If a lot of guests will be traveling for your wedding, you may worry about helping them with the logistics of getting there, finding a place to stay, and finding their way around. This can be especially important for a destination wedding, where most of your guests may be completely unfamiliar with the location. By no means do you have to provide for all of the travel and accommodations needs of your guests, but giving them suggestions and helpful information is a nice gesture. Making it all as easy as possible for your loved ones will help them have an awesome time at your wedding, after all. Giving your guests the information they need and making it easy to find through your wedding website and app can make everything run much more smoothly! Here are some wedding travel and accommodations ideas that can really help out.
Travel
Addresses
It may seem obvious to include the address of your venue, but you should provide the address for any locations guests may need to know. If you’re having different events at different locations, having all the necessary addresses on your wedding website and app can save your guests from frantically calling and texting at the last minute to find out where to go.
Directions
Though most people nowadays will just enter the address into their phone or GPS, it can be helpful to give very specific directions that could help your guests. A GPS won’t tell your guests what color a house is, for example, or that it’s located away from the main road. You can also let your guests know if you will be putting up any signs to indicate the right place.
Maps
Providing maps can help your guests visualize the area before they get there. It can also be especially helpful if you’re having your wedding at a large venue and guests will need to walk to another location for the reception.
Shuttles
If there are shuttles available for transportation between guests’ hotels and the venue or between locations for the ceremony and reception, it’s a good idea to give guests information on the location and schedule.
Rental cars
You may also want to provide information for guests who need to rent a car for their stay. Suggesting a few companies to go with and providing their addresses can help guests find the right place for them. You may even be able to get a discount from a rental company. If you do, be sure your guests have all the info they need to take advantage of it!
Flight
If you are providing airfare for guests, putting the flight info on your wedding app is another way to make things easier for your guests.
Accommodations
Suggestions
If a lot of guests will be traveling for the wedding, it’s a nice gesture to at least provide suggestions for accommodations near the venue. Be sure to provide options in different price ranges.
Hotel blocks
If you want to provide accommodations for your guests, a common option is to provide a hotel block. Hotel blocks come in two varieties: closed and open. With a closed block, you pay for all or part of the cost of the hotel rooms whether they are used or not. This is not ideal if you’re not sure how many guests will be needing accommodations, but it may be the only option if your wedding is during a time when most rooms in town are booked. With an open block, you have rooms set aside until a certain date. If guests don’t book them, they are released and you aren’t responsible for paying anything. If guests will be responsible for paying for the rooms in your block, offer options at different price ranges. And of course, include the necessary hotel info on your wedding website!
House/rental
If you have just a few friends coming from out of town, you might consider renting a large apartment or house instead of hotel rooms. Airbnb can be a great way to find these kinds of rentals. Or you may be able to host guests yourself or with a family member. Either way, having the information on your wedding website and app can make be helpful to guests.
Travel list/notes
If you have family or friends traveling from far away, they may want to take the opportunity to see the sights. You can provide a list of things to do and see in the area. This is also great for destination weddings. You can even host sightseeing or hiking events as part of your wedding weekend! You should add any notes about special events to give guests all the necessary info such as addresses, whether there will be food, and appropriate attire.
Privacy
Remember that if you’re listing potentially sensitive wedding travel information like flight numbers or the address of your AirBnB, you’ll want to make sure that only guests can see it. Hosting your wedding website with Joy allows you to easily keep private things private! Your Joy wedding site also allows guests to access your wedding info from the Joy app, making it that much easier for guests to find what they need.
To learn how to add travel info to your Joy wedding website, click here.
