5 Reasons to Host Your Wedding at a Hotel

This entry is from our Expert Guest series where wedding and honeymoon professionals share their best tips on creating memories that last a lifetime….

We love weddings and receptions held at hotels for lots of reasons (they’re the reason why we started MyHotelWedding.com!). Here is a list of our top five favorite reasons to throw a hotel wedding:

1. CONVENIENCE

For you AND your guests! The whole weekend becomes an event when your guests are staying close to one another. It‘s a blast to take over a block of rooms and see your friends and family at one location! Of course, everyone will come together for your wedding – but the day goes quickly and it‘s hard to get quality time with everyone. Many brides tell us they wish they had spent more time with out-of-town guests. Throwing a hotel wedding is the perfect solution.

2. COST

It may surprise you, but hosting a wedding at a hotel is often highly cost-effective. The hotel can provide so many of the basic things that you would otherwise need to rent – tables, chairs, dishware, dance floor, votive candles, etc. – that could save you hundreds (in some cases thousands!). A great hotel will also throw in tons of delightful surprises that can elevate a wonderful day into a truly magical, one-of-kind experience.

3. PRODUCTION VALUE

This is an entertainment industry term that applies perfectly to important events such as weddings. It can be extremely expensive to dress up a backyard, conference center room, or even a country club to express your personalities and your vision for one of the most important days of your life. Yes, even DIY weddings are often expensive, and certainly time-consuming – and unless you are a creative professional, it is harder than it looks to make DIY feel luxurious.

Hotels attract customers based on the beauty of their spaces, the luxury of their amenities, and the level of customer service they can provide. Remember that hotels, especially higher-end hotels, have their own restaurants, bakeries, and events planners. You have everything you need right on-site which often means better service, exceptional presentation, on-site assistance, and a team of staff around the clock. So, you have built-in beauty and a team of professionals that can really make your wedding unique – without having to do everything yourself!

4. STAGING

As the planners and guests of many weddings ourselves, we can tell you straight up that it‘s such a relief not to have to travel from place to place in an unfamiliar city and while hungry and emotional. To walk from a courtyard ceremony immediately to a room next door for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres cuts down a lot of anxiety and tardiness that stems from folks waiting for the lost latecomers (and wedding parties that have to travel AND take pictures) before dinner is served.

As a bride, getting ready in a room at the hotel is also a special treat. Getting in and out of cars can wrinkle dresses and mess up hair (we‘ve seen a ton of panicked last-minute touchups that have turned into late starts!). Brides who prep in the room and simply take an elevator to the ceremony are always calm brides!

5. FUN

Hotels are fun! They are like a vacation and a celebration all rolled into one! Great hotels will take care of the hassle, leaving you to enjoy your guests and your big day without worrying about noise complaints from the neighbors or guests driving drunk. Great hotels will delight you and your guests at every turn with intuitive service and magical surprises. Great hotels want your event to be one-of-a-kind and to provide you with an unmatched experience. Great hotels will work with you and your budget, will incorporate your personalities into everything they do for you, and will help you realize your vision for your perfect wedding.

We can‘t wait to share GREAT HOTELS with brides and grooms who want to plan wonderful one-of-a-kind weddings. Browse our hotel wedding venue finder, check out our real weddings, and feel free to contact us with any questions.

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Bio: With more than 10 years of wedding and event planning experience and a Bachelor of Communication degree from the University of Southern California, Lauren is the business force behind My Hotel Wedding and The Wedding Course. She has extensive experience in luxury hotel event management and a talent for creating world-class parties and events. As Catering Manager for the world famous Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, Lauren has overseen numerous weddings in conjunction with industry leaders such as Mindy Weiss, Kevin Lee (Brides of Beverly Hills) and more. She has also managed major fundraising events for politicians, including a fundraiser for President Barack Obama wit