
LOVE the “Get a Room!” cards with the shot of you and your sweetie kissing. That is so clever and adorable I could just cry.
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Mrs. Starfish, Boston/Newport Age and Occupation: 25, Operations Assistant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales Engagement Date: October 8, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: The Atlantic Beach Club About Me: I'm a perfectionist who is a planner at heart. I don't do well with surprises. I love planning, crafting, Newport RI, family and friends, and most importantly, Mr. Starfish---all of which will be big components in our October wedding in our favorite little city by the sea.
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